John
Garrett knew it was coming. The new Lafayette College was facing the media at
the annual Media Day luncheon last week, and it was inevitable that he would
have to face questions about his quarterback battle at some point.
It
came at the very beginning of the question-and-answer period, and I’m happy to say
I was not the first to bring it up. I might be accused of being a broken record
on the subject, so I waited patiently and let Express-Times writer Brad Wilson
throw it out.
Garrett
delivered some of the familiar phrases like “great group of guys”, “we don’t
make the depth chart,” “a really competitive situation”, “when it is clearly
determined by the players by their performances on the field”, “a meritorious situation.”
He
said the process of evaluating all these quarterbacks hadn’t slowed the progress
of installing the offense the Leopards will use when they open the season at
Monmouth on Sept. 2. So, finally I asked how long he could continue to evaluate
before deciding which QB would prepare for the opener as the designated No. 1.
At
that point, Garrett, who has been described to me as ”unflappable” because of
the coolness with which he approaches a ticklish problem, went out of character
for the first time since I’ve been interviewing him.
“It’s
getting close, Paul, isn’t it?” Garrett said, drawing laughter through the
room.
“Are
you getting a little nervous?”
I
hardly had time to get out the words, “I am,” than he added, “I’m not. We’ve
got … some guys who have proven they can probably go in the game and play.”
Without
ever mentioning a name, he let everyone know that John Garrett the offensive
coordinator and John Garrett the head coach are very much on the same page. I’ll
bet the newest member of the Lafayette staff, quarterbacks coach David Girardi,
is right there, too.
I
touched briefly on the QBs with a pair of receivers on media day, too.
Matt
Mrazek, who has caught balls from three different quarterbacks in his career –
Zach Zweizig, Drew Reed and Blake Searfoss – said, “Whoever Coach Garrett is
going with and whoever steps in, I think the offense will rally around him and
I can’t wait.”
And
tight end Dylan Wadsworth said, “Everyone has been working on executing and
being in the right spots; and as long as we’re in the right spots, whoever it
is throwing us the ball in the first game, I think we’ll be prepared and
everyone’s going to be confident and we’ll be able to execute.”
Maybe
I should let it go, but I can’t bring myself to do that. I know Josh Davis and
Austin McCrum were placed 1-2 by Garrett at the start of preseason camp, but I’m
led to believe that things may have changed. One interested spectator estimated
that 80 percent of the snaps went to freshman Sean O’Malley on Aug. 12, with
Cole Northrup getting second most and McCrum getting very few. A report from
the scrimmage a week later indicated O’Malley again was first in, with McCrum
second. Davis did very little throwing on Media Day and other watchers haven’t
seen him in action. Sorry to say, I didn’t inquire about him during the Garrett
Q&A.
If
the schedule as Garrett told me the last time we talked is still in force, the practices
have now shifted away from installation of offense to preparation for Monmouth –
and Spt. 9 opponent Sacred Heart as well. With nationally ranked Villanova and
Ivy League cofavorites Harvard and Princeton as the Leopards’ other
non-conference opponents, the first two games seem to have more than incidental
significance.
I’m
hoping I’ll see a contact practice this week and have a better idea. I’ll be
writing a season preview in the next 10 days and would like to get some lineups
nailed down, but I’m not holding my breath.
Coach Garrett may favor fast practices, but he doesn’t mind keeping his
foot on the brake when it comes to sharing his personnel.
No comments:
Post a Comment