May 29 2007
Team USA Roster: Who ARE These Guys?
USA Football has released its roster for the team that will defend America’s gridiron honor in Japan this July, and as you might expect, these are not household names of college football. Those guys got drafted. These guys have one last moment of glory before they attempt to become coaches, personal trainers, journalists, insurance salesmen, Home Depot staffers, and part-timers in the CIFL and United Indoor Football.
The only name that jumps out at me is running back Wendell Johnson of Fairmont (WV) State, and that only jumps out at me because my parents first met at Fairmont State, and I was born in Fairmont, WV. Mary Lou Retton was born in Fairmont, too. So there’s that…
You know what? I’m leaving this one to you, dear readers. Feel free to take a look at this roster and post a comment if you have any knowledge of these guys and how they play. Does this look like a team that can take on the world’s best? (Of course, the “world’s best” at American football wouldn’t exactly scare the Detroit Lions, who could probably beat the Japanese national team at two sports, but hey, there’s a reason David & Goliath is a popular sports metaphor…)
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The list is definitely not like Team USA basketball’s list!
If we sent an NFL all-star team to this, we would witness a shellacking of epic proportion. At least this way, the games might actually be competitive.
The only name on the list I know is Craig Coffin, the kicker. He set a Gateway Conference record with points scored in a career this past year. He’s got a decent leg on him, usually good from 45 and inside.
I don’t care if these aren’t the best players…if we don’t clean house its going to be more embarrasing then anything USA Basketball can accomplish, IMO. Go the World Cup website and look at the country bios and see how much bigger our numbers of leagues and players are. Our development system should be churning out a team that can beat Japan.
I live in Fort Worth, and TCU QB Jeff Ballard was a very, very good college QB, with wins against Baylor, Texas Tech, and Iowa State the last two years. From a recent article:
“With a 19-2 (.905) record, Ballard has the highest winning percentage by a starting quarterback at TCU. He’s also the Frogs’ career leader in completion percentage (61.1). His 61.8 mark last year set a new single-season TCU record. Ballard’s 59.9 percentage in 2005 ranks third.”
Just did a google search to try and find out what number they gave me and came across this blog.
We wont let you down.