How Bad Did Ole Miss Need a Back-Up QB?
Apparently Eli put a NOLA-style voodoo curse on the Ole Miss Rebel quarterback slot. After the youngest Manning left for the NFL, it's been one huge embarrassing failure after another.
The latest mark against the Ole Miss quarterbacking fraternity, is potential backup hopeful, Jared Foster, formerly of Gulf Coast C.C.:
The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson reported Foster's arrest Monday on its Web site. The school announced that Foster was off the team in a one-sentence release but did not say why.
"It's a shame," Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt told the Clarion-Ledger. "But we're trying to build a football program and that's stuff we can't tolerate."
[espn via The Clarion Ledger]
Not only is Jared Foster the Illegal Steroids Club for Men president, but he's clearly also a client
One very fitting quote from a recent recruiting article on young Jared from Rebelsports.net:
One coach Foster wants to begin spending time with as soon as he passes his physical is the Rebels new strength and conditioning coach, Don Decker.
"Coach Decker has trained players like Darren MacFadden and has made a difference and he'll make a difference at Ole Miss."
[Rebelsports.net]
Today Don Decker was quoted as saying, "WTF?! That dumb boy better leave my name out of this #$%&! This Ain't No BALCO, Son! You ain't Rodger Clemens, and I certainly ain't gonna be no Brian McNamee! Huh? Nobody cares? Cool."
[HT: DailyFootballFix]
Ole Miss Quarterbacks In The Wake of Eli: A Tragedy of Errors...
2004 (Record: 4-7 with wins over Vandy, Arkansas State, South Carolina and MSU):
Michael Spurlock - This much hyped "Mike Vick Clone," seemed to shat the bed on demand on his way to passing for 1,709 yards on 142-of-267 completions with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions and two rushing touchdowns in two seasons. Did I mention he couldn't see over the offensive line? (5' 10" in heels) That led to the emergence of...
Ethan Flatt was the complete opposite of Spurlock (except when it came to winning...they were much the same in that catagory): A flat footed, skin-and-bones, legit 6 '5" honky. Ethan may have been able to see the field with ease, but unfortunately he had the savvy of a Britney Spears and the arm strength of Stephen Hawking. However, Flatt did account for Ole Miss' last SEC road win at South Carolina. (yeah, you read right: last SEC road W, in 2004) And the third piece of the '04 "three headed QB monster" is...
Robert Lane - This highly regarded, duel-threat quarterback was often viewed as the "heir apparent" to Eli when he set foot on campus in 2003. And to his credit, he had some early Tim Tebow-esque moments on the playing field (If Tim Tebow happened to not be able to pass worth a damn...which if usually frowned upon in quarterback circles) As is standard operating procedure, Lane was swiftly converted to tight end and never heard from again.
Off Season: Head Coach David Cutcliffe gets fired; Enter crazed Shimp-Boat Captian Orgeron of the S.S. Failure. Recruits: Billy Tapp - Late, late "find." Other offer(s) for Tapp - Columbia (yeah, of the Ivy League...a football powerhouse). Orgeron says pre-season that he's gonna feature Spurlock and Lane in "The USC Offense." Meaning "Southern Cal" (preemptive, "pssssssffffff!").
2005 (3-8 with wins over Memphis, The Citadel and Kentucky):
The Same 3 deadly QBs as above battled it out with an even worse result under a first year Orgeron.
Off Season: Offensive Coordinator Noel Mazzone gets the axe in an extremely messy divorce (supposed fisticuffs!), and retread Miami OC, Dan Werner hired. Recruits: Brent Schaeffer - Ah, Brent. A highly regarded duel-threat quarterback that Orgeron hung his career on. Michael Herrick - 6'1", 175 lbs quarterback (but he's got big feet) from California with zero other offers. Sweet backup plan. Ethan Flatt leaves Ole Miss with a year of eligibility still on the table, if that tells you anything. For depth, Orgeron signs a few walk-ons out of desperation. One of them being the great Delta State/Hinds Community College "a walk-on to remember," Seth Adams.
2006 (4-8 with wins over Memphis, Vandy, Northwestern State, and MSU) :
Brent Schaeffer - Because Brent is not smart, the transfer didn't make it to campus until pre game warm ups of the Memphis game. Amazingly enough, the savior of the Orgeron Era rattled off 47 % passing with 9 TDs to 10 INTs in 2006 and basically lost his starting job by season's end. Who's next???...Lil' Herrick???
Off Season: Orgeron, realizing that Schaeffer sucked ball, turns to completely unproven former walk-on Seth Adams. Pre-season, he named Seth the starter over poor, misguided Schaeffer. Orgeron pulls a huge pseudo-victory in recruiting by getting highly regarded, duel-threat quarterback (seeing a pattern?) , Jevan Snead to transfer from Texas to Oxford. Unfortunately for all involved, Jevan has to sit out a year (especially, in hindsight, for The Orgeron)
2007 (3-9 with wins over Memphis, Northwestern State and La Tech):
Seth Adams - He actually looks like a somewhat serviceable quarterback for a few games (relative to the previous assholes), but Ole Miss still didn't win anything. Then, like a flash, he started to suck balls, (even by The Rebs lowered standards) and slang interceptions like they was crack rock! Back to the same ole, Ole Miss post-Eli era.
