Lafayette football: views from the press box

This is an important week for John Garrett. On Wednesday, he will reveal the names of the first early signees for his 2018 Lafayette College football team; and a couple of days later, he will observe the first anniversary of his first year as the man occupying the office in the corner of the Bourger Varsity Football House.

For the record, Lafayette will make its signing day announcement during the halftime of the women’s basketball game, according to sports information director Phil LaBella. LaBella said Garrett will be interviewed by Mike Joseph of the Lafayette Sports Network. That will bear watching. Game time is noon.

I asked Phil if a student-athlete who signs a letter of intent and who graduates from high school in the middle of the 2017-18 year would be able to enroll at Lafayette for the second semester in January and thus be eligible to participate in spring practice.

Phil said he had to check with the compliance people on campus and he later responded by email, saying, “As long as a student-athlete has graduated, they are allowed to enroll early and participate in practice. All of the NCAA requirements must be completed along with initial eligibility requirements (proof of grad, amateurism, test scores sent to eligibility center).” So, we’ll see how that plays out.

But for now, I’m going to attempt to put together my thoughts about my 10^th year as the Lafayette football beat writer for The Morning Call. I don’t think anything I’ve written in my 53 years as a journalist has been more challenging in many ways.

  

When Garrett was announced as Frank Tavani’s successor, less than a week before Christmas of last year, I immediately thought it would be a perfect time for me to “retire” again. After nine years of this voice, I figured perhaps the new coach deserved a fresh new guy on the other end of the question-and-answer sessions.

But, then I thought about guys like Brandon Bryant and Matt Mrazek, both of whom would be seniors in 2017. I thought how I watched them suffer through those horrific 2015 and 2016 seasons, piling up some glowing personal statistics while winning just three games in 22 starts. I wanted to see them take something far greater away from their football careers on College Hill. And, I wanted to see it up close and personal.

So, I stayed.

Well, it never got up close and personal. And at this moment, the chances of my returning for an 11^th season are slim. The traveling and the night games are taking their toll on this old guy. And, I don’t need to devote three or four days a week for four months or more on something that is becoming work.

 Except for defensive coordinator Luke Thompson, who was far and away the best hire Garrett was able to make, and Rich Bartel, who I thought had great potential to make good quarterbacks into great ones but who abruptly left the program in June, I never met any of the other assistant coaches who were brought in by Garrett. I thought that was strange, yet it was very much in character for Coach Garrett, who let it be known early on that he wanted every bit of information to be funneled through him.

In my opinion, things never really got better for the Leopards as a team in 2017, either, and both Mrazek and Bryant were victims of snubs that I found unbelievable – Mrazek  by the Lafayette coaches and Bryant by the people who put together postseason all-star teams. More on that later.

Lafayette finished with a 3-8 record. Some people, myself included, got really fired up when the Leopards posted back-to-back victories over Holy Cross and Fordham to take a 2-0 first-place record into their third league game. That was when we thought the Crusaders and the Rams might be able to challenge for the league championship.

But by the time the season was over, Holy Cross (3-3 in league, 4-7 overall) had fired head coach Tom Gilmore – in the middle of the year – and Fordham (3-3, 4-7) coach Rich Breiner resigned to take a job as an assistant coach with Joe Moorhead at Mississippi State. Neither the Crusaders nor the Rams came near to meeting their expectations.

The Leopards, despite putting their hopes for revival in a head coach who came to them as an offensive coordinator but had never been a head coach during his quarter of a century of experience, didn’t impress anyone when they had the ball. If you thought it was tough in 2015, when they scored only 150 points, it slipped even lower (to 132) in ’17.

Losing experienced o-lineman like Kevin Zataveski (season-long NCAA suspension), Cam Smith (injured in second game) and Logan Grieser (injured in fourth game) certainly had a detrimental effect. I understand that. The running game took the brunt of the hits, finishing with negative yardage in four games and topping the 100-yard mark only in the finale at Lehigh. But even in that game, after leading 24-14 in the first half, the Leopards rushed for only 14 yards in the third and fourth quarters.

