Wrapping up the football season

1/19/2008

We reported quite a few interesting football tidbits in today s paper. Perhaps most surprising is quarterback Anthony Glaud transferring to Delaware State. Sounds like the decision was based strictly on playing time, as Glaud didn t want to wait until his fifth year before becoming the starter. I certainly don t blame AG for leaving as I think he has considerable potential which would have been wasted on the bench. These type of things often happen when two quarterbacks are signed in the same recruiting class. Glaud couldn t beat Tyler Sheehan, so he left. Zach Charles is also leaving for Delaware State. Quite a few receivers emerged as playmakers this year and Charles was not one of them. Can t say his departure will hurt BG.

An offensive coordinator will not be hired to replace Mick McCall. Instead Matt Campbell and Troy Rothenbuhler will share play calling duties. With that said, Gregg Brandon will have as much input on the offense as he wants, and deservedly so. Brandon will hire a quarterbacks coach soon and seems genuinely excited about the resumes he s received.

I spoke with the mother of BG recruit Aaron Pankratz earlier today. Pankratz is a 6-foot-5 quarterback from Macedonia-Nordonia with a pretty big arm. I saw him torch Perrysburg for about 350 yards and four touchdowns in the first round of the playoffs a couple months back. Ironically, I turned to the guy sitting next to me and asked, who s recruiting this kid? Aaron s mother said Tyler Sheehan hosted her son on a campus visit, adding that Tyler is a keeper. She also came away impressed by offensive line recruit Marc Stevens. Florida Atlantic also offered Pankratz.

In other news, D.J. Young has moved to offensive tackle. Young, according to Brandon, looked very good at his new position during practices in Mobile. Also, the coaching staff is talking about having Corey Partridge play both ways next year.

Two junior college transfers are enrolled in school this semester as is freshman Lane Robilotto who graduated early from high school. The Juco guys are Casey McHugh (offensive line) and Robert Lorenzi (defensive back). I ve never been big on recruiting Juco guys, but you absolutely can t argue with the signings of Sinisa Vrvilo, Nick Iovinelli, Eric Ransom and Jermiah Kelly. I couldn t dig up much on McHugh, but Scout.com listed Lorenzi as a 1-star. They have him at 5-9, 190. Also, here s Lorenzi s highlight tape from youtube. He looks like a player but doesn t everyone look great on their highlight tape? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znL9Dwf3XmM

Switching gears to basketball.

The men s team looked excellent Thursday against Buffalo. It was a whoopin throughout. Buffalo never made a serious run to get back in it and looked totally frustrated trying to attack BG s defense. I said it a couple of blogs ago, and I ll say it again. BG s defense will win games on its own this year. They attack, disrupt passing lanes, and as soon as a post player gets the ball he s immediately being harassed by multiple defenders. That said, when the offense is firing, as it did Thursday, BG is at least a top five team in the MAC.

Otis is on a roll right now and he may never look back. He s definitely starting to get it. Maybe Moten is starting to figure things out as well. Shoot, maybe the entire team is beginning to get it. Sunday s game at Akron should reveal more.

Just a little rant, but what on earth was Buffalo doing fouling in the final seconds of a blowout? I don t want to say it was a classless move, but it was a classless move. There s no logical reason for it. When asked about it after the game, Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon let off a sarcastic response and took a minute or two to educate the media about the thought process behind fouling at the end of games. Reggie, we get it. What we don t get is why your guys were slapping and grabbing down 12 points with four seconds left. Jim Valvano thinks you should have given up. Or as another media member said, The guys from the movie 300 think Buffalo should have waved a white flag. Here s the dos and don ts for fouling while trailing by double-digits with less than 30 seconds left. Don t.