FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Sigh, no wonder I don't check the boards as often as I used to....

[Spurrier]

I don't know about attending BC and all that...but I'm going to stay at a holiday inn express tonight so ill make sure to chime in tomorrow about QB play

[Pat Coleman]

I don't know about attending BC and all that...but I'm going to stay at a holiday inn express tonight so ill make sure to chime in tomorrow about QB play

+1

[Dr. Acula]

After the lull of the bye week we actually get a couple of very intriguing match ups to open OAC play.

BW @ ONU
It's going to be interesting to see how BW looks coming off that head scratching opener against Bluffton.  For some reason I feel like the Jackets are going to bounce back and play tough this week.  For ONU I think this is a bigger game simply because they may be able to contend and if they hope to this is obviously a must win.  Plus I'm interested to see how Freed looks this week after a stellar debut.

JCU @ Berg
This is the prime time game to me.  I think this game gives us a good initial look at how the OAC shakes out in 2015.  JCU has dominated better Berg teams recently, but has JCU slipped too?  I still think JCU wins this game fairly easily.  If they load up against the run and stop Lacey/Vocke I just don't think Berg can consistently move it through the air against JCU.

The rest of the games are pretty pedestrian.  Mount will roll Musky obviously.  Ott should handle Etta.  If they don't after the way Etta looked against Denison then there may be some issues in Westerville.  Especially after that opener.  Not exactly confidence inspiring.  Cap/Wilm is actually interesting in so far as Wilm is actually 1-0 and Cap had some positives from their loss to Witt. 

[Toph]

BTW I see that the Brownies signed Blanchard from UWW into their QB ranks. Just wondering - why no love for Kevin Burke?

I have a unique perspective on this. Having attended Boston College before Flutie, I remember his college career. There are a lot of similarities between KB and Flutie. Smaller, active QB with a knack for finding the open man. KB could try to go pro as a QB but I think, if he wants a long term career, he should consider at WR. He has the speed and I am sure he could be a receiver like Golden Tate.

bceagle, you're clearly a very nice guy, but these comparisons deserve a serious come on, man.  Kevin Burke was a phenomenal Division III player at QB, but we're playing in an era in which acceptance of smaller, quicker QB's in spread offenses is probably greater than ever (at least on the collegiate level), certainly much moreso than it was in the mid-1980's, and he did not get any D1 offers (I assume?) while Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy and Golden Tate won the Biletnikoff Award.

Golden Tate weighed 199 pounds at the combine while running a 4.42 in the 40 and bench-pressing 225 for 17 reps.  My guess is that Burke cannot duplicate any of those numbers, although I may be wrong about this.  Tate is bigger, faster, quicker, and spent his college career putting up 100-yard games against the likes of USC and Pitt.  Burke would need some serious time to make that kind of adjustment - making a position switch while going from D3 to the NFL...Julian Edelman is a much more realistic comp for Burke, being a small white guy who started at QB for Kent State and made a successful transition, but I mean, Eric Crouch won the Heisman at QB and never could hack it as an NFL wide receiver.  Terrelle Pryor just got cut from the Browns. 

Burke and Flutie may be similar in the sense that both are shortish guys who can run and play the QB position with guile, but you can't possibly think Burke and Flutie are in the same stratosphere, and the same goes for Tate.  This is almost as bad as the UWW guys dreaming about Blanchard making the Packers over Brett Hundley and Scott Tolzien.

I respectively disagree with you. The reasons Flutie was as good as he was were not his physical attributes. Flutie had (& still does have) the heart of a champion, incredible intuition and an innate ability to find the open receiver and get the ball to him. I think Kevin Burke posesses his own great attributes. I think his abilities can translate to career in pro football if he wanted to pursue it. There are a number of receivers in the NFL today of small stature.

So the question is where do I pull the knowledge from that backs up my conclusions? I have said on this board that I went to Boston College. I also played football there. I personally knew a number of guys who went on to play in the NFL. They played both skilled positions and in the line. Some had long careers. Let me tell you in college football talented players are a dime a dozen. Every kid who even gets a look by NFL scouts has loads of talent. The question is what do they do with the talent. I knew a guy in college that was a QB and could through the ball 90 yards in the air. Yet the last I heard of him he was a three time loser doing time Louisiana. Yes, JJ Watts could probably make him go splat, no argument, but JJ Watts makss a lot of people go splat.

I believe Kevin Burke has the heart, the intelligence, the focus and the will to be successful at whatever he wants to do whether it includes football or not. That is what makes a winner. This is where he directly compares very well with Flutie. Incredible athleticism is only one charactetstic of great football players. Bottom line: if you work your butt off and are prepared when the opportunity presents itself for success in life as well as football, you must have the focus, will, heart and intelligence to make your dream a reality. I am getting off my soapbox now.

Professional football is a very, very different place now, even from the late 90s when Flutie got his second shot in the NFL.  Defensive players are faster and stronger.  A defensive end today is built much more like a linebacker 20-30 years ago.  While nothing that you're saying is untrue, the fact of the matter is Randy Moss is a hall of fame wide receiver, and he barely made an effort at times during his career, and Jason Trusnik is a journeyman special teamer and he gives it everything he's got on every play.  Talent matters, and often, that talent is just God given. 