While Coach Garrett stressed his team’s improvement – “a play here or there” … “just inches away” … “we’re driving the ball” … “getting better every week” – the results didn’t show it. Even in its three wins, the offense lacked pizazz (220 total yards against Holy Cross, 255 against Fordham and 166 against Georgetown). Fortunately for Lafayette, Holy Cross, Fordham and Georgetown were worse.

Nothing the Leopards did offensively from one week to the next gave the impression that the head coach or the offensive coordinator – in this case, one and the same – was willing to trying something different to light a fire. A handful of wide receiver reverses by the speedy Pearson in the first half of the Lehigh game caught the Brown and White defense off guard. A couple of passes by wide receiver Nick Franzese and some last-game wildcat runs didn’t fool anyone.

From my view in the press box, Coach Garrett’s biggest mistakes were: (1) wasting the talents and in effect destroying the career of Mrazek, the wide receiver who is second on the college’s list of career receptions; and (2) not giving another one or two of his eight quarterbacks some playing time when Sean O’Malley continued to struggle with inconsistencies like five pick-six interceptions among 15 total INTs, 28 sacks and a net 135 yards rushing.

My Leopard football commitment to The Morning Call ended back there on Nov. 18, when Coach Garrett treated Lafayette’s fan base and alumni to a performance that was so electric that the “2017 Post Mortem” thread on the Lafayette Sports Fan Forum drew all of eight posts.

Can we really say Coach Garrett “is teaching the kids how to win” (Franks Tanks’ words in a post on the Lafayette Sports Fan Forum) when we see inside running plays on 3^rd-and-12, third-down pass plays completed short of first-down distance or the many talents of wide receiver Mrazek being flat out ignored in any game situation?

WHAT HAPPENED TO MRAZEK?

Example: On the second series of the Georgetown game – in which, you’ll remember, Lafayette scored just SEVEN points – Mrazek caught a Sean O’Malley pass across the middle for a 19-yard gain and a first down at the Hoyas’ 26.

I thought, oh, boy, maybe this is finally going to be Matt’s day! What followed? Three running plays (including the heretofore mentioned 3^rd-and-12) that left Lafayette with a 4^th-and-10, and then a missed field goal to punctuate the “teaching” experience.

Mrazek caught nine passes for 80 yards and a TD in the season opener; and when he went virtually unnoticed in the second game with three catches, Garrett was asked about it. He gave a long answer during which he told us Matt was “still a big part of this thing,” and added that “we don’t really worry about this guy getting that ball. All the guys can play all the positions, so we just plug them in and it naturally spreads itself around.”

The thing was, unfortunately, someone either pulled the plug on Mrazek or never even plugged him in the rest of the year. A guy who had proved over and over again that he could outfight anyone for a ball anywhere near him never scored another touchdown after Game 2. He finished the season with only 28 catches – 19 in the 10 games that followed the Monmouth game. Oh, he started every game, giving the impression that he mattered to the offense, but that’s where it ended.

Mrazek should have been the first or second option on every pass play; instead, he was Lafayette’s version of the “Lonesome End.”

Well, not exactly, because Bill Carpenter, who earned that nickname as the Army split end of the late 1950s, became, according to coach Earl Blaik, “the greatest end I ever coached at West Point”. Mrazek, one of the greatest ends to play at Lafayette, closed out his career as a decoy. It was painful for me to watch; I can only imagine the anguish it might have caused Matt.

Are we to think a freshman quarterback intentionally didn’t look for a senior of Mrazek’s talent? If that were the case, shouldn’t Coach Garrett have and corrected the situation? If there was a problem between Mrazek and wide receivers coach Gunnard Twyner, or between Mrazek and quarterbacks coach David Girardi, shouldn’t the head coach have straightened things out for the betterment of the team?

Who was calling the plays? The head coach. The offensive coordinator. The guy who admits he doesn’t really “worry about this guy getting that ball” and that “we just plug them in and it naturally spreads itself around.”

