You might ask: what’s the big deal about a backup punter transferring, Angry?
Well, I will tell you.
I saw Allen punt in person a handful of times, and he was light-years better than Johnny Hekker. We’re talking punts that went above the stadium, ala an NFL leg. His only downside was consistency.
It begs the question: why would Riley spend so much time developing an equally inconsistent punter with a worse leg in Johnny Hekker? Anyone who watched pregame kicking could see Allen was the man.
I’ll be curious to follow Allen’s career at Louisiana Tech. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t make the NFL, where as Johnny Hekker has no shot. To me this is as egotistical as Mike Riley gets. He wants to have a “great story” and “uncover a gem”…a high school QB turned punter. If Riley can get him to be all-conference by senior year it will continue his reputation as a talent evaluator. The problem with that logic is that any coach could turn an average athlete into an all-conference punter if given four years. Most don’t do it because it’s a large investment with little payoff. Hekker was a liability last year. Do not mention the Sun Bowl or any false positive statistics–he was a liability and has been a liability since he joined the team. Riley has not once used the one interesting facet of Hekker: his ability to throw on a fake punt.
The bottom line is that Ryan Allen was the man for this job and because of egotistical stubbornness Mike Riley let him walk. Another questionable decision. These are really beginning to add up. Little roster tweaks like this are a big deal. Riley puts practically zero emphasis on special teams and other than lucking into Alexis Serna it’s come back to bite him (e.g. Civil War, Stanford 2008, etc). The program is worse off today.
In other news, Moevao was denied an additional year. I don’t think any of us can make a good argument against that decision and it’s what we all expected. Personally, I’m glad to see the reigns handed over to a player with more upside.
Well, I suppose it could be worse- we could be having Oregon’s problems with their kickers.
Hekker is terrrrrible. Just like Kahut. Those two are going to make us pay over and over and over again.
“Hekker is terrrrrible. Just like Kahut.”
Yep, a 66% FG kicker and 39.7 punter is not going to cut it.
Why isn’t the media grilling Riley on letting Allen leave the program while his kicker shanked several punts in the Civil War and kicked to a 32 yard average. Someone in Oregon needs to learn how to ask difficult questions. Fans need to get their heads out of their asses and demand answers.
“Hekker is terrrrrible. Just like Kahut.”
http://www.pac-10.org/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120709aac.html
So apparently, because you think Kahut is terrible, all the Pac-10 coaches are wrong when they voted him the 2nd best kicker in the Pac-10? I’ll make sure to mention that the 1st kicker in the conference is Kai Forbath, Lou Groza winner. You have no clue what you’re talking about so keep it shut. You’re one of those annoying people at the stadium that are so damn negative and ruin the experience for everyone around you. JUST ENJOY WATCHING THE BEAVERS! Keep your comments to yourself unless you can back up what you’re saying.
“Yep, a 66% FG kicker and 39.7 punter is not going to cut it.”
http://espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=196759
To my knowledge, which is backed up by facts posted anywhere on the internet, Kahut’s career fg% is 75%. Welcome to Beaverfan85’s class, your comment has been graded and you FAILED. You get a fat F for that false comment. Please post at least C grade comments.
Kahut kicked to a 66% in 2008. I misread that as 2009. My bad. He made a few huge kicks this past season, but you hold your breath every time the guy gets near a football. This includes kickoffs. His FGs are some of the ugliest side-winding knucklers that you’ll see. He was better in ’09 than ’08. Your suggestion that he’s an excellent kicker gave me a good laugh. Thanks.
Hekker isn’t even worth discussing. He is atrocious in every facet of the game. His average would be in the 20s if it weren’t for rolling shanks.
Some track news…
http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/030610aac.html
While I’m not as confident as you that Allen distinguished himself more than Hekker (consistency seems to be the bane of both), I do agree that Riley’s getting too caught up in creating a “neat story.” I have always wondered why Hekker hasn’t thrown a pass.
But I’ve also wondered why Poyer isn’t running the occasional wildcat (he’s a more legitimate threat to throw it than Quizz), or why Poyer maybe can’t thrown a cross-field pass on a kick-return play.
