10-06-2024, 01:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-06-2024, 01:25 PM by CardinalSagehen.)
As always, great notes.
Regarding #7, the Ford injury was a gut punch, but our best players (especially freshmen) need more practice, more experience completing drives, and more confidence. Ford carried the ball 11 times yesterday, which is not a lot. I have no problem with anyone and everyone being on the field until the bitter end.
As for Ford, I was starting to think of him as our most promising offensive player and one of the cornerstones of our future success. The injury looks terrible -- I will be surprised if it's not season-ending. We can hope for an ankle sprain, but from my perspective, it seemed much worse and more like an Achilles tendon or a lower-leg bone fracture. The timing is particularly terrible because he could have redshirted before this game.
By contrast, while I didn't see what happened to Rogers from the stands, I did see him walking off the field to the locker room. He was walking a little slowly but not with any massive limp. Maybe others saw or know more than I do. It bums me out when guys get injured on their last play, such as Trenton Irwin, Bryce Love, or Mike Mitchell. But from a football standpoint, I'm much less concerned that Rogers played his last down for the Cardinal than that Ford may have experienced a major career-limiting injury.
Regarding #6, our QB plight, I think it's important to remember that nobody ever expected these two guys to be good P4 QBs. Daniels and Lamson were both mid 3* QBs with even weaker recruiting profiles on 247 than the much-maligned Ari Patu. TT has not been able to coach them up, but I don't consider this to be damning because most guys, through no fault of their own, simply don't have the juice to be successful at this very high level. Also note that Elijah Brown (92 rating, 11th best QB in 2023) and Bear Bachmeier (90 rating, 20th best in 2024) are much better regarded than any other QBs on our current roster.
If we really want to win, Lifetime Cardinal needs to set aside some major dollars to retain Elijah and (to a much lesser degree, in my opinion) Bear and/or lure an attractive QB from the portal. I'm super interested in seeing Elijah for at least the last three games so that we know what we've got and can make the right off-season decisions.
Regarding #7, the Ford injury was a gut punch, but our best players (especially freshmen) need more practice, more experience completing drives, and more confidence. Ford carried the ball 11 times yesterday, which is not a lot. I have no problem with anyone and everyone being on the field until the bitter end.
As for Ford, I was starting to think of him as our most promising offensive player and one of the cornerstones of our future success. The injury looks terrible -- I will be surprised if it's not season-ending. We can hope for an ankle sprain, but from my perspective, it seemed much worse and more like an Achilles tendon or a lower-leg bone fracture. The timing is particularly terrible because he could have redshirted before this game.
By contrast, while I didn't see what happened to Rogers from the stands, I did see him walking off the field to the locker room. He was walking a little slowly but not with any massive limp. Maybe others saw or know more than I do. It bums me out when guys get injured on their last play, such as Trenton Irwin, Bryce Love, or Mike Mitchell. But from a football standpoint, I'm much less concerned that Rogers played his last down for the Cardinal than that Ford may have experienced a major career-limiting injury.
Regarding #6, our QB plight, I think it's important to remember that nobody ever expected these two guys to be good P4 QBs. Daniels and Lamson were both mid 3* QBs with even weaker recruiting profiles on 247 than the much-maligned Ari Patu. TT has not been able to coach them up, but I don't consider this to be damning because most guys, through no fault of their own, simply don't have the juice to be successful at this very high level. Also note that Elijah Brown (92 rating, 11th best QB in 2023) and Bear Bachmeier (90 rating, 20th best in 2024) are much better regarded than any other QBs on our current roster.
If we really want to win, Lifetime Cardinal needs to set aside some major dollars to retain Elijah and (to a much lesser degree, in my opinion) Bear and/or lure an attractive QB from the portal. I'm super interested in seeing Elijah for at least the last three games so that we know what we've got and can make the right off-season decisions.