Maybe coach Garrett SHOULD have been worrying about who WASN’T getting the ball. I’m told even opposing coaches were asking whether Mrazek had physical issues that limited his effectiveness.

I interviewed Mrazek on Lafayette’s media day midway through preseason camp. He was gung-ho at that point. I’ve heard several versions of what might have happened to the relationship between coach and player, but I never asked Mrazek or Garrett about it because I felt terrible for Matt and I sensed early on a reticence on Garrett’s part to discuss personnel. I couldn’t help but notice, however, that when the seniors were pictured with Coach Garrett on the cover of the Colgate game program, Matt was positioned alongside of the coach and there was no expression of happiness on Matt’s face.

I’m sure Matt went into preseason camp hoping to have the kind of year that would attract NFL scouts to Lafayette games and practices and perhaps end up with an invitation to the February combine – or at least to a number of pro days. But he had just 10 catches in six league games in 2017; last year, he had 40. I’d like to see him have a chance to work out for the pro scouts, but I don’t think he’ll be getting any glowing recommendations from Coach Garrett.

There’s more to the Mrazek story and if he should get an invitation to someone’s pro day, maybe I’ll have a chance to give more.

IS QB SPOT UP FOR GRABS AGAIN?

One of the first things we learned when Garrett was named the head coach was that there would be “no incumbents” for the 2017 Leopards. All positions were declared wide open, and the attention was immediately focused on the quarterback spot, where Lafayette was going to have a new starter anyway because of the graduation of Drew Reed and Blake Searfoss.

Garrett took the search to another level when he brought in four freshmen to challenge Josh Davis, who was recruited as a QB, later moved to wide receiver and now decided he wanted to finish his career back at QB, and three other holdovers from the Tavani era, none of whom had ever taken a single college snap. Davis came out of spring camp as the presumptive starter, but once the frosh joined the battle, and after Davis was slightly injured, things changed.

After two weeks, O’Malley, a walk-on who had no scholarship offers on national signing day and didn’t pick Lafayette until several weeks later, began to assert himself, but it wasn’t until four days before the season opener that Garrett made it official. He spoke in glowing terms about O’Malley and added, “It’s going to be a great story … It’s going to be a great, great memory and I have great confidence that he’s going to play well and lead the team.”

Garrett never said it, and wouldn’t admit it now, but from that point on, the QB competition was ended. Cole Northrup got the only other snaps at the position, and they came midway through the fourth quarter of a 59-0 loss to Villanova. Northrup deserved much better. It wasn’t mop-up duty; it was worse.

The coach was at his best when O’Malley needed a soft touch most. After the Bucknell game, in which two O’Malley passes were intercepted and returned for touchdowns – one to win the game in overtime – Garrett said, “He’s the last person I’m concerned with. He’s such as competitor and he, more than anybody, can flip the switch. He loves football and loves to prepare. I really just encouraged him after the game how much I enjoyed watching him compete and never to lose that. He’s ready to go.” O’Malley was 16-for-30 for 90 yards in the game.   

  

After a less than overwhelming 7-0 win over Georgetown, the coach said, “I don’t know if there’s a piece missing (on offense) as far as talent or anything, it’s executing consistently and finishing plays. We’re really close. We’re improving every week. Defenses make it hard; matchups make it hard. But we like how the guys are battling, how they are competing and just a few plays here or there and it could be a different game.” O’Malley was 17-for-25 for 101 yards and no scorers (but no interceptions, either)

And even after the Lehigh game, in which O’Malley was 6-for-18 passing for a measly 43 yards, Leopard fan Franks Tanks posted, “Our quarterback didn’t seem to understand who may be open on a given play.” O’Malley was no longer an untested rookie against Lehigh. But Garrett said, “Despite the loss we have great momentum going forward.”

