Football 2008 In Review: Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda...

Sorry to the delay in the year in review stuff. Got a little sidetracked with the coaching change. Keep in mind that I am using what happened during the season. Any of the off the field drama that happened after Nashville didn’t influence this.

This portion was formerly known as the biggest disappointments. I softened the tone to acknowledge that all these guys make huge sacrifices for our school. But I still feel the need to point out poor performances or guys who wasted opportunities. You’ll notice two names that are not on this list: Chris Crane and Dominique Davis. While both generated numerous mistakes and agita among BC fans, they are not the type of players I try to feature here. The point of this are the guys who blew it or let us down for other reasons. Crane and Davis offset their cringe inducing moments with enough big plays to get a pass here.

1. Billy Bennett. It is easy to pick on a kicker, but this kid never delivered on his potential and then doubled the disappointment by being a jerk off the field. Even before his fallout he wasn’t nearly as consistent as or as powerful as we needed him to be on kickoffs. Some kicks had distance yet no hang time. Others had hang time without distance. He never got a shot at kicking field goals, but he also never did anything in practice to give the staff confidence that he could make the kicks under pressure.

2. Jeff Smith. Another case where it may seem like I am picking on a player. That is not my intention. Yes he’s battled injuries, but if you talk to people around the program that was not why he wasn’t on the field at the end of the season. He never showed the desire or aptitude to be used in the regular offense. When I saw Haden and Harris get caught from behind all I could think about what could have been. Smith is probably the fastest player in the ACC. The guy who couldn’t even be touched against Kent State never showed up after that game. It’s a shame. We could have used a focused Smith this year on offense.

3. Kick off coverage. This sort of relates back to Bennett, but even after he was gone things weren’t good. The tackling was often poor and the guys often seemed to just sit back and wait. The staff rotated a variety of different guys in there (starters, backups, etc.) and nothing seemed to click. The only game where you could say it cost us was Clemson, but the field position battle does influence our ability to score and the kickoffs did us no favors.