Thursday, January 22, 2009

Looking back at St. Pierre



If this blog had been around when Brian St. Pierre was quarterbacking at BC, I probably would have spent an inordinate amount of time criticizing him.


St. Pierre is an interesting link in the chain of BC QBs. He was TOB's first true QB recruit and served as the template for how TOB and Bible would recruit and groom QBs for the next ten years. Tall, smart, reasonable athleticism and arm strength, BSP came to campus, redshirted, was used as part of the second quarter experiment and then played as the starter his final two years. Things went according to plan until St. Pierre regressed as a Senior. All his major passing stats declined, but worse, his decision making and ability to play under pressure went away. I still remember him throwing a pass at a wide open Sean Ryan's feet in a tough loss at Pitt. BC went 9-4 in 2002, but St. Pierre was shaky (at best) in the big games and tough losses.


Perspective and time has been kind to BSP. He doesn't have the signature performance or charm of some other BC QBs, but as we've seen with Porter and Davis, BSP clearly wasn't rock bottom.

He's hung around the NFL since leaving the Heights waiting for his Matt Cassel-Kurt Warner moment to spring up the depth chart and save the day. It hasn't happened and may never. I still don't know if BSP has that special something in him. But by all accounts, he's a good guy, making a good living and still in demand around the league...as a back up.


His hometown paper still loves him and apparently the Cardinals owe him a bit of thanks for the win on Sunday.


I am not emotionally invested in either Super Bowl team. Given St. Pierre and Pat Ross's BC connections I will probably root for the Cardinals. Who knows, this might be the pinnacle of his career or maybe he'll finally get his shot. And not that he is waiting or cares, but I think I am overdue to thank Brian for his time at BC and for representing the school well as an alum.

5 comments:

Erik said...

I wonder if he schools Leinart in drills. That'd be funny, Mr Heisman.

downtown_resident said...

He definitely schooled Leinart in the preseason this year. He looked great and Leinart stank.

There is a lot of speculation that St. Pierre will supplant Leinart as the Cardinals' backup next season. BSP is a Whiz guy from Pittsburgh, and Leinart was drafted by the old regime. And this season notwithstanding, but Warner's backup should see plenty of playing time.

evr2xl said...

downtown, from where is that speculation coming? I'd like to read about that. It seems like a very strange turn to me, given Leinart's reputation coming from college, the hype with which he entered the league (true it's taken a big hit) and the fact that he hasn't really gotten a chance to establish and prove himself. A chance, yes, but not quite like Cutler or Young.

Ry said...

I don't have a link or anything like that, but I do remember reading up on BSP in the pre-season. And I definitely remember people barking for him to supplant Leinart. I think it was more a reaction to Leinart's failure to live up to expectations that anything incredible that BSP was able to do himself. Also, it may have been the blogosphere and not the mainstream media where this conversation was being held.

I'd also like to second atleagle's kudos to the man. He and I were at BC at the same time and while some of the guys were douches, he and the guys he hung out with the most (Koppen, McNiff, Rossi, Murphy) all were pretty solid guys.

Big Jack Krack said...

All the best to Brian St. Pierre.

Bick, Jr. leaving - not a big surprise. It's very difficult to deal with disappointment sometimes.

Now Spaz can get his coaching staff solidified and we can all move forward. Good luck in New York, Jack Jr.

Ryan Day and Bill McGovern - step forward and be recognized. Let's go coaches - give our players the tools they need to reach their potential and continue to be WINNERS.