I voted in the ‘Who is the best starting quarterback in the state’ poll over on ArkansasSports360.com just to see what people were thinking. Corey Leonard of Arkansas State won hands down. Casey Dick was actually in last place when I voted.
“I don’t know if it’s as much self-confidence as it is team confidence,” Leonard said. “I’m pretty confident when it comes to my abilities, but I’m more confident in my teammates.”
“Corey had an outstanding night throwing the football against SMU,” said Indians head coach Steve Roberts. “He believes in the team and accomplishing our game plan. Corey can go to the line of scrimmage with two plays and bases his decision on how the defense lines up. More times than not, he gets us into a better play.”
I like this notion of confidence. The confidence of the quarterback, his teammates and his coach. Seems like Corey is a leader…not just a ‘bus driver.’ There’s not a huge worry about their team’s experience level…or their ability to get off the line of scrimmage…or ‘but will they catch the ball?’…or ‘please don’t throw an interception.’
Here’s how Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee was quoted after Tuesday’s practice:
“It wasn’t our fault,” Lee said. “It was their fault. It was the players. I don’t know what they’ve done. I don’t know what happened, but they had better snap back. I know the head coach we’ve got scheduled this week, Rodney Allison. He’ll have his bunch ready. Rodney is a fighter.”
So the Tennessee-Chattanooga coach (and one-time outstanding SWC quarterback at Texas Tech) will have his team ready. The Razorbacks, however, “had better snap back” for a coach that says that, “it wasn’t our fault…it was their fault.”
I’ve been reading Lou Holtz’s book Wins, Losses, and Lessons (affiliate link) this week. I can’t imagine Lou saying, ‘it was the player’s fault.’
Coaches coach and players play — that’s true. And the coaches set the tone and the overall leadership environment.
I continue to think Casey Dick can be an excellent quarterback. Belief and confidence in him and the receivers — starting with the coaches — would go a long way. Hard to build something up when you are tearing it down at the same time.
I’d either ban David Lee from talking to the press or throw him under the bus he keeps throwing players under.
FIRST IT WAS HOUSTON NUTT BRINGING UP MICHAEL SMITH'S FUMBLE WHEN TALKING ABOUT MICHAEL'S OFF THE FIELD TROUBLES. NOW DAVID LEE BLAMING THE PLAYERS FOR THEIR POOR PERFORMANCE IN PRACTICE.ALL I CAN SAY IS,BY STEALING A QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE REMEMBER THE TITANS. ATTITUDE REFLECT LEADERSHIP, CAPTAIN I.E HDN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEXT REGGIE HERRING WILL BE BLAMING HIS SECONDARY FOR LOSSES, BECAUSE HE HAS NOT REALIZED HE DOESN'T HAVE CHRIS HOUSTON TO LOCK DOWN THE OTHER TAMS BEST RECEIVER.BOTTOM LINE IS OUR COACHING STAFF WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ROCKER & MARKUSON ARE BEGINNING TO THROW OUR PLAYERS UNDER THE BUS WITH THEIR MEDIA COMMENTS. I THOUGHT HOUSTON SAID THE TEAM MUST COME TOGETHER AND IGNORE ALL THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS AFTER BAMA & KENTUCKY LOSSES.IT HAS TO BE VERY HARD FOR KIDS AND I REPEAT KIDS TO DO THAT WHEN IT IS COMING FROM THEIR COACHES NOT IN THE LOCKERROOM BUT IN THE MEDIA. I REPEAT "ATTITUDE REFLECTS LEADERSHIP"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not a thing wrong with assigning players accountability. The players will buy in if they realize they are accountable.
Fayad
You miss the point. You can hold the players accountable but not in public. What goes on in the locker room between coaches and players should stay in the locker room. What it looks like to me is that the Hogs' coaches are CYAing for any difficulties ahead.
Corey Leonard is currently 3rd on the fan vote list for the Davey OBrien award for the nations best QB. He trails Tim Tebow of Florida and Shaun Carney of Air Force.
"What it looks like to me is that the Hogs’ coaches are CYAing for any difficulties ahead."
With our fans? Not a chance.
Team was obviously flat. Do not under estimate other teams…even D-II. There are more athletes out there than you may think. All one has to do is look around the nation to see that is fact because of poor results from many teams to what normally should be lesser competition, including the team on the left coast who some earlier stated is coached by a great coach. Great recruiter? Perhaps. Great coach? Hardly. I do not recall a season with so many ups and downs for D-1 teams across the college football landscape. Actually, my greatest disappointment with the results last night was the QB play. I had counted on QB play to keep getting better and better this season, but it seems as if that area has regressed to throwing high and low… again. Some say that is because he has had so many different receivers to throw to with the team having had key injuries. No doubt that has taken its toll. I will withhold further comment regarding the team play until after the Auburn game. Auburn is on a roll. Kentucky may or may not have been as good as they appeared. We shall see. Again, as has been said, nothing is as bad as it seems, nor as good as it seems. The War Memorial crowd was the worst crowd at a football game that I have ever witnessed…college or high school. I formerly was biased in my belief that the LR crowd was the best. For the last at least two years the LR crowd has not lived up to its hype. I blame that on us fans. Fayetteville crowd is hands down the best of the two. Therefore, the news media needs to quit saying that the LR crowd is the best. Also, I heard more booing AT THE TEAM last night in Little Rock. That is so heartless to boo the team…and some definitely were booing the team. Many were doing it in our area were very young kids taking their cue from others. Also, whomever is responsible for putting messages on the big board in LR needs to be better informed. It is NOT appropriate to prompt the crowd to make noise whenever our offense is on the field. Once our QB appeared to even indicate that he could not hear. However, I really heard not enough noise the entire game to cause a problem. Enjoy the games! Go Hogs! GO! Beat Auburn!!
Corey Leonard has great leadership ability and is in total control on the field. He has pose for a Soph. and will only get better in the next two years. The Razorbacks would be a different team and much more successful in the passing game with a player like Leonard.