Actually he's going to return kicks.
Kicks to the other team.
Or have you lost your mind!? This is blasphemy!
We will onside kick every time. Denard will run 10 yards, take a leak, get some nachos, bang a cheerleader, and recover the ball before the other team even realizes that the ball has been kicked.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 PM ^
Denard will be, AT MINIMUM, the part time starting QB next year
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:44 PM ^
Really??
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:59 PM ^
LOL +100
April 24th, 2009 at 12:10 PM ^
best post of the day! Bravo
you funny
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 PM ^
already did it, hehe...
See Smith, John L. and Stanton Drew...hmmm, lets put our future QB on the punt kick team and see how that works out...
Out for the season you say? Dang.
and that is how you go from being the head coach of a rising mid-major to the special teams coach on an otherwise middling Arkansas team just a few years later.
Aug '95
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 PM ^
Among others, Ryan Leaf and Matt Cassel both played on punt teams.
It's a mistake to think that special teamers are incredibly inclined to get hurt. If I remember correctly, Stanton tore his ACL by running. Whether he's playing QB or special teams, if running is going to tear your ACL, you're just shit out of luck.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 PM ^
Joe Theisman as well I think
Nevermind, mis-interpreted what he was saying.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:01 PM ^
But I don't think people faulted JLS because of the mistaken belief that STs players are more injury-prone. As you imply, many injuries are random. But it'd be fair to suggest, then, that the larger the sample size (the more time on the field doing physical things, running, getting hit, hitting, etc.), the better the odds of injury, in general, right? So the question is, is Drew Stanton's skill on ST (or Denard's) so high as to offset any increased injury risk that comes from the larger sample size (i.e., time on the field)? I'm guessing no. But I hear your point, and as for the OP, hilarious reference. That was the Alamo Bowl v. Tex AM if I remember correctly, no?
April 24th, 2009 at 12:16 PM ^
It is fair to say that more time on the field = a higher risk of injury.
However, if you have good athletes, you should put them on the field. Especially in a bowl game where you have 8 or 9 months before your next game, what are the chances that your upback on punts is going to have an injury that will affect him into the next season? Not very big.
I think it's funny that it happened that way just because it's MSU, but from a coach's standpoint, I don't think it was that big of a deal. It's kind of like calling a fake punt - you're a genius if it works and an idiot if it doesn't.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:28 PM ^
And without digging in much further, I'll just say this: most BCS CFB programs aren't short on "good athletes" - if you have one good athlete who is just that, a good athlete, and another good athlete with a much more specialized skill (QB), I'm not for putting the latter on the field unless its to use that specialized skill.
Again, just saying, unless Stanton's STs ability is much higher than the guy he's replacing (which I sort of doubt - you can obviously be very good on kick coverage, but I'm guessing you can find 11 other guys at any given time with suitable speed, vision, and ability to throw their body around for that purpose - of course, maybe not!), then even the small % increase of injury (serious or not) wouldn't seem worth it. Perhaps, to make my point clearer - I don't feel this way because of some hindsight analysis (i.e., he got hurt, therefore, dumb move). I feel this way in general.
Also, regardings severity of the injury - again, don't want to dig in too far (already have said too much on a topic that we're just shooting the shit about!), without knowing for sure, I'm guessing that any injury to a highly specialized player like a QB is more serious than an injury to say, a regular special teamer. I.e., a "minor" elbow, wrist, shoulder injury doesn't really slow down your typicaly wedge destroyer, but could persist longer in a specialized player. Again, pure guess, no support.
However, the importance of putting a backup QB in the backfield lies in the ability to run trick plays. If you put a QB back there only on trick plays, the defense will figure it out. But if he's back there blocking every time, the offense can still have a little bit of an element of surprise if they want to throw a pass, run an option, etc. It's less of a common practice in college, but it happens somewhat frequently in high school where a QB is an upback on punts.
Just get a punter that can average 10 yards/carry, obviating the need for any trick plays involving a backup QB. Problem solved.
No, point taken, and again, I'd just run the same thing through my cost/benefit calculation (it's a secret calculation, patent pending, so don't ask for details) and "Increased % chance that use of QB on punt coverage helps sell future trick play + QB's potential increased athleticism over replacement ST player" doesn't trump "increased % of injury (however small) to specialized player + ability of non-QBs on STs to execute a trick play." Or something. You get the point. Likely I underweight the trick play/athleticism on STs element and overweight the risk of injury or necessity of trick play execution/athleticism, as compared to you. But it's not hindsight (Stanton) that drives it. If Carr had played Henson, if RR did it with Forcier or Denard, etc, etc., I'd think it was a bad choice, no matter how many kickass trick plays we executed or how many bone shattering tackles Denard made.
As for the use of it in HS, correct. But as the level of comeptition increases, so does the speed/size on the other side. HS QBs are often the biggest, fastest dudes on the field at the HS level. In CFB, not as much (unless you're the son of God and play at UF). And in the NFL, not at all. You're definitely right, you can get away with it a bit at CFB, but I wouldn't base my decision to do so on the ability of HS QBs (not that you are, just drawing a distinction between the two levels for the purpose of how a coach utilizes his QB in non-QB situations).
There are only so many Zoltan Meskos to go around...
Zoltan has a specialized skill. I wouldn't risk his health to do anything but that specialized skill either... ah ha! See what I did there???
I kid, I kid.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 PM ^
That is not the "only" reason it is funny, I find it funny on many levels, but don't ask what they are
April 24th, 2009 at 12:11 AM ^
He will play multiple positions, on the same down. Likely combinations include QB and WR where he will throw passes to himself thereby doubling his all purpose yards.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:32 AM ^
you beat me to it.