No more tackling in 2016 for Lafayette's Brandon Bryant. Bummer. |
It
doesn’t seem right to start a blog like this with an injury report, but this
isn’t just any injury. It’s Brandon Bryant, a guy who was on target to put his
name among the best linebackers in Lafayette history before this year was
finished.
Now,
the 5-11, 225-pound junior from Cherry Hill, N.J., will be spend the rest of
this year and probably the first half of next year rehabbing his knee after a
freakish accident in the first quarter of Saturday night’s game with Holy
Cross.
Here’s
how Bryant put it in an email to me: “I was blitzing off of the edge and as I
was grabbing the QB (Crusader Geoff Wade), my body swung out to the side. My
knee bashed into his and caused my leg from the knee down to wipe.”
What
makes the thing freakish is that the “his” in Bryant’s statement is Leopard
teammate Beau Bosch, who also was chasing down Wade. Wade got away and Bosch and Bryant went down
to the turf in opposite directions. Bryant tried to get up and walk, but he was
unable to do that. When he went back down, I knew it was not good. I just didn’t
know what not good meant.
Both
players got back to the bench. Bosch was able to return to the game a bit
later. Bryant was done.
An
MRI on Sunday revealed torn ACL and MCL. End of season, And, because it came in
the fifth game of the year, no possibility of a medical red-shirt – if I
understand the rules correctly. Anything beyond the fourth game is considered a
full season.
Brandon
had registered two tackles before going out, giving him 41 for the year and 249
for his career. He had 114 last year and was on pace to get the same or more
this year. He was snubbed by the Patriot League coaches and sports information
directors in voting for a pre-season all-league team and he was using that as a
motivating factor. In an article in “The Lafayette” last week, he was quoted as
saying he wanted to be an All-American this year. I happen to believe he might
have reached that goal.
“Brandon
is very well respected and very well liked on this football team,” Coach Frank
Tavani said after the game Saturday night. . “I know he’s crushed and brokenhearted, and
I’ve seen this way too many times in my career. I just told a group of recruits
today, 30 kids and their parents in the room, I said, you better make a
decision, regardless, of the best academic situation for you because football
can be taken away from you – you get hurt walking across the street, stepping
off a curb, getting hurt in a football game. These things happen. You see it on
the pro level, on the college level, everywhere. It’s a physical game and
things happen.”
I’d
almost guarantee you that, not long after his surgery, Bryant will be back on
the sidelines, crutches and all, to be encouraging his teammates. Because Tavani doesn’t name junior captains,
Brandon didn’t qualify this year, but on the field, no one was a more positive
role model of the Effort, Attitude, Accountability and Toughness that has been
the Lafayette mantra this year. He plays with abandon, smiling all the while. He
was Mr. Dependability in that 4-2-5 setup. I’ll miss not seeing #33 flying
around there.
“I
will miss being out there, but next year I will come back even stronger! Since
he’ll have all winter to work on his upper body strength, I don’t doubt him for
a minute.
DREW REED -- Quarterback Drew Reed’s
short-term future is in limbo at this point, too, although Coach Tavani said he
was amazed at how good the senior quarterback looked Sunday after taking a
vicious helmet-to-helmet hit from Crusader linebacker Nick McBeath at the end
of a 10-yard gain on the opening series of the game Saturday. Reed was on the ground a long time before
finally being escorted back to the bench with what was immediately called “a
head injury.”
It’s
an injury that went unpunished despite college football’s increased attention
to such things. And Coach Tavani wasn’t happy about it. He addressed it with
the media after the game and then again with me on Sunday.
“(Game
officials were) telling me (Reed) wasn’t defenseless,” Tavani said Saturday
night. “That guy led with the top of his helmet, crown to crown. That play will
be reviewed, even though it wasn’t called. That will be reviewed by the league,
and you can believe I’ll be sending that out. I’m surprised he actually seemed
better than I thought he was. We’ll see how that protocol goes; something like
that is a 24-to-72-hour thing.”
On
Sunday, Tavani said he had spoken with Jim Maconaghy, the Patriot League’s coordinator
of football officials, who will review Tavani’s video of the play along with
league officials. Tavani said that there’s still a chance that McBeath could
have to sit out for the hit, even though no penalty was called at the time.
“That
rule was made just for a play like that,” Tavani said. “I don’t know if they’ll
do something, but I’m anxious to hear his explanation. The other officials told
the refer that Drew wasn’t defenseless. The referee told me that’s not the
rule, but he couldn’t make the call. “
Tavani
said the Lafayette medical people were concerned because Drew was on the turf
for so long. Reed will not be able to do anything Monday or Tuesday, and Tavani
said that by Wednesday, doctors could, after testing him, allow him to start
working out on a stationary bike or jogging. He would not be able to practice
until Thursday at the earliest, and Thursday is the team’s lightest practice
day. “We have to be careful with this things,” Tavani said, “our our people
have always thought it was better to err on the side of caution.”
Tavani
said Reed didn’t complain of a headache on Sunday and that he had slept and had
eaten on Saturday night, all good signs. But the coach was quick to caution not
to jump to any conclusions because the concussion protocol is pretty specific
and will be adhered to in this case.
I
can’t for the life of me think of any good reason why a defensive player would
lead with his helmet when such a collision could be just as damaging to him as
to the other guy. I don’t pretend to know anything about a kid’s intent, but I
surely hope that this was not a matter where a Holy Cross player saw an
opportunity to level the playing field somewhat by going after Reed. Holy Cross
was playing without its star QB, Peter Pujals, who suffered a lower leg injury
against Dartmouth.
