The Bobcat Nation

On my way back from Billings yesterday afternoon, i stopped and watched about 1/2 hour of practice.
Joe Hirst is back in uniform, practicing at full speed, and taking reps at Right Tackle with the second team - they've moved DeCock to 2nd team LT.

Way to go Joe. Glad to see you back.

I just read something about that. It looks like he will get back into the game Saturday. Also read where Milton and Austin will both be active.

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articl ... uforce.txt

HelenaCat95 wrote:On my way back from Billings yesterday afternoon, i stopped and watched about 1/2 hour of practice.
Joe Hirst is back in uniform, practicing at full speed, and taking reps at Right Tackle with the second team - they've moved DeCock to 2nd team LT.

Way to go Joe. Glad to see you back.

Truly amazing how fast athletes can come back from that injury now days. Way to work hard and comeback so fast Joe!

WYCAT wrote: http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articl ... uforce.txt

The recurring thing I have heard from many Bobcat boosters/ parents etc. is that this staff recruits with a stop watch and doesn't look for heart. A lot of less athletic football players with real ability have been overlooked. They have to persevere by themselves (Ryan Force and E.J. Cochrane) in order to get a chance. Why not recruit these guys a little harder, take a closer look. We might find more Ryan Forces out there!

Especially when you are recruiting with a "stop watch" mentality, you are probably going up against the big time programs for the top end kids more often than not. Makes it pretty hard to get the ones you want.

But then if you don't recuit by the stop watch, you would be without Cooper and Joey last year, Dom, etc.

Having speed doesn't hurt and if you want to be champions you have to have it.

I agree that you have to recruit some guys just because of their size, speed, and/or talent, but if the bulk of your team has HEART, you'll always be a winner.

My classic example: Mac Mollohan, a first-team All-Big Sky performer last year as a true Sophomore & will undoubtedly earn at least that honor again this season and next...

I had the pleasure of watching Mac first-hand during his Flathead High career and I can tell you that out of ALL the kids from here who've gone on to play collegiately, Mac was the one I most wanted to become a Cat.

The Cats didn't even want him at first, but after looking closer, they saw what I saw since he was a high school sophomore: Not very big, not extremely fast, not overly strong, but you'll never find a kid with better FOOTBALL INSTINCTS or a BIGGER HEART. The kid was just flat-out born to play the game.

At one point during the recruiting process, I told Krames to simply look at 2 plays from Mac's senior season. Against Sentinel that year, on one play Mac blitzed, leaped OVER the fullback trying to block him & sacked the quarterback. On the very next play, he ends up covering a receiver and knocks the ball away some 30+ yards down the field. Mac is simply one of those kids who knows where the ball is going, and more often than not, puts himself in position to make the play...

I grant you that to win consistently, you MUST have some speed & talent at the "skill" positions (I hate that term, but you know what it means), but if the bulk of your team was filled with guys like Kane, Mac, Ryan Force, etc., we'd have a lot more hardware on the mantle.

GO CATS

Every winning team has that great blend. Heart and talent. When they are together, you have a Cooper.
Recruiting is a crap shoot that you hope you win more than loose. No school has an 100% success, even USC with all their studs.

Being a 1-AA you need to get lucky on both getting talent that wants to play and has drive and those players that are diamonds in the rough that become great in college. These diamonds in the rough have speed/talent that is boarder line and their heart and drive pushs them to success beyond expectations.

At the 1-AA level you get the ones left from the big schools, such as OL that are Tall and Athletic, but not heavy (i.e. Swaggert, Hirst, Jensen) but put on weight once they arrive. The big schools get the Tall, Athletic, and Heavy kids from High School.

When you get both, the hardware follows.

My only question is which one of the five starting olineman gets put on the bench? With Joe on the edge of coming back to game shape, does kramer just give him his spot back or does he have to beat out bolton for it? And if he gets his spot back, which one of the five doesn't get to play.

I would think that bolton would return to guard just because that is his position, but then who gets bumped out and goes from playing every play to not seeing the feild?

Either Jenson or Figs.....

I gotta think that you slide Figs out and Bolton goes in and Hirst takes over his tackle spot. Too bad those big bodies weren't on the left side to cover Lulays blindside. Oh well, great problem to have. Great to have you back BIG JOE!!

