More on the QBs and other Lafayette stuff

So, what is Lafayette College football coach John Garrett thinking when he releases a depth chart with a three-headed starting quarterback position?

Can there be anything positive about telling the public and his season-opening opponent, William & Mary, that he will start Sean O’Malley OR Cole Northrup OR Keegan Shoemaker on Saturday night in Williamsburg, Va.?

I sat alone in the visitors’ grandstand at Fisher Stadium on Saturday to get my first in-person look at the 2019 Lafayette Leopards. Two other guys sat halfway up the home-side grandstand; as far as I could tell, no other visitors were present. I doubt very much that a W&M spy was lurking in the bushes, looking for the answer to one question: Who do we prepare for this week in practice?

Faced with the task of putting together a season preview package for The Morning Call, I figured I’d better see the team in action at least once. And, sure, I wanted to know who was emerging as the cream of the crop among the seven QBs who were in preseason camp.

In that respect, I guess the fact that freshman Shoemaker had moved in front of highly touted sophomore Fisher was the biggest revelation of the night.

But the fact that Garrett would not make a public commitment to one of the top three on Saturday after practice, on Monday when he listed a depth chart to give to the William & Mary folks, or on Tuesday at the weekly media luncheon makes me wonder if (1) Garrett is just too concerned about destroying the morale of the two “losers”; (2) Garrett is just intent on not giving the slightest bit of information to the Tribe staff; or (3) Garrett is planning to use the Saturday night game as a continuation of the three-man tussle even if it means diminishing his chances of pulling off some kind of upset of the CAA opponent.

Garrett went to great lengths to try to convince us that he had orchestrated a four-game, equal-reps competition between O’Malley and Northrup last season before O’Malley finally “grabbed the bull by the horns,” to borrow one of the coach’s favorite clichés. We know the facts don’t back him up on that, but that didn’t cause him to ever change his story.

I’m thinking maybe that, after careful deliberation between the head coach and the offensive coordinator, the Leopards will play all three “starters” on Saturday night, just to make us think Garrett’s mind is still open to any one of them taking charge. During the practice last Saturday night, when the Leopards devoted the final couple of periods to game simulation, he did rotate the three of them. What’s more, he sent Northrup out there first.

Did that mean anything? He later told me that the number of plays a guy gets in the game means more than whether or not he’s the starter, so I’m hoping he doesn’t mess with the heads of all three players with what looks like a major case of indecision.

For O’Malley not to start would be against everything Garrett has shown us in the past, when he stuck with the California kid through everything. If Northrup starts and is pulled quickly, he could consider the start to have been nothing more than a tease. And Shoemaker? Well, I think he should be thrilled to just be considered at this point.

MORE ABOUT SATURDAY

I thought Northrup had the best of it on Saturday evening. The left-hander definitely had my play of the practice when he rolled to his right, then turned and threw back across the entire field – and DOWN field, too – to freshman Joe Gillette for a good gain. Not a touchdown, but that didn’t matter. It was what this team needs.

All three of Garrett’s “starters” had some problems during the practice, too. O’Malley’s first pass in 11-on-11 was right into the hands of #12. The problem for O’Malley was that #12 is defensive back Otis Thrasher, who turned the interception into a pick-6. O’Malley followed that up with a scramble that would have been a sack if the quarterback was “live”. I’m sure that wasn’t the start the presumptive starter would have wanted.

But He was not the only QB with problems. In fact, Northrup, who I thought was the best overall, had a couple of badly overthrown balls and things for the QBs would have been a lot worse had it not been for at least four catchable balls that were dropped by defensive players.  I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the defensive guys, so I don’t want to mis-identify those who dropped balls, but I’m certain those drops came up when the film of the practice was reviewed.

It’s difficult, too, to get a good assessment of the running backs when they are not being tackled. But the play of the day on Saturday was turned in by J.J. Younger, who somehow must have elude a “thud” and suddenly broke into the clear and ran about 70 yards for a “touchdown” with no one giving chase.

The guys who had the most fun, though, might have been tight end Jake Taggart and freshman QB Shoemaker. Shoemaker hit Taggart with a short pass, and Taggart took it into the end zone for a “touchdown” – and finished off the play with a spike that would have drawn a flag during a game but which he probably loved in practice. It got a big reaction from everyone on the field, too.

SOMETHING TO PONDER

After finishing this blog, I was doing some reading on past Leopard games and discovered something interesting.

In 2010-11, Lafayette had a combined record of 6-16. In 2012, the Leopards went on the road to start the year. The opponent was William & Mary.

Lafayette probably had no business winning that game, which had, among other things, a 78-minute delay because of lightning and storms. But on a night when Vaughn Hebron started ahead of a sophomore named Ross Scheuerman, Lafayette pulled off a 17-14 stunner. 

Just sayin'.

EXTRA POINTS – I feel bad about not having more to say about the defense, but those guys were playing with their hands tied on Saturday. And with no free TV on the W&M game, the only reports we’ll get are from any of the Lafayette Sports Fan Forum crew who go to Williamsburg. Oh, maybe I’ll get a Sunday phone call and a critique from a game spectator, but I do plan to look on goleopards.com or on the W&M website for some live stats. I read on the LSFF that there is a radio broadcast people might be able to stream on their computers. Station WTYD 92.3 if you’re willing to give it a try. The Lafayette Sports Network will carry only six games this season. I asked SID Phil LaBella about that and he responded that it has become increasingly more difficult to get the road games because other schools have their own deals. That’s a bummer for those of us who have been spoiled for so many years. I can’t understand, though, why anyone would not welcome a second station just to get its name and its program more recognition. We really have it good with Mike Joseph’s analysis to go along with Gary Laubach’s play-by-play. I’ll miss them. … The biggest surprise for me on Saturday was that Troy Fisher had apparently been demoted to No. 4 quarterback. The kid is big with a strong arm and came from a successful high school program. Something just hasn’t clicked at Lafayette, and I’m frankly surprised he didn’t go the Brycen Mussina route and find himself another place at which he could show his stuff. Or, it’s simply a matter of the importance of a Lafayette education for his future. … Freshman Alex Barshaba was with the No. 1 offensive line throughout the Saturday practice. Big boy at 6-6, 315. Because cocaptain Jake Marotti was not practicing, another freshman, 6-3, 265-pound Nathan Slater was at left tackle. Those two kids are sure to be tested Saturday night because defense is reportedly the W&M strong suit … Coach Garrett said he expected all his players to be ready to play against the Tribe, but a lot of them were not participating on Saturday evening. Injuries are the coach’s least favorite pregame topic. So, we won’t know until we see who was NOT on the participation chart against W&M.