I am concerned that players like the Ungas are going to see lots of time not because of their demonstrated ability, but because Riley considers them “great stories.” I hope some of the recent recruits come through and turn out to be effective playmakers AND neat stories….
OC, had you seen Allen punt in pregame or practice? The guy has a Reggie Roby leg. If I’m a coach I’m working to develop that project instead of a high school QB turned punter. I just don’t understand.
Poyer will get his shot this year. I doubt he’ll run a wildcat but he should be involved on kick returns and such. I do like Poyer.
The Ungas…ugh. If they’re on special teams I’m fine with that, but the way I analyze players is pretty simple: if they wouldn’t start on a team in the top half of the conference then they shouldn’t start for my team. Look at USC, Cal, and Oregon. Do the Ungas play for those teams? No. End of story. The good news is Welch, Akuna, Wilson, and Doctor are all legit LBs. Hopefully we don’t have to wait years to sift through interlopers like the Ungas.
I’m just glad other fans can see there’s a problem here. Now we need to get enough of us together and demand answers from the media. Someone needs to ask the question of why Ryan Allen wasn’t given a shot and Johnny Hekker was–it’s troubling that better talent was forced to leave the team. The only reason I see is that our coach loves good stories. Maybe there’s a better answer; I’m willing to listen.
Guys like Welch and Akuna are prime candidates for redshirts. They are fast and undersized and need a full year lifting at the college level. If they don’t redshirt they are gonna be just like Keaton Kristick getting trucked by bigger backs. I think the Ungas are better than you think…. bloodline is bigger than you think especially with the late developing nature of football players.
They’re prime red shirt candidates if the players in front of them are better. That’s not the case with Akuna.
And I think Welch is a grey shirt anyway.
I agree that the Ungas are better than angry thinks. But I don’t understand what nobody sees in Akuna. I thought the recruiting sites out there vastly underrated him as a four star LB. I heard a lot of talk about arm tackling, but that’s not true. He tackles with his hands. Unless they allow tear-away jerseys, that death grip will be good for many amazing plays in the Beavs future.
And that’s just one argument. This kid can hit like a Mack truck, and he can drop coverage like a CB. He’s just too good, and fall camp will find him immediately in the two-deep mix… if not better.
Well if Akuna is the best option play him. To me he is either a starting LB or redshirting. I will be mad if they blow his redshirt for special teams. But I think that for Akuna a year of strictly strength training is the best for the Beavers long term and the best for him long term otherwise he will end up like Kritcik and not be big enough.
I think Akuna knows proper training techniques to add weight slowly over four years… if he’s here that long.
We’re looking at him probably being bigger than the Ungas when he steps foot on campus as it is. It would not surprise me in the least to have a LB crew of Roberson, Wilson and Akuna to start the season.
However, I’m prepared for something more ‘experienced’ given the history of this team when starting a season.
People always wonder why we start slowly. It’s because we’re starting our back-ups in several positions. Sure, they project to the starting osition because they were the back-ups last year, but they were back-ups for more reasons than a lack of experience. Most work themselves down the depth charts by the time game 5 0r 6 rolls around… or the starter comes back from injury… or a former hoops player learns enough game to start… etc.
And I agree that Akuna is a starter or a red shirt. I just think he’s going to be too good to sit on the bench… just like Philipp was last year.
I dunno you can add weight and see strength gains when your not playing… when you are playing all you do it maintain.
Plus the Ungas just have a nose for the ball… they are like the Joe Burton’s of football.
What makes you say this?
Can you show me any film of the Ungas doing anything? I never recall their name being called except for chasing down guys from behind, being a step slow, etc. Plus their speed sideline to sideline is not very good. In short, why are you saying they have a nose for the ball? Back that up with some examples I can look into.
Alan Darlin was not a sideline to sideline guy.
Neither was Trent Bray.
Middle backers are your hole pluggers. Your outside backers are the one’s you want to possess speed. Now with a Stephen Paea at DT, it would be nice to have a middle backer who can bull rush the middle and get into the backfield quickly, but short of that, I want someone who’s going to come up and knock the snot out of a the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage.