BobcatLionFan, this staff didn't recruit Joey T. U of Washington wanted to move him to Safety or Outside Linebacker because they felt he wasn't fast enough to play corner. His cousin, Latrel Williams was a new freshman on the team and told the staff that Joey might be interested in transferring. One of the coaches on the staff knew Bobby Hauck (his position coach at Washington) and contacted him, to find out what was going on. Bobby said he was a good kid but probably couldn't play there. They were happy to get rid of him and open a scholorship. The cat staff offered Joey a scholorship sight unseen. Never saw film or anything on him. Joey transferred about a week and half into fall camp.

Thanks, didn't know the timing. Good to know.

Actually my thoughts were not about the current staff scouting plus or minus, but the need for speed and as noted combined with heart.

Speed is what is changing the game everywhere.
One of the biggest differences between High School and College Football and College Football and Pro is the speed at which things happen with bigger players.

All the players are faster. The teams that have the most speed on defense have a basic advantage. Then the difference between players with speed is who has the heart, the desire.

Thanks again for the note on Joey, he is a fast guy (4.23?)

BobcatLionFan wrote:Thanks, didn't know the timing. Good to know.

Actually my thoughts were not about the current staff scouting plus or minus, but the need for speed and as noted combined with heart.

Speed is what is changing the game everywhere.
One of the biggest differences between High School and College Football and College Football and Pro is the speed at which things happen with bigger players.

All the players are faster. The teams that have the most speed on defense have a basic advantage. Then the difference between players with speed is who has the heart, the desire.

Thanks again for the note on Joey, he is a fast guy (4.23?)

Agreed, you can't coach speed, but you can take a guy with speed/strengthen him up and teach him how to catch/tackle/block etc.

Speed kills in football, especially going against teams that miss tackles

4.23? Are you kidding me?

FSU only acknowledges 2 guys ever breaking 4.3 (Randy Moss and Deion Sanders) If Joey ran a 4.2 I'm impressed why isn't he starting, why wasn't he a first round draft pick?

Editorial License. 4.23, 4.32. He is still under 4.4 which is considered FAST. and Moss and Dione are just that step beyond (or were in the case of Dione).

The reason Joey was drafted was speed.

As to why not a 1st or 2nd. Simple reason is 1-AA.
Scouts and teams I think always wonder what they will always do against teams that will all be fast and big. It's a gamble taking a 1-AA, even in the 3rd rounder no matter what the speed and they don't want to gamble with 1st and 2nds. That is only 60 players in the nation.

As to starting, corners get burnt big time in the Pros. The majority don't do very well in the first two years. You can look at the list (Jammer was a 5th player taken, is just turning into a stud, Sammy Davis (1st rounder, didn't play first year and playing 2nd). on and on.

Will be interesting with Cooper this coming draft (3rd round? 2nd ??). He is another with all that speed. Others are bigger, but speed, got to love it. Catches things from behind when blocking thinks there is no way he can get there so why block him??

wbtfg wrote:Either Jenson or Figs.....

Kramer said yesterday that Jensen and Birkland need a break because they play on 100% hustle rather than experience...so I figure one of them will come out when Hirst cvomes back in for his limited number of plays.

Hirst goes to RT (for as you indicated a limited number of plays if that),

Bolton moves to one of two spots LT or RG, probably RG (where Fig is), not a LT.

Fig moves to Center (which he is naturally) or LG or LT (not really a LT) or sits, but he has been playing very well.

Wolf sits or Birkland or Birkland shifts to LT (????) and Jensen sits?

tough decisions, OL is doing well, but Hirst is all conference for a reason.

It will be great to have that depth on O-Line again. I think the O-Line has exceeded expectations (which were, granted, fairly low as the injuries mounted) so far, so hopefully having Hirst back will only improve upon that and still give the underclassman some playing time to continue to improve. This should be a great unit by next season!

Was anybody paying attention to Bolton against Weber? Kramer has him tabbed as a definite Sunday player. I don't think he had a good game against Weber. Anybody notice? How about the other games? Is he progressing or not?