FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[Teamski]

It's all about timing.  Anyways, the good thing about Wesley is its ability to reload.  Yeah, the quarterback issue has me concerned, but whoever gets the job inherits one hell of a receiving corps.  Add Jamar Baynard back into the mix and there you go.  I hope that the defense gets the care it needs to improve over the off season.  Improve the coverage schemes and things will really start to roll.  That said, the defense did improve over the year and had some real clutch stops to finish out the year.

Regardless, I just want Wesley to break through that damned glass ceiling for once.

-Ski

[thewaterboy]

It's all about timing.  Anyways, the good thing about Wesley is its ability to reload.  Yeah, the quarterback issue has me concerned, but whoever gets the job inherits one hell of a receiving corps.  Add Jamar Baynard back into the mix and there you go.  I hope that the defense gets the care it needs to improve over the off season.  Improve the coverage schemes and things will really start to roll.  That said, the defense did improve over the year and had some real clutch stops to finish out the year.

Regardless, I just want Wesley to break through that damned glass ceiling for once.

-Ski

Based on the QBs I saw this year, I would think Dan Kesack would be the frontrunner for the job at the moment.

[D O.C.]

Joe Callahan is a beast

AFCA thinks so.

[CNU85]

Good luck to Joe Callahan on Wednesday!!  I know of no other candidate that would better deserve the Gagliardi trophy than he.  No other quarterback has come close in victimizing the Mount Union secondary as Joe has. I remember the buz among the coaches when he showed up as a freshman.  I will be honest.  I didn't see what they saw.  But, Coach Knapp was adamant that Callahan was somebody special.  At the time I was thinking to myself, "yeah like anybody can be better than McSweeny!"  Boy, did I get my socks blown off.  Joe, you are real thing, my boy!  Bring home the hardware!   

-Ski

Isn't the Gagliardi also about Academics and Community Service? I noticed in the bio of each finalist a long list of football stats, a short brief on community service but nothing about their major or GPA. Did I miss something?

[jknezek]

Good luck to Joe Callahan on Wednesday!!  I know of no other candidate that would better deserve the Gagliardi trophy than he.  No other quarterback has come close in victimizing the Mount Union secondary as Joe has. I remember the buz among the coaches when he showed up as a freshman.  I will be honest.  I didn't see what they saw.  But, Coach Knapp was adamant that Callahan was somebody special.  At the time I was thinking to myself, "yeah like anybody can be better than McSweeny!"  Boy, did I get my socks blown off.  Joe, you are real thing, my boy!  Bring home the hardware!   

-Ski

Isn't the Gagliardi also about Academics and Community Service? I noticed in the bio of each finalist a long list of football stats, a short brief on community service but nothing about their major or GPA. Did I miss something?

The way it was explained to me once upon a few years ago, at this level of the Gagliardi, community service and GPA are more check marks than determining factors. In other words, did they do any community service? Yes. Ok, good enough. Are they passing? Yes. Ok, good enough. And then you get judged on the important part, the football stuff.

[HScoach]

Not necessarily.    Grades were the reason Greg Micheli was the nominee from Mount instead of Nate Kmic.  Greg was a scholar and Nate was your average college guy.  If it was just football like the Heisman it would have been an easy win for the all time leading rusher in college football history.

[Pat Coleman]

Well, and one thing to keep in mind -- the information that we and the Gagliardi folks posted publicly did not include a student's GPA, but the voter packets do. We just didn't make that stuff public.

[Pat Coleman]

Not necessarily.    Grades were the reason Greg Micheli was the nominee from Mount instead of Nate Kmic.  Greg was a scholar and Nate was your average college guy.  If it was just football like the Heisman it would have been an easy win for the all time leading rusher in college football history.

Things have changed a bit since 2008.

[HScoach]

^  if academics aren't part of the equation than I'm disappointed.    This is D3 non-scholarship football after all.   Not saying it's the first criteria,  but it should be a screening level determinant at the least.

[Pat Coleman]

^  if academics aren't part of the equation than I'm disappointed.    This is D3 non-scholarship football after all.   Not saying it's the first criteria,  but it should be a screening level determinant at the least.

It is but there's not as much emphasis on it.

[wesleydad]

Let me ask a question, and I'm going to preface this with the following statements:

1. Wesley was not a one-man show
2. Wesley has graduated a ton of great players and continued to be great
3. I have no idea who is coming back/in the pipeline there

With all that said, I'm curious: Is there a feeling at Wesley that the team missed their chance, so to speak, with Callahan?

I know that before him, McSweeney was great. So maybe the next Wesley QB will be even better. Still, it seems like Callahan was the kind of once-in-a-generation player few teams get more than once. Is there a sense that this was a golden opportunity missed for Wesley?

Missed opportunity, maybe.  It just goes to show you how good the other top teams are that Wesley as good as the QBs have been have not been able to get past Mount or UWW when push came to shove.  This years team got as far as they could get because of the offense.  Who else could they have beaten, don't lose to Salisbury and I would have liked to have seen how the brackets get set up and maybe they dont see Mount until this week.  All I know is that I dont think Mount would want to try and stop them again.  With that being said, I agree with Waterboy that the team that lost by 7, 28 - 21 was the best chance so far. If a certain person named Shorts isn't on that Mount team Wesley likely wins that game.  I am glad that they keep having missed opportunities, because that means they are in the hunt.  As frustrating as it may be to us Wolverine fans I would rather that than think they have no chance in August.

[jamtod]

Not necessarily.    Grades were the reason Greg Micheli was the nominee from Mount instead of Nate Kmic.  Greg was a scholar and Nate was your average college guy.  If it was just football like the Heisman it would have been an easy win for the all time leading rusher in college football history.

This seems completely consistent with the logic presented above. Civic involvement and academics are a first filter, thus Kmic did not pass that first barrier. If he had, perhaps he would have been a favorite.

[edward de vere]

No doubt about it - If Mount didn't have its best quarterback in the 2009 game, and also didn't have its second-best quarterback in that same game, then Wesley might have won.

[CNU85]

Well, and one thing to keep in mind -- the information that we and the Gagliardi folks posted publicly did not include a student's GPA, but the voter packets do. We just didn't make that stuff public.

If GPA is remotely related to the award, then the finalists should have that info released to the public. If it really doesn't matter, then don't advertise that it is an award based on football achievement, academics and community service. Don't get me wrong - I would be totally ok if the award was based on performance on the field. But the Gagliardi folks then should just say it. We (Americans) are always trying to make something more than it is. Always trying to make things politically correct. Drives me insane!!

And the winner of the Best Dang D3 Football Player of the Year Award is: _____  and leave it at that.

Say what you are doing and then do what you said.

[pg04]

I feel like I see more people bring up anger about political correctness these days than I see actual issues with political correctness.

It feels like such a non-sequitur to me in this case.