Would anything have been any different if a couple of the backup quarterbacks were given a shot? We’ll never know that, but if those other guys were working hard every week, and because O’Malley never did seem to get comfortable with what was being asked of him, the head coach had plenty of opportunities to shake things up and reinforce his no-incumbents position. As it was, O’Malley seemingly was permitted to make a plethora of mental and mechanical mistakes without having to pay a penalty for it.

When O’Malley was handed the reins in September, he immediately became eligible for comparisons to Reed, who was inserted into the Lafayette lineup at midseason in 2013 and was sensational in bringing the Leopards back from a 1-5 start to a Patriot League championship.

Reed was far better as a freshman than O’Malley. However, Reed didn’t get any better during the next three years. Will O’Malley have a chance to get better?

Will one of the other quarterbacks be given a fair chance to jump ahead of him?

Is quarterback Troy Fisher, who has been listed as a verbal commit to Lafayette since August and who has big-time credentials, going to sign a letter of intent this week?

Is it possible that Lafayette will again have a freshman at quarterback when it opens the 2018 season?

Will any of the other seven QBs currently on the roster be leaving Easton for better playing opportunities rather than playing the Garrett game again next spring and/or summer?

Lots of questions to be addressed.

  

WILL THE OFFENSE IMPROVE?

After falling behind 24-14 in the first half of the season finale, Lehigh did what had to be done; Coach Garrett inexplicably did not.

Without Pearson to run that end around reverse or speed sweep that led to 95 yards rushing in the first half, Coach Garrett apparently had no one else ready to try it in the second. Given the fact that Pearson was coming off a five-game injury rehab, there should have been another option – just in case.

If coach thought he could outguess the Brown and White defensive staff by changing his scheme rather than trying what worked for 30 minutes, he was badly outcoached. The Leopards gained only 24 yards and ran just 14 offensive plays in the second half; Lehigh ran 48 plays for 344 yards. That was about as flat a half as the Leopards played all season – and it came in Game 11!

I found it interesting that a young kid like Pearson would take responsibility for his shortcomings – “I need to do a better job holding on to the ball. I had a couple fumbles out there and that can’t happen,” he said, even though both fumbles were recovered by the Leopards, who went on to score a touchdown and a field goal. Coach Garrett, on the other hand, took none of the second-half offensive failure on himself when it was over.

He said Lehigh “overcame adversity” and “I’m proud of our offense and also proud of our defense, the way they were able to contain Lehigh. (Lehigh) didn’t change (in the second half). A couple (Lafayette) drives got behind the chains a little bit with lack of execution and it’s hard when you are 3^rd-and-10 or longer. Credit to them; they were able to stop us and they moved the ball better than us in the second half.”  

The same weekend that Lehigh defeated Lafayette, the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL lost a game to the 1-8 New York Giants. After the game, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of his team’s many problems, “We are going to take care of business and tighten things up … so we are more disciplined. That’s directly reflected on me. I need to make sure I do my job better.”

Garrett talked many times about fixing things and “we’re gonna be fine” and “I’m so proud of our (fill in the blank)”.  But I can’t remember one time during the season that he took the kind of personal accountability for the Leopards’ that Reid did for the Chiefs.

AND ON THE FLIP SIDE …

If the Leopards’ offense never caught the wave that might have carried it over the rough seas in which it found itself most of the year, the defense found a way to finally live up to the expectations that had been put on it from the day Garrett was hired.

Maybe because he was so busy trying to get all those quarterbacks in line, Garrett allowed Luke Thompson to take a run with the defense. And, run he did.

Four weeks into the season we were asking what went wrong. Why weren’t the most experienced players on the team taking control? The defense gave up 166 points in four games. Would it never end? Are we headed for 0-11? The offense isn’t doing anything to help and we’re getting pushed around.

And then, the Leopards got into their league. Just like that, bam, bam, bam. Holy Cross, one touchdown allowed. Fordham, a touchdown and a field goal. Bucknell, no points (in a loss), Georgetown, no points. A loss to Colgate, and on Nov. 18 the Leopards went to Goodman Stadium with a chance – slim, for sure, but a chance nonetheless – to share the league championship and, if the cards fell right, maybe even go to the postseason playoffs.  