Angrybeaver, I remember you at Oregon State. Be bitter about the past, not the present. Riley is doing great things. Or maybe you thought Joe Avenzano utilizing a slow undersized DT as a Pac 10 starter and making him a team captain made him a great evaluator of talent. What is your rule about being worthy to play at Oregon State? If you can’t start for the top five programs in the Pac, you shouldn’t be playing at all?
Great stories or not, I like the kids Riley recruits and coaches up
It’s probably just a timing thing. Until this last recruiting cycle, I’ve not heard of Riley going after any special teams players with scholarship offers. They walk on. Then they get a scholarship when they are the starter.
With that comes a sense of loyalty I’m sure… rather than a nice story that is. It would be a doubly bad story to give a punter a scholarship only to take it away for someone who is unproven but may be better. I don’t know Allen’s story, but Hekker was also a PK in high school as well as a punter and QB. So maybe that adds value to his position.
Allen didn’t want to wait for two more years to maybe get a scholarship. So more power to him for getting one.
With PK’s being chased in a recruiting capacity, maybe P’s are the next to last–with LS being last–to have a recruiting slot. If so, we might see a gray shirt offer to a P next year.
We can start in Fontana at AB Miller where a kid named Ruben Guzman is supposed to have some wicked hang time.
If that is true then it’s a bad process that Riley has in place. To give a guy a scholie because he’s the starter rather than the best player is wrong. And I’d rather see scholarships used on ST players like Romaine than say…K. Krebs. Riley does not put enough emphasis on special teams. The last kicker I remember him offering was David Buehler who went on to be great for USC. We all saw the punter/kicker issues coming for years…pretty much when Serna was a junior anyone with foresight began to worry. After Loomis quit the team he still wasn’t aggressive in finding a replacement. It’s 3 years later and Riley still hasn’t filled those needs after what feels like a shank and missed fg per game. Most coaches, especially at schools that can’t recruit elite talent, try to make up that difference with elite special teams. I don’t understand what Riley’s problem is.
if you think romaine should be getting a division 1 scholarship maybe you should check this link out..
http://www.chrissailerkicking.com/top-recruits/2010.html
generally a player without a 5.0 rating isnt considered division one material. then check out #14 on that list.
Funny that you link me to an article that has Allen as the #4 punter in the country with a 5.0 rating and Romaine has a 4.5.
I don’t need to look at this list, though, because I’ve seen Allen punt, and I’ve seen film of Romaine kick.
interestingly the #15 nationally ranked punter in the Chris Sailer 2010 Class enrolled at OSU last fall, and has asked for a shot to prove himself this coming spring, and was told no thanks…
Personally, I’m glad to see the reigns handed over to a player with more upside.
I dunno. With the offensive talent coming back it would’ve been nice to have a seasoned QB to run the show next year instead of a noob. But to me the problem was that it appeared that the shoulder injury left Malvao an even lesser thrower than he already was. That’s why he got beat out of the job last year when he was supposedly healthy. His arm was always his weakest suit to begin with, so if it was diminished,
Remember that Katz has the best wheels of any of our QB’s… and the strongest arm.
I remember watching Canfield play during mop-up time in his early years, and he gave me the willies. I was thinking there was no way this kid could lead a D-I team to victory.
Katz is the opposite. He needs a little polishing, but he looks confident and capable in the pocket. And man, he can throw.
I remember (dating myself here) people in the student section chanting for Canfield (can’t remember if it was DA or Moore at the time) in fact I don’t remember many of the games from my student days.
Pretty sure it was Moore at the time.
Canfield mopped up a few of those games and, I thought, looked good. I still think he looks good throwing the ball–reminds me of Boomer Esiason.
Now he does. But he looked upright and even falling backward on some pass plays when he was young. If you go back and look, you’ll probably see his passes floated on the receivers.
In comparison, Katz is inconsistent because he’s aiming the ball. When he hits, it looks damn pretty. When he misses, it goes wild. And he has good enough feet to really be a great pocket passer by the time he’s a junior… if not earlier.
Even Mannion, Vaz and Lomax have better feet than Beavs of the past. With an improved (and young) O-line, I think the next several years are going to be fun to watch on the O side.
