The Tribe Has Spoken

Whether by seeing all the articles in the Daily Press and Gazette, turning the calender from July to August, seeing people older than 11 playing at Zable, or looking at that little counter to my left, the signs are clear that football is here.

Unfortunately, this year I was not able to do my media day interviews, which is a bummer since it was a lot of fun last year, but I have several articles to disect and a preview will be going up soon, as I have my media guide.

Also, there will be a lack of updates from August 10-17, as I will be at the beach without internet access, but shortly after that I will get up my preview.

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“I’m hoping after about 10 days to two weeks we’ll make the call as to what order we want to go in,” Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock said hours before the first preseason practice Monday.  “It would be a lot easier if one of them wasn’t doing well.

So we have a QB decision coming between August 16-20. All I ask is we have no 2-headed monster, as it never works. People constantly point to Florida last year, but fail to realize it involved 90% of Chris Leak and very little Tim Tebow. But that is as much as I will talk about the BCS. Because this is a strictly FCS blog.

“Whether it’s an unequivocal starter, I don’t know,” Laycock said.  “I don’t want to get into a drawn out type thing.  With that said, it will be close enough that whomever is the starter, if he’s not playing at the level we need it again could be a situation where somebody else will come in. “

Do people still think the musical chair quaterback scheme works? It didn’t work at all last year, it’s success rate in college football has to be very low, heck, even in baseball it doesn’t work(closer by commitee). But that he is picking one guy to start the year it good, as I think they will be more successful. Most of last season’s blame for lackluster offense should go to the offensive line, who rushed Potts and forced Phillips to make off-balance throws. Whoever gets picked will keep the job, and hopefully it is Archer as he, no doubt, has the highest ceiling.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-local-test2aug07,0,1653363.story

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“People got heated, got aggravated at me sometimes,” Cox said. “It happens. But then they realized it was for the better of the team and it was all good. It’s not personal, it’s football. When I demand something out of you, I’m not doing it to hear myself talk.“I’m not a very confrontational person by nature. I wasn’t trying to show anybody up. I just don’t want to look back one day and say I could have done something more and didn’t do it.”My boy, D-Cox. I can remember last year, when not only was he the most polite player, I got quotes like “If we pay attention in the team meetings, you know, we shouldn’t have any problems”. What a transformation after becoming the team captain as a Junior, and now seems to be the defensive team leader. That secondary will be good this year, with Cox at one of the corner spots and one of our only players that didn’t redshirt, true sophomore Max Harris, at the other, a player known for his hard hitting. The safties also should be very good, with Western Michigan transfer Robert Livingston taking over the free safety spot, and described in the media guide as the “Quarterback of the defense”, and one of our only other true sophomores, speedster David Caldwell locking down the strong safety spot.

My boy, D-Cox. I can remember last year, when not only was he the most polite player, I got quotes like “If we pay attention in the team meetings, you know, we shouldn’t have any problems”. What a transformation after becoming the team captain as a Junior, and now seems to be the defensive team leader. That secondary will be good this year, with Cox at one of the corner spots and one of our only players that didn’t redshirt, true sophomore Max Harris, at the other, a player known for his hard hitting. The safties also should be very good, with Western Michigan transfer Robert Livingston taking over the free safety spot, and described in the media guide as the “Quarterback of the defense”, and one of our only other true sophomores, speedster David Caldwell locking down the strong safety spot.http://www.dailypress.com/sports/columnists/dp-98930cm0aug07,0,2427167.column?track=rss
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“I set pretty high goals for myself in everything I do.  I don’t know if I would say I was a long shot, but it’s a lot tougher coming from a different position into the quarterback race.  Especially if the other two have so much experience and have won big games for us.  I like being the underdog.  It gives you a little more motivation. “

If this quote coming from RJ Archer doesn’t explain why I believe he needs to be QB, I don’t know what does. He obviously isn’t scared of a challenge and will come out firing if chosen as it may be the only chance he gets with Schmand coming into contention in 1-2 years.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/sports/tuesday.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-08-07-0073.html

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And that is all the updated goodness I have for now, but there will definitely be a complete, long, preview coming up in 2 or so weeks, so hopefully I don’t miss too much in that time.

Go. Tribe.