And against Lehigh, a fumble recovery leads to a Lafayette touchdown; then, another fumble and Leopard recovery leads to a field goal. Another half like that and Brandon Bryant, Phillip Parham & Co. become heroes on the Hill. But for whatever reason, the Leopards were shredded to pieces by Brad Mayes, Dominick Bragalone, Troy Pelletier & Co. while the offense also took a dive, allowing the Brown and White to regroup and win 38-31.

Bryant, who came roaring back from extensive knee surgery to record 133 tackles (7.5 for losses), three sacks and a pass interception, was mysteriously overlooked in the balloting for Patriot League defensive player of the year, which went to a guy with 42 tackles and two sacks for a team that won just two games in the league. It was an awful snub. Bryant ranked No. 3 in the country in tackles per game, He was a defensive player of the week in the league three times. Shame on the coaches and sports information directors (Lafayette voters could not choose their own player).

The coaches and SIDs didn't get it completely wrong. Bryant and Parham were both first team All-Patriot League, along with tight end Dylan Wadsworth, C.J. Amill (as the return specialist) and fullback Will Eisler. Rothrock, Jerry Powe, Eric Mitchell and Michael Turk were all on the second team. 

Overlooked again on the ECAC All-East squad, Bryant and cornerback Parham, who intercepted seven passes, broke up 12 more and made 56 tackles, were picked on the Associated Press FCS All-America second team. 

And most recently, Brandon was the top vote-getter in a Fan Choice FCS Comeback Player of the Year poll conducted  by herosports.com. It may not have been an officially-sanctioned award, but it was another chance for Lafayette fans to get behind one of their own. Way to go!  

Michael Root, a linebacker who was Lafayette’s second leading tackler, is the only Leopard who has applied for a medical red-shirt for the 2018 season. He had 77 tackles, four of them for loss, and 1.5 sacks this season.

DISSA AND DATA -- Matt Rothrock and Andy Lubadev, a pair of fifth-year defensive linemen, are among the leaders who will graduate from the deep defensive line. Also leaving will be Beau Bosch, who had an outstanding season with 38 tackles, 6.5 of them for losses.

On offense, the receiving corps takes a big hit at graduation, with Mrazek, all-league tight end Dylan Wadsworth, 2017 leading receiver Rocco Palumbo (48 catches, 42 yards, 4 TDs) and Nick Franzese; offensive linemen are Mike Donnelly, Cam Smith and Collin Raysor; graduating running backs are DeSean Brown and Rajhan Meriwether; quarterback Josh Davis and long snapper Michael Shiffert round out the list.

In checking the participation list in the 2017 statistics with the roster in the media guide, I found that 25 players never got into a game this year. The list includes:

SIX QBS – REED AICHHOLZ, JOSH DAVIS, MICHAEL LEWIS, AUSTIN MCCRUM, BLAKE MEYER, BRYCEN MUSSINA.

SIX OL – JOHN BURK, TREY FALLON, TANNER KERN, DYLAN MURPHY, AUSTIN PYNE, KEVIN ZATAVESKI

FOUR DB – KAIZER BUTLER, TOM MOORE, MIKE MURDOCK, COLIN THORNE

THREE LB – JJ CONN, TROY DIXON, JACOB ROSE

ONE RB – JJ YOUNGER

TWO TE – ANGUS EVANS, RYAN MONTEYNE

ONE WR – CHRIS GRANJEAN

ONE LS-DL – SEWART HACKLEMAN

ONE P-K – SAM VALE

THE GORILLAS IN THE ROOM

While the football team has a lot of offseason work to do, Garrett and his staff have to keep an eye on two other things that might affect the way they operate in the future:

·         the search for Bruce McCutcheon’s successor as director of athletics and

·         the overall review of the college’s athletics program.

Things have been pretty quiet on both fronts lately. The study was to have been completed long ago, but when McCutcheon announced his retirement back in September, the Vice President for Campus Life, Annette Diorio, who is heading the search committee for the AD, announced that the announcement of the findings of the study would be put on hold until an athletic director is found.