And I think Moore deserves his shot at Carolina. I’m not sure, but I think he’s one of the first undrafted players to get a tier 5 tender.
He was always good at reading the defense, and his release is nice and quick. And his O-line should be healed by the time camps are in session.
I hope he does well for years to come.
Moore is one of my all-time favorites. From his flipping off the crowd to the gutsy leadership vs USC 2006…the guy was great.
By the end of his career he could not lose. He has great savvy in the pocket, good speed, a very good arm and quick release. I always wondered whey he wasn’t taken higher in the draft. If I were a GM I’d be all over that guy in the 3rd or 4th round.
I like that he’s been given time to develop.
By the same token, he effectively ended the careers of David Carr and Vinny Testaverde when he showed that an undrafted free agent rookie could outplay them both at the end of 2007.
Now he’s done the same to Jake Delhomme.
Well Carr was a bust and Vinnie was wielding a cane so that’s not saying much. Moore didn’t play great his first few years but he showed enough flashes to stick on the roster. Sometimes that’s all it takes until there’s a better opportunity down the road. It was clear to me all along this guy was the best of the backups and intriguing even when compared against Jake D. I’m not going to say he’s Tom Brady part 2, but I do think he can be as good as Matt Ryan. Never felt good about DA because he made dumb decisions in college and you can’t fix dumb. Moore was always bright.
I’ve said it more than once. DA is a program QB. He’s not bright enough to learn a system within the first year, and he doesn’t have the physical talents to make up for that deficiency.
But give him three years plus in a system and he’ll start tearing down walls.
Unfortunately for him and Cleveland, the NFL has a quicker learning curve.
He’ll always be someone’s third string QB because he can throw the ball 80 yards off his back foot. But I don’t expect him to put the clipboard down again.
Good news!
http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030810aaa.html
I think STarver should take a page from Greg Paulus and play a year of football. Anyone think Seumalo can do anything with him at DE? :)
Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what will happen first?
1. The official UO statement about Ernie Kent being canned.
2. Another football Duck gets arrested.
#1.
The rumors have been out since yesterday. But there’s nothing yet.
I had to laugh when I saw that Worldwide Wes has filed to become a legitimate sports agent.
He couldn’t help Kent this year, but I wonder how his lack of help will affect Calipari in the future.
So, DA was released by the Browns which I think can only be a good thing for him in the long run. Cleveland is basically where careers go to die.
Some people are saying Arizona or Carolina are interested in him. I’d hate to see him go to Carolina and compete with Matt but it would be better than nothing. Arizona is a talented team but I wonder how he would do in that kind of offense (I honestly have no idea).
Apparently he hadn’t even heard from the team until today when he was notified of his release. Here’s what he had to say about the fans there.
“The fans are ruthless and don’t deserve a winner. I will never forget getting cheered when I was injured.
“I know at times I wasn’t great. I hope and pray I’m playing when my team comes to town and (we) roll them.”
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/03/ex-browns-qb-derek-anderson-cleveland-fans-are-ruthless-and-dont-deserve-a-winner/1
Ouch!
So Kjos retires from football.
I think that means Nicholls will get his scholarship for a year.
Rightfully so. Nichols is a player.
I like him too. He always seems to be sure handed and in position. And he spent a lot of time working routes with Katz last year.
I also love seeing a #46 jersey running slot routes and winning catches. I have to wonder if the defender looks at the number and thinks he’s slower than he is because of it.
Dude! This is gonna get ugly.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2010/03/oregon_football_jeremiah_masol.html
I know…Masoli has played his last down. Well, in any other program that would be true…never know.
Haha you are a joke. Ryan Allen was evaluated by Coach Bruce Read, former NFL coach, and wasn’t par. NFL for Allen, are you effen kidding me? He won’t get a sniff from the NFL. If he was so great, why transfer to somewhere like LA Tech? Any coach can turn a decent athlete into an all-conference in 4 years? WOW. Now that is ridiculous. If this were true, how come great high school punters are not making all-conference? Because, as reality will show, it’s not true. There are so many flaws to your blog is comical. The internet is great because any unqualified person can make a post. This just in, Angry is being hired as a special teams coach to a Pop Warner team and vows to turn the punter into all conference in four years!