Returning from Vacation Sips: What Happened While I Was Away
by Rodger Sherman on Aug 23, 2011 9:28 AM CDT
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PrintI'm back from my posting hiatus - thanks to Loretta8 and Herman for running the ship while I was gone. Herman actually interviewed people, which personally makes me worried for my job safety.
Anyway, a really disturbing amount of things happened in the past week considering its still August, but holy crap there's only ten days til football? Jesus. This is very exciting. Had I been in front of a computer, I woulda written stuff about these things, but instead I just got a tan and watched telenovelas with my grandma.
- Northwestern foolishly, impudently, obdurately decided not to paint its basketball court purple. Luckily, I had already written posts for both scenarios before my trip. (The post if NU decided to go purple was a piece of free verse writing that quoted heavily from T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land".) The Evanston riots that followed were horrific and I take full responsibility and urge you all to continue. Today's rioting tip: when throwing Molotovs, go for buildings with large plate glass windows so that the press can take more dramatic photos. I recommend the libes, McTrib, and Allison Dining Hall. Also, to any readers that may or may not be in Waluigi Squad, THE ROOSTER IS NO LONGER IN THE HAYSTACK. I REPEAT, THE ROOSTER IS NO LONGER IN THE HAYSTACK.
- Northwestern went to camp in Kenosha and then at the Great Lakes Naval Base. Unfortunately, none of us were there, so, kinda pointless, huh?
- Northwestern's No. 1 running back is purportedly Jacob Schmidt. The overwhelming silliness of this is difficult to describe, because, outside of catching passes and blocking, there's nothing that indicates Schmidt to be a better running back than his new backups, Adonis Smith and Mike Trumpy. I hope it's a motivational ploy. Remember: Schmidt fumbled the ball four times in 49 carries last year. That's like a one-in-12 chance of the ball hitting the ground. Add in his 14 receptions and it still leaves you wondering whether Schmidt's method of keeping his hands warm on the sideline involves dipping them into a butter churn. Now, note: if I was a Big Ten running back, I would fumble the ball literally every time I got tackled. But I also wouldn't want me to start over Mike Trumpy, so, there.
- Northwestern also commits violations! Good to hear. I was starting to think NU was like the A.C. Green of committing violations, or Mormon. But the best we can do is responding to texts from people we don't know? Now if only we could get some hookers to start texting NU from unknown numbers, we could really have something here.
- Northwestern is painting a 44-foot-tall Fitz on a mural on the south tower at Ryan Field. TOUCHDOWN FITZ. I always got the sense that Fitz is a lot like Jesus, but more smitey.
- Dan Persa has a limp. Coach Fitz says it's more like a pimp walk. Either way, crap. First off, if it's a pimp walk, pimping is different from the Shapiro scandal, but still totally improper benefits - what would prevent school boosters that are also hookers from hooking exclusively for scholarship athletes to earn them money on the side when they could just as easily sell their bodies for other people? Second off, not to bury the lede, but I'm more and more convinced every day that Dan Persa's 12-14 month recovery will actually take 12-14 months, and not the 10 we somehow expect. I think Kain Colter will take the majority of snaps at BC. There. I said it.
- On that front, BC running back Montel Harris is injured and we can breathe more easily. Andre Williams, his backup, is also injured, but not as badly, then again, he still has a week to get injured again which isn't totally impossible judging from what happens in BC practices. They also dismissed starting safety Okechukwu Okoroha, which I just typed without looking!
- Mike Kafka and Tyrell Sutton have each had dope preseasons thus far. Kafka is looking like the No. 2 guy ahead of Vince Young in Philly and put up two touchdowns on the Pittsburgh third-stringers - a unit that included Corbin Bryant, and Sutton had a TD against Miami. I have one in each of my fantasy leagues.
- SB Nation has an iPhone app coming out!
- Also, The SB Nation Conference Re-Draft finished with... Northwestern. Yes, we are Mr. Irrelevant. Makes sense, doesn't it? We were drafted by... BC Interruption and the Twelve Pack. This love-hate relationship with BCI has got to stop. By which I mean, screw them, I hope all the bad things in the world happen to them and only them.
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Pimp Walk
Since pimping is not directly involved with football (even if some clients may be football players), as long as Persa obtained the job legitimately it’s his to keep, at least in the NCAA’s eyes. The local law enforcement may be another story, but then again, they are too busy looking out for crazy NU parties, avoiding those aforementioned Evanston rioters, and evicting anyone who has more than 3 unreleated persons in a single dwelling unit.
--
JHodges
HailToPurple
by jhodges on Aug 23, 2011 9:39 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Schmidt
@Sippin…
Yeah, but if we want Persa on the field (and I doubt any of us are going to argue that we don’t), then we need blocking and pass-catching most. Well blocking really.
[Insert your argument for a strong running game taking the pressure off #PersaStrong here.] My rebuttal is that our O-Line can’t be counted on to open holes, but is somewhat more reliable in pass protection (note that Persa admits that he needed to throw the ball away more last year).
it's really a mess any way you look at it.