I would love to see Kevin Burke in the NFL, but he's a small, D3 quarterback with a funky delivery, average arm strength (for anywhere outside of D3), and average speed (again).  The odds are stacked against him, and I just don't see why a team would take a flier on that.

[Sir Battlescars]

I don't know about attending BC and all that...but I'm going to stay at a holiday inn express tonight so ill make sure to chime in tomorrow about QB play

LOL
Sir Battlescars thinks Spurrier's post is funny.

[SaintsFAN]

HScoach?

[HScoach]

Saintsfan?

[Desertraider]

If we ran a bottom-rung SEC team out there this week - say, Kentucky - against Mount Union, what's the final score going to be?  Will all of the focus, will, heart, and intelligence make up for the fact that Kentucky has 85 dudes who merited FBS scholarship offers while Mount has maybe a handful that transferred or got small-school offers?

I'll take Mount

I just think its funny that a "why no love" for KB post - a one sentence post - warrants almost 2 pages of response and a thesis. However, +K - ya did your homework!

[ExTartanPlayer]

I just think its funny that a "why no love" for KB post - a one sentence post - warrants almost 2 pages of response and a thesis. However, +K - ya did your homework!

Humorously enough, I agree.

It's because the simple answer(s):

Because he's short, isn't a world class athlete like Mike Vick, has a funky delivery and has only good arm strength at the D3 level.   

The game of professional football has changed in the 30 years since Doug Flutie came out -- as much as I'd love to see Burke get a shot, he wasn't Doug Flutie, and Doug Flutie today might not even get the change he got in the mid-80s.

I would love to see Kevin Burke in the NFL, but he's a small, D3 quarterback with a funky delivery, average arm strength (for anywhere outside of D3), and average speed (again).  The odds are stacked against him, and I just don't see why a team would take a flier on that.

...apparently are no match for someone with the heart, focus, will, and intelligence to be a success!

[Sir Battlescars]

After the lull of the bye week we actually get a couple of very intriguing match ups to open OAC play.

BW @ ONU
It's going to be interesting to see how BW looks coming off that head scratching opener against Bluffton.  For some reason I feel like the Jackets are going to bounce back and play tough this week.  For ONU I think this is a bigger game simply because they may be able to contend and if they hope to this is obviously a must win.  Plus I'm interested to see how Freed looks this week after a stellar debut.

JCU @ Berg
This is the prime time game to me.  I think this game gives us a good initial look at how the OAC shakes out in 2015.  JCU has dominated better Berg teams recently, but has JCU slipped too?  I still think JCU wins this game fairly easily.  If they load up against the run and stop Lacey/Vocke I just don't think Berg can consistently move it through the air against JCU.

The rest of the games are pretty pedestrian.  Mount will roll Musky obviously.  Ott should handle Etta.  If they don't after the way Etta looked against Denison then there may be some issues in Westerville.  Especially after that opener.  Not exactly confidence inspiring.  Cap/Wilm is actually interesting in so far as Wilm is actually 1-0 and Cap had some positives from their loss to Witt.

I agree with you on the BW/ONU and Berg/JCU games. I think both games could be very exciting, but then on the other hand I just don't know what to make of the BW loss to Bluffton. Maybe Bluffton (and therefore Wilmington) is better this year than us OAC fans realize. It's hard to imagine that it was simply BW not getting up for that game since it was their first game of the season. If they don't get it together real soon, like tomorrow!, this could turn into one of their worst seasons ever, and you already know they are going to lose to Mount, JCU, Heidelberg and now probably Wilmington. Dang! I'm really worried about them.

[joelmama]

If you look at the totality of D3 players that have made an NFL roster in the last 15 years I think by position it has been dominated by receivers.  Linemen are generally shorter or lighter than most NFL players at those positions where size is helpful at receiver but there are plenty of small receivers that have been successful.  I think quarterbacks other than Johnny football and Drew Brees are pretty much 6 2" or greater.  Linebackers and D-Backs are also places where the best of D3 can also make it a bit easier.  Quarterbacks are such a longshot that even the best from D3 usually just get a passing look and that is all with the exception of Ballard but that was the mid nineties also.

[SaintsFAN]

Saintsfan?

Oh good, you're here.  Let's talk about Cleveland Browns football.

[SaintsFAN]

I just think its funny that a "why no love" for KB post - a one sentence post - warrants almost 2 pages of response and a thesis. However, +K - ya did your homework!

Humorously enough, I agree.

It's because the simple answer(s):

Because he's short, isn't a world class athlete like Mike Vick, has a funky delivery and has only good arm strength at the D3 level.   

The game of professional football has changed in the 30 years since Doug Flutie came out -- as much as I'd love to see Burke get a shot, he wasn't Doug Flutie, and Doug Flutie today might not even get the change he got in the mid-80s.

I would love to see Kevin Burke in the NFL, but he's a small, D3 quarterback with a funky delivery, average arm strength (for anywhere outside of D3), and average speed (again).  The odds are stacked against him, and I just don't see why a team would take a flier on that.

...apparently are no match for someone with the heart, focus, will, and intelligence to be a success!

****, with that in mind - 75% of the D3 kids who have the same heart should be absolutely pissed they don't receive invites to the combine.

[02 Warhawk]

Did Burke get an invite to tryout somewhere this preseason?