And back with the highlights of the Q&A. Or at least what I felt mattered.
On the subject of QBs, Coach Wannstedt zigged and zagged a bit on the matter. He declared that Bill Stull was the starter if they had to decide coming out of spring practice. Then backtracked to say that all 3 QBs would have the opportunity and play with the first team in training camp. Then came back to say that Stull was still the leader. Honestly, watching the way he delivered the answer made it seem a lot less clear than the press conference transcript.
Is it fair to characterize the quarterback competition as wide open or is Bill Stull the leader?I think that you come out of spring practice (with) Bill being the starter but these next four days will be great for that because Pat Bostick will get an equal amount of reps as will Kevan Smith too. It is open right now but Billy is the guy that they’re trying to unseat.
What do you like about Bill Stull and what are his strengths?
He’s a gamer. The players believe in him. There’s no question about that. He knows our offense. You could go out right now and Billy will run the offense. I think he’s one of those guys who seems to perform better when the lights come on as compared to just in practice. If you go out and just watch Billy in practice, he may not be the most impressive guy but he’s kind of a gamer. He’s thrown a lot of touchdowns in his career. He’s also had a very good off-season and he’s not taking anything for granted. He wants to win the starting job.
Trust me, Coach Wannstedt was not nearly that clear in the press conference. I think it is Stull’s job to lose, and Wannstedt is not ready to make that formal a statement.
Coach Wannstedt ended up going off an interesting tangent when asked about the fact that this team is now mostly his recruits.
…You go into the homes of these kids and talk with their parents and tell them that we’re going to do everything we can to get your son a degree and everything we can to take his football skills to the next level and we’re going to do everything we can to make him a better person four years from now then he is today. You want those things to happen and every situation is not going to work out that way but it’s my responsibility and our responsibility because these are our kids. We’re going to have some kids get off on the wrong path but we’re going to do everything we can to help these kids and try and fulfill that commitment we made to them.
As for what one of the emphasis the coaches say they will be putting on the team: Finishing.
You know, `finish’ is going to be a big word that you’re going to hear me talk about a lot because even in those situations, the players came out of the gate ready to go. I mean the West Virginia game at halftime. The Louisville game at halftime, they’re all winnable games at that point and then we have to find a way to make plays and we have to find a way to finish those games. Even the Rutgers game, it was there to be had. We had to make a play. They made a play and we didn’t. This year, that’s going to be a real focus for our football team.
“Finish” sounds like a fine thing. As in, “finish the tackle,” “finish the block,” “finish the play.”
When asked about the biggest “hurdles” the team has to overcome, he started with the cliche for about half-a-second then got to reality.
I just think a consistency thing. If you want to get right to the point we have to run the ball and stop the run. That’s the two biggest hurdles we have really.
And that of course, brings it back to the lines, depth and players.
Jovani Chappel, we’ve been grooming him to possibly move to safety. He’s a good tackler, one of our better tacklers on the defense, smart kid. He’s kind of our nickel-dime back. So he’ll start working some at safety. Jemeel Brady will be at linebacker. Lowell Robinson will be at corner. We have a couple of these young running backs who I’m not sure are going to stay at running back. We may move them to linebacker or safety. Greg Williams, we’re going to see him carry the ball. Shariff Harris, we’re going to see him run the ball. We know McCoy will be a back, we know Hynoski will be a back but there could be a few more changes. Right now we have 16 defensive linemen on scholarship so there will be a few of those defensive linemen that probably move over to offense.
…
When McGlynn comes back, we’re going play the best five guys and from that standpoint, every guy needs to know that they need to go out and prove themselves. By not zeroing in at one position with McGlynn…hey, if Vangas is doing a great job or Bachman comes on and he’s our center, we’ll move McGlynn to left tackle. I like that mentality and not locking guys in, particularly when they have a lot to improve. I’m really excited about Jeff Otah.
I realize I don’t see them practice, so I don’t know for sure. I’m just a little confused about Lowell Robinson playing corner, when the need is at safety and Robinson was a standout safety in Junior College, they bounced about in a couple positions last year. I’ll defer to the coaches on this, but I don’t even pretend to understand. When you bring in a JUCO player, it just seems that their time is too short to fool around with their position this much.
Is this some smart coaching move i don’t know? We recruit 7 rb’s a year and then switch them to lb… what the hell is going on around here?
The Lowell Robinson think I don’t quite understand. He’s too good of an athlete to not be on the field, yet you HAVE to think he’d have his best shot of playing by suiting up at safety. Can you imagine with his wheels playing with Thatcher or even DeCicco back there with their instincts and tenacity?
I also still think Jacobsen will be starting as a true freshman by mid-season. He’s that good. CJ Davis could be our answer at center.
I am having a little deja vu…
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to recruit a kid like TOMMIE CAMPBELL, who is a big, but really fluid athlete, and move him to LB when you’ve got as much depth at RB as we have. CAMPBELL could be really good at LB.
I understand that Campbell was not recruited as a RB, but we always seem to get excited over assumed potential. And what happens when you assume? You do jack shit and transfer. (Is that how the saying goes?)
On a side note, does this mean that Dickerson is not working out to plan?
The chance/opportunity/request to change positions is probably communicated to these kids when they’re recruited, and if they have a chance to get on the field and help out like that, so be it. Wasn’t that how Bryan Knight eventually found his way to the starting lineup at DE? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe he was recruited as a wideout. That position switch got him into the NFL.
I think this same sort of thing happens at other schools just as much. I remember PSU recruiting Dan Lawlor primarily to play LB at Penn State, but a ton of depth there and a lack of depth at FB caused them to move him to FB (a position he did play in high school).
Some players are less receptive to it…James Bryant resisted but accepted a position switch from LB to FB for the Canes last year (in fact, his TD celebration set was a catalyst of the big Miami-FIU brawl), and ultimately transferred to Louisville.
Speaking of which, how about Louisville loading up on the former “U” linebackers? They got Bryant – who admittedly has to sit out until 2008 – but I also didn’t realize they got the infamous Willie Williams as well. He’s wearing #7 on their current roster.
As far as the Campbell comparison goes above, it’s proof that each case is independent of the others. Campbell didn’t work out because he wasn’t talented. Campbell didn’t work out because by all accounts, he wasn’t mature and disciplined enough to buy into all facets of the program and handle himself responsibly. If Harris and/or Williams is open to the change and willing to put in the work, it could be just as much a success as Campbell’s case was a failure.
“Coming out of high school, I didn’t even like playing defense, but I’ll be honest — I love defense now. I love it so much it is ridiculous. I wouldn’t even want to go back and play offense now because I have a different mind-set and a more hard-nosed mentality. I used to look forward to running or catching the ball. Now I just can’t wait to put the pads on and hit somebody.”
And this, if true, is just astounding:
“He has bulked up to about 225 pounds and he has gotten faster. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds in summer conditioning drills.”
There are numerous high school RB’s that have succeded at the college level while playing LB.
As far as moving RBs to LB: I think it’s a huge mistake if you’re moving them there simply because they’re good athletes (i.e. Tommie Campbell). Good athletes can get by being standout wide receivers or kick returners (say, Greg Lee), but you have to be a football player to play linebacker. I think Dickerson has what it takes and is going to have a big year.
We have to hope that the players moving to LB don’t have the same mental makeup as Tommie.