BLAKE SEARFOSS – When Reed went down,
the job turned over immediately to the player who has been competing with him
for the starting job for all four years of their Lafayette careers. As Searfoss
said after the game, “When
it comes that time that you’re called upon, you’re ready to go. I mean, as far
as film watch and practice, I get the reps in practice; I understand defensive
tendencies and what our offense is trying to do. It’s not like this is the
first time I’ve been in this role. I’ve been in this role since my freshman
year, so, you have to know your role and be a great team player. I feel that I
will go to the best of my ability when called upon and I did today.”
Tavani
praised Searfoss. “That
takes a tremendous individual to do that. I said to him the week before last,
how you doing, hanging in there? I said I’ve never been in that situation so I
don’t know what it’s like. I don’t think I could do it. But he has handled it
as well as you can handle it. He had his best preseason camp; it was a fine
line, and maybe the other guy got an edge because he’s been there. But (as the
backup), you have to be able to keep your focus in practice, and he’s got to
prepare. He’s got to be on the sideline during every game watching and seeing
what happens and what would I have done in this situation. And it’s not easy
when you get out there to be perfect, but he did an exceptional job stepping in
there. And that’s what I told you guys in preseason. It’s a luxury to be in
that situation with two quality senior quarterbacks who are outstanding people
as well.”
I
looked at Lafayette’s four touchdown drives. They were:
·
13
plays, 74 yards, Searfoss completed 9 of 10 passes for 59 yards, including a
7-yard TD to Matt Mrazek.
·
8
plays, 75 yards, Searfoss was 5-for-6 for 49 yards, including a 13-yard TD to
Mrazek.
·
10
plays, 78 yards, Searfoss was 4-for-4 for 35 yards, including a 3-yard TD to
Mrazek.
·
7
plays, 73 yards, Searfoss was 5-for-7 for 68 yards, including a 16-yard TD to
Dylan Wadsworth.
In
the fourth period, Searfoss was sacked by Dewayne Cameron. The ball squirted
away and was picked up by Ryan Smith, who ran it eight yards for a defensive
touchdown. But, get this, Coach Tavani told me Sunday that the film shows that
should never have happened.
“Searfoss
is lying on the ground and the ball rolls out … but it was no fumble,” he said.
“I was standing right there.” He said
that play is another video clip that will go to Mackonaghy for review, even
though it won’t change anything. But, apparently, it’s a touchdown the
Crusaders never should have gotten credit for.
NOT-SPECIAL TEAMS – Coach Tavani cut our
Sunday conversation a bit short because he was to attend a special-teams meeting.
“That’s a meeting I don’t think I want to be at,” I told him, and he said, “No,
you don’t want to me there.”
Tavani
thought before the season that with so many quality young athletes on the
roster, he’d be able to use some of them on special teams to give starters a
break. But the plan isn’t working well. It’s most noticeable on kickoff return,
where the Leopards haven’t had a quality return in five games. Freshman Yasir
Thomas is the leader with 16 returns but only a 17.1-yard average. Since he has
never returned kickoffs until this year, he can get a bit of a break, but he’s
not getting help from his friends, either. Thomas’ long return is 30 yards.
But
the Leopards’ problems go deeper than that. Placekicker Jacob Bissell, a
Parkland High grad who can be seen regularly kicking 40-50 yard field goals in
practice and pregame, is just 4-for-7 for the year, with a long of 36. He
missed a 38-yard straightaway kick on Saturday after Lafayette had driven from
its own 14 to the Crusaders’ 21 while trailing 13-0. Last season, he hit five 40-and-longer field
goals on eight attempts.
Bissell
has put nine of his 21 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks, kicked one ouot
of bounds. Holy Cross returned two on Saturday, one for 28 yards and the other
for 29. Punter Ryan Forrester was having
a great year, but on Saturday, he hit one punt just 29 yards and one just 36.
He also hit a 52-yarder, but the coverage broke down and allowed Jake Wieczorek
to get a 41-yard return. “There was no one between the hash and the sideline,”
Tavani said. “You could have ridden your bike through that. Our special teams
play was probably as bad as I’ve ever seen it.”
My guess: there will be some changes on the kick-coverage unites this
week when the Leopards go to Fordham.
ATTENDANCE: 4,948 – I know it wasn’t the
best weather, and Lafayette’s 1-3 record wasn’t the best drawing card. But, it
was Homecoming, for goodness sake. Fisher Stadium was deserted. I couldn’t
believe it. Just for kicks, I looked back at Homecoming games for the years
since I came back to the Lafayette beat in 2008. This year’s number is far and away the worst
of the lot. Here are the others, right
off the stats sheets: 2008 – vs. Penn,
7,561; 2009 – vs. Fordham, 7,288; 2010 –
vs. Stony Brook, 6,036; 2011 – vs. Fordham, 5,567; 2012 – vs. Holy Cross,
8,521; 2013 – vs. Bucknell, 7,814; 2014 – vs. Holy Cross, 8,892; 2015 – vs.
Harvard, 7,108. I think the lack of
Lafayette student support of the football team is pathetic. The biggest gathering of students on Saturday
was the black-shirted protest group that stood and raised a “black power” fist
in air during part of the pregame, then performed the “Kaepernick sitdown” for
The National Anthem. I’m told the group was slightly larger than one that
protested a week earlier, but by halftime on Saturday, almost none of the
protester were still in the house.
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