For the rest of the season, Seth goes on to split time with the underwhelming superstar, Schaeffer until they both mercifully ran out of eligibility. [There is some speculation that Schaeffers' talents (running and what not) were wasted by forcing him into a pocket-passer, pro style offense. In the end, what does it really matter? At least 4 years of Ole Miss fans lives were wasted in search of a real quarterback]
Off Season: Ed Orgeron is fired, largely for failing to produce a quarterback/offense that could compete in the SEC. Michael Herrick decided to take his big feet to I-AA football at Northern Arizona, leaving Ole Miss with one real scholarship QB (Snead) and then Billy Tapp (remember the Ivy League-esque stud?). Houston Nutt is hired and charged with righting all of Orgeron's wrongs. A big piece of the puzzle has to be...
2008 (???):
Is this the year when Jevan Snead leads Ole Miss out of the cellar and above .500? Is Jevan the highly regarded, duel-threat quarterback Ole Miss has been waiting for? I sure as hell hope so.
I can't believe I'm making one of these jokes, but that Snead picture leaves a wide open door for one...
ReplyDeleteHey Jevan! The people of 1982 called and they want their haircut back.
I know Brodie had about 20 lbs. of hair sprawled randomly across his head, but it still looked better than that IMO.
Not to mention Sara Jessica's sissified locks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd say Bama and Ole Miss QBs are about on equally bad footing in the haircare department.
Sure hope Eli visited his local Sportclips prior to the Superbowl. He was looking a little goofy in Green Bay.
say what you want about spurlock as a qb, but nobody can take away him being the first tampa bay buc to return a kickoff for a td.
ReplyDeleteps-OLE MISS OWNS MEMPHIS!!!
Nutt'll just have to go with his tried-and-true practice of scouting out intramural qbs after he decides Snead isn't being a team player, I guess.
ReplyDeleteNutt will convert dual-threat Snead into a one-dimensional disappointment faster than you can say handoff.
ReplyDeleteWould Snead be allowed another transfer after this season? Just something in Nutt's history, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Thing about Nutt, he was a QB. I tend to think, if he has ever successfully recruited a solid QB prospect, they would throw the hell out of the ball (If they didn't have Darren McFadden and Felix Jones sitting in the backfield scratching their balls as well)
ReplyDeleteFact is, Nutt sucks at recruiting high profile QBs. But he's got one in Snead, and Jevan ain't going anywhere. Yeah, he could transfer again, but then he would have to sit another year and then he'd only have 2 left. No, they're both going to make the best of it.
Gary Brashears, Tavaris Jackson, Robert Johnson, and Mitch Mustain were all 4 or 5-star qb recruits Nutt landed at Arkansas. The issue with Nutt isn't landing the high-profile qbs. Of the three which actually saw playing time, the only one that put up numbers that were close to decent was Mustain, and his stats weren't anything to get excited about.
ReplyDeleteThe only time the Razorbacks had a true downfield passing threat was Clint Stoerner, who was a junior when Nutt arrived and was developed by Joe Ferguson, who got run off the staff by Nutt after a few years.
Maybe having some new blood on the staff will change things, but saying quarterbacks won't develop under Nutt in Arkansas is about like saying the weather gets hotter in summer.
I don't know about the first two QB you mentioned, but Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. What the hell do you expect?
ReplyDeletePlus, 2003 wasn't exactly the best year for Duel-Threat QBs. Shit, Robert Lane was the #1 rated prospect, along with a bunch of other no talent ass clowns. (with the exception of Dennis Dixon, of course).
I still think Mustain would have been a fine QB (despite the drama) had he stayed at ARK. He was a true freshman for Pete's sake. (look at Matt Stafford's progression from year one to year two) I think Mustain made a huge mistake and now he's a country fried Christian boy out in the heart of darkness, LA. LA. Land. Not a great place to be...P.T.'s not easy to come by out there either. It'll be interesting to see how the Trojan depth chart plays out.
Well, Snead's a red-shirt Sophomore, so maybe Nutt won't "corrupt" him too much.
Kent Austin is a solid coach (the OC) in my opinion, and I guess all we can do is cross our fingers and hope Nutt's learned a thing or two in Fayetteville and lets Austin do his damn job!
Erik, the part about Snead possibly transferring was only a Mustain joke. Still, it was my opinion, and still is, that Mustain peaked in high school. I think he would have been above average in college, but not a guy that would have been starting on Sunday later in life. I know that the thought him lining up against my Tigers didn't scare the crap out of me. Maybe out in LA LA land he'll prove me wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt all boils down to your last paragraph--did Nutt learn his lesson in the hills, and let his OC do his job. If he does, it won't be too hard for Ole Miss to recruit more QB's that are 4 and 5-star. If not, he's about 3 or 4 years from a steep backslide to the MAC or Conf-USA.
That Snead kid looks Amish. I expect him to have a full beard by his senior year.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Is that Snead? I hope he plays better than he grooms.
ReplyDelete