With better blocking, Persa has to scramble less. With a better running game, NU won’t be as reliant on his arm. You’re giving something away whatever you do.
With Persa less willing to move this year than last, I think Schmidt could be a very helpful member of the team on passing downs blocking and receiving out of the backfield. But an every-down back, I just don’t see it.
by Rodger Sherman on Aug 23, 2011 10:15 AM CDT up reply actions
Good story on Schmidt
http://nusports.cstv.com/blog/2011/08/blog-the-story-of-schmidt.html
If it helps, he seems pretty upset about the whole fumbling thing.
im a bit surprised at how little panic there is
regarding the persa news. if Persa isn’t 100% then its difficult to see this team being any better than last year.
I withhold my panic until I see them play
There seems to be a fair amount of enthusiasm about the progress Colter has made, and I’d still take an 85% Persa over a lot of other FBS QBs. If he’s in the game, I trust him to make good decisions even if he’s not moving or running the offense as well as he did last season. And if he’s not in the game, I trust 8 months of coaching Colter and Watkins (vs. one week last fall) to have them prepared for a Persa-less team.
QB isn’t what I’m worried about. O-line, defense, and RB… that’s what I’m worried about. But we won’t know until we see them play, so there’s no sense panicking about it.
It's just a pimp walk.
He’s still practicing. He’s still rehabbing. He’s still getting reps. He’s not being re-examined due to suspicion of re-aggrevating the injury. He hasn’t been ruled out officially from any games yet. And Persa himself apparently is still running/rolling out in practice and claims to not notice any limp.
I, for one, am just not too concerned about Persa being a little sore/limping a bit when he’s rehabbing 3 times a day, practicing, and basically doing everything he can to strengthen his Achilles nearly 2 weeks before game 1……plus, as TDozer notes, it’s not like Colter isn’t capable of running the offense — he did so against TTech, and has had a LOT of practice since then.
here's the thing
any success for Northwestern this year is predicated on Persa being at least as good as he was last year, when he played at an elite level. Now, less than 2 weeks before the season opener, we find out that Persa is limping at practice, not 100%, and that Kain Colter, a glorified slot receiver with 3 career pass completions, is likely to see significant time at quarterback in the season opener.
Without Persa, Northwestern was a shitty football team last year. Even with him, they were far from a great team, in fact they struggled to beat some of the dregs of Division 1 and lost at home to an awful Purdue team that was running out second and third stringers at several key positions. It is difficult to imagine Northwestern being anything better than a .500 Big Ten team if Persa does not make a full recovery.
Here's what I keep going back to, though...
Persa is still practicing.
I mean, if he was limping and NOT practicing, and/or meeting with doctors to reexamine his Achilles? Legitimate cause for concern.
But he’s still rehabbing every day, practicing, getting snaps in with the offense — at least, we haven’t heard reports of him being held out entirely from practice any moreso than other senior/experienced starters….just him maybe getting a few less reps. Persa’s quotes and Fitz’s quotes all seem to state that (a) he may look like he’s limping, and (b) he might very well be limping, but ( c) it’s really just residual soreness/his body readjusting to having a healthy Achilles, and something that does not indicate any new/additional injury or a setback, and something that will go away once he regains muscle memory/trust in his body.
I guess I just don’t see the problem until they start holding him out/preventing him from practicing to treat the Achilles.
the problem
kain colter, who isn’t anywhere near the quarterback dan persa is, will be getting snaps at quarterback in a real game.
thats the problem.
Huh?
The point I was trying to make was that we shouldn’t be worried about Persa sitting out games if he’s not even sitting out practices right now….obviously, it’s a problem is Persa is sitting out games.
Colter getting some snaps in a game? Not a problem — he showed against TTech that he can be effective/play BCS level football. Plus, he got tons of snaps in spring practice and at Kenosha, his arm is better/stronger (he was still recuperating his shoulder from an injury in high school last year), and he’s more experienced/comfortable in the offense (from the practice reports we’ve heard, at least).
It’s obviously not good if Colter is taking the majority of snaps while Persa sits on the bench…..but it’s not an outright disaster….at least not yet in non-conference.
How much of this is diversion?
Maybe Persa’s still injured, or maybe Fitz just wants to throw a smokescreen around Persa’s availability.
It's really bad news
… but it doesn’t do any good to panic. He’s either going to be able to play (and play well) or he isn’t – my panic doesn’t help.
Plus, none of the offseason talk matters – how much did we anticipate Persa’s leap from 2009 to 2010 anyhow? It’s not inconceivable that Colter ultimately takes that leap someday too. What do we really know?
If it’s a shitstorm at Chestnut Hill, *then I’ll panic.
FYI
My preview at OTE is up regarding Northwestern HERE.
Predictably, I’m getting flak for picking Northwestern to go 11-1 (7-1). Fair enough.
Surprising? Two other writers had Northwestern at 10-2 (6-2), and 2 more at 9-3. I may be irrationally optimistic, but apparently not EXCESSIVELY irrationally optimistic.
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