What that all means, I’m not sure. Will the new athletic director be immediately charged with studying the study and making his own recommendations about ways in which Lafayette can become more competitive in the Patriot League in all sports? Or, will he have to live by decisions about which he had no input.

I was recently told that the Friends of Lafayette Football group, which has a big annual commitment to the most visible sport in many ways, does not have a representative on the athletic director search committee? Can that be possible? Football and basketball figure to be the most-affected sports if recommendations of the study-review committee are to be implemented. To not have a voice in where their money is going makes no common sense.

When the study was first announced, college president Alison Byerly said that more money for athletics was not one of the things people should expect to see. But at this point, the college is asking the “Friends” groups to cover the cost of some things which would seem to be the college’s responsibility – like paying for scholarships. When the Patriot League went to football scholarships four years ago, FOLF was asked to pick up the cost of one scholarship each year. Not good.

Everyone is pretty much in the dark as to where things are headed. Will Lafayette be able to attract a dynamic athletic director with this study-review unsettled?

Like I said, gorillas in the room.

THE BEST OF THE LEOPARDS, 2017

I didn't realize until re-reading this epic today that I had not done the cut-and-paste job on the part of the piece that salutes some of the Leopards for their performances in 2017 -- because, there really was some reason to think things might get better under the right circumstances. So, here they are.

BEST OFFENSE PERFORMER  -- Pearson, who asked for the chance to move from defense to offense when Coach Garrett took over, played in only six games, but he really got people's attention. He ran the ball only nine times for 96 yards, but that big first half against Lehigh had Leopard fans wanting a whole lot more. In that one game, he had the longest run of the year (45 yards) and the most single-game rushing yards (95 yards). He caught 21 passes as O'Malley's favorite target when both were on the field together. He also returned five kickoffs for 127 yards, so, if he can get stronger and healthier, he should be a weapon for the next three years.  Honorable mention: C.J. Amill, who led the team in all-purpose yards with 861. Rocco Palumbo, 48 catches, 462 yards, 4 TDs were all team's best. 

BEST DEFENSIVE PERFORMER -- No contest. Brandon Bryant led by example all season long and looked like he was loving it every Saturday. The Leopards have had some good ones at this position in the last 15 years, and he's right there with them. I don't know if he has interest in continuing to play, but somewhere, there must be a place for an athlete like him. He had 133 tackles this year, 343 for his career. Defensive coordinator Luke Thompson will miss him, for sure. Honorable mention:  Again, no contest; it's Phillip Parham, with the most interceptions in one year in 30 years (7) and 19 passes defended overall.  Eric Mitchell, 3 interceptions, 7 others defended; Jerry Powe, 70 tackles (6 for losses), 2.5 sacks; Beau Bosch, 38 tackles (6.5 for losses), four passes batted down.

BEST SPECIAL TEAMS PERFORMER -- C.J. Amill electrified the Leopard fans and stunned the Lehigh fans with that 96-yard kickoff return TD. His 558 return yards provided some good field position, though too often in vain.  Honorable mention: Punter Michael Turk, 42.7-yard average on 67 punts. Sixteen of the punts were more than 50 yards and he didn't have any blocked; Jeffrey Kordenbrock, who may have not had the best year all-around after taking over for Jacob Bissell, but he did have that game-winning 43-yarder as time ran out against Holy Cross.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR -- This has to be quarterback Sean O'Malley, despite his many rookie mistakes. He did win a couple of league rookie of the week honors, and there were times when is passes were crisp and on money -- just not enough of them. He has a lot of work to do and a new hot-shot young QB in Troy Fisher added to the mix for 2018. I'll be interested to see how this competition goes. Honorable mention: Selwyn Simpson was one of four RBs who were used in an attempt to get something going. He started only one game but wound up the year as the team's leading rusher (172 yards) and scored twice. Turk also gets a shoutout for his final punting stats, which earned him mention on the all-league team.