Coming up with a column idea for the spring football guide isn’teasy. You know, because they aren’t actually playing games foranother five months and some of next year’s starters are stilldeciding who they’re going to take to prom.
But you gotta do what your editor says, so I headed out tospring practice last weekend — mostly because it was warm outside– and found a couple of spectators in the stands at Ryan Field whoshould have some pretty strong opinions about Northwesternfootball.
I sat down with recent grads Jason Wright, Louis Ayeni and KunlePatrick, who apparently can’t stay away from Randy Walker any morethan I can, and asked them if they had any column ideas for me.
“You’re gonna write about this?” Wright asked, pointing at thepractice. “I would write about Notre Dame.”
Ayeni wasn’t much more help.
“It’s a nice day, ” the safety said. “Write about theweather.”
I’m hoping for something a little more Northwestern-related, Itold them.
“Write about how Northwestern lost five guys they’ll never beable to replace,” Ayeni said, then laughed. “Nah, I’m justkidding.”
But after some careful consideration, I realized there might besome truth to that. Not in the obvious positions — Noah Herron isgoing to be just fine taking over for Wright. He probably won’thave the media in the palm of his hand like Wright, but he’ll bejust fine on the field. And between Bryan Heinz and utility playerDerell Jenkins’ move to safety, Ayeni and Torri Stuckey’s old spotshould be safe.
But I think we’ve all overlooked one crucial position, the onebelonging to the quietest member of the cheering trio, KunlePatrick. And no, I’m not talking about his receiving skills,although I’m sure media services is crying about not being able toinclude that consecutive pass record in its game notes everyweek.
I’m talking about Patrick’s central role in NU’s favorite HailMary play, Victory Right.
Some of you might not remember Victory Right, because it’s beena while since the Wildcats busted it out — this year Walker’strick play of choice was “fastball,” which he pulled out of his bagof tricks against Wisconsin.
But the old classic Victory Right is pretty much a Hail Marywith a twist. Instead of catching the pass, the target sets theball like a volleyball to another receiver. Sounds a little dumb(if the ball is in your hands, why don’t you just hold on to thedamn thing?) but it’s worked like a charm a number of times for NU.In fact, it’s such a staple that it’s the last play the Catspractice before games. The mere mention of it caused Ayeni to singthe words “tip drill” over and over and do a strange little dancelast weekend. Yeah, I didn’t get it either.
But here’s the thing: Patrick was the only player who could setthe ball decently. He’s a pretty modest guy, and even he had toanswer the “can anyone else do it?” question with a chuckle and a”Not well.”
But then I thought that maybe Coach Walker was one step ahead ofus, so I asked him after practice.
“Now that is a good question,” he replied, perhaps indicatingthat the 2,000 other questions I’ve asked him in the last threeyears were not so good. “We haven’t gotten there yet. That’s moreof a day-before-the-first-game decision.”
But are there any leading candidates?
After pondering the question and stroking his chin for a good 30seconds, Walker came up with a name.
“Brandon Horn is a great candidate,” Walker said. “What you needis a big-bodied guy, because guys are going to be in there,knocking you over (at this point Walker begins to act out the theend zone chaos, knocking into ex-linebacker Doug Szymul, now anintern for the athletic department). You have to be able to take ajostle.”
“I could take a jostle,” Szymul joked.
“I’d drop you like a bad habit,” Walker said to his ex-player.”But honestly, it’s better if we don’t run that play. It meanswe’re behind at the end of a game.”
I know a lot can change in five months, but Walker should take alook at finding Patrick a replacement sometime soon. Looking atnext season’s schedule, I think the Cats might need some tricks uptheir sleeves.
