Old Man Mike
Fast as Lightning!
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This will be largely b.s., so don't take any of the details/opinions too seriously. Coach Kelly has often stated that he thinks "X" "Y" or "Z" on the team is capable of "winning" football, but that he doesn't know about "championship" football. Whenever Coach talks about "championship football", he always means a National Championship. Last year he used this exact verbiage to describe 9 players constituting his offensive line. [Martin, Stewart, Cave, Robinson, Dever, Romine, Nuss, Golic, and Watt were, I believe who he was referring to].
He would not go into who he felt was capable of playing "championship" football, and as a psychology master probably wouldn't. But I've wondered who we have that the staff thinks has proven to them that they are in this class. I am going to make my opinionated statements now for the stimulation and wrath of all: Looking at our team, and thinking in terms only of what has already been demonstrated on the field, I think that it is possible that the Staff judges only about seven, maybe eight, such players [i.e., "winners" but perhaps not "championship winners"].
My seven, in order of my opinion of best first are: 1). Mike Floyd;
2). Manti Te'o;
3). Harrison Smith;
4). Gary Gray;
5). Zach Martin;
6). Braxton Cave;
7). Tyler Eifert.
Others might be assessed by the Staff as close. My best guess for those would be a). the rest of the offensive starting line; b). Theo Riddick; c). Robert Blanton. Maybe Darius Fleming and Kapron Lewis-Moore would be viewed as having already proved enough, but since this is such a high standard, I doubt it. I also doubt that they'd be ready to put Cierre Wood in that class yet [remember, this is about "championship football" production].
When I look at my list, my admiration rises for what Diaco did with less "star-power" than the offense. Admittedly, Kelly had to battle the inadequacies of the key offensive position all year, so no knock on him. [again, remember this is not about winning a game but a championship]. I am also impressed at how this points out again how significant our need for rapid replacement of D-Backs is --- we are losing not only starters but championship quality starters.
When I meditate on these matters, they cool me off a little on the Kool-Aid. I have to admit that on many of the positions we haven't proved that we can play Championship football yet, even though we are good essentially everywhere. With this coaching staff though, maybe we don't have to be star-studded everywhere.
He would not go into who he felt was capable of playing "championship" football, and as a psychology master probably wouldn't. But I've wondered who we have that the staff thinks has proven to them that they are in this class. I am going to make my opinionated statements now for the stimulation and wrath of all: Looking at our team, and thinking in terms only of what has already been demonstrated on the field, I think that it is possible that the Staff judges only about seven, maybe eight, such players [i.e., "winners" but perhaps not "championship winners"].
My seven, in order of my opinion of best first are: 1). Mike Floyd;
2). Manti Te'o;
3). Harrison Smith;
4). Gary Gray;
5). Zach Martin;
6). Braxton Cave;
7). Tyler Eifert.
Others might be assessed by the Staff as close. My best guess for those would be a). the rest of the offensive starting line; b). Theo Riddick; c). Robert Blanton. Maybe Darius Fleming and Kapron Lewis-Moore would be viewed as having already proved enough, but since this is such a high standard, I doubt it. I also doubt that they'd be ready to put Cierre Wood in that class yet [remember, this is about "championship football" production].
When I look at my list, my admiration rises for what Diaco did with less "star-power" than the offense. Admittedly, Kelly had to battle the inadequacies of the key offensive position all year, so no knock on him. [again, remember this is not about winning a game but a championship]. I am also impressed at how this points out again how significant our need for rapid replacement of D-Backs is --- we are losing not only starters but championship quality starters.
When I meditate on these matters, they cool me off a little on the Kool-Aid. I have to admit that on many of the positions we haven't proved that we can play Championship football yet, even though we are good essentially everywhere. With this coaching staff though, maybe we don't have to be star-studded everywhere.
