... won the Heisman last year. After 4 games, its clear that he was our MVP last year. He was the best return man in the game, never muffed a kick, always ran the right routes on 3rd/4th downs to pick up the first down, made gamebreaking plays all over the field, and generally was the engine in our offensive game. After two muffed punts, seveal drops on 3rd down, countless routes run too short of the marker, zero big plays or YAC, its clear we don;t have a single playmaker that can match him, much less a guy that is nails in the clutch. Worse, we have idiots that try to filed punts at the 3 -- and then drop them!!! -- which completely gives the game away, something Shipley would never have done. Hell, when the chips were down in the MNC last year and our 18 year old, deer-in-the-headlights QB was about to turtle, Shipley put the team on his back and made plays, becoming basically the whole offense (which is almost impossible for a WR). I knew we were going to miss him, but the void he has left is gargantuan. Regrettably no one seems willing or able to fill it. BTW, Akina needs to find someone who won't drop a punt. I don't care if its a walk-on that runs 4.9 in the 40. You can't have guys muff punts in your own red zone game after game. Hell, we'd be better off rushing 11 and not dropping anyone back there. Don't we have a non-DB (if DBs could catch they'd play WR) with good hands that can fill that role? Fitzhenry? Goodwin? Anyone?
In the four yeasr he played, I can think of one drop he had (against Tech in 08 in first half) and every other time when the chips were down he made the play. Far more than Colt we miss him. You have to wonder how good Gilbert would be if he was throwing to Jordan and Quan instead of the corps he has. The hope has to be that these freshman and sophomore receivers will grow into what Cosby and Shipley were but for now we can only think about what might have been.
As invaluable as Ship and Quan were, in fact I think Quan should have shared MVP in the Fiesta, you have to remember all the drops we had in Colt's last year. More than the three previous. Just saying that we feel the absence of Colt more than anything imho. Not one single trait, just him. From quick read and release to timely runs, etc. The overall knowledge and leadership he brought. While I will be the first to recognize it was a whole team beat down, beat ourselves first half, beaten badly by UCLA second half, I am wondering if we might not see a bit more of Case this year than we predicted. Seems Mack may need to do some shaking up. Hookem - sat through the other UCLA beat down and sat through this one. Sure hoping to not go through it again. Bring em back Mack!
We are seeing how Shipley affected the whole offense for sure - without half the D having to focus their attention on Jordan, everyone else is having a hard time getting open.
During their tenure as well (freshman year an exception) we had leaders. This was Colt's team but each squad had a leader, an anchor. We don't seem to have that now.
Not to get into a Colt to Shipley argument, but McCoy did so may little things -- the sidestep in the pocket, the knowing when to run, the check downs, last minute drives -- the guy was a dynamic player.
I have a good friend whose family have been OU season ticket holders since before they lowered the field (1947). They always referred to Shipley as "SK" (Sooner Killer). Back in the mid 1990's when both of the Oklahoma schools were horrible, R. W. McQuarters of OSU was given the "SK" moniker. It was not a reference of rancor, but rather one of "please let this bastard go pro" respect. And for those who wonder why Peter Gardere wasn't mentioned, it's because his 4-0 record against the land thieves was Gary Gibbs fault. Good times.......
Lone Star -- No disrespect to Colt at all. Indeed, he is my favorite Longhorn of all time, and my kids' hero. If he had not gotten hurt in the MNC, I am 100% certain he would have rolled Bama and gone down in history as perhaps the greatest Longhorn ever (obviously a tough call with VY, but Colt's impact was over 4 years and he owned all the records). That said, the lack of Shipley is killing us. GG is making some good throws, and if he had a Shipley I really think he could get on a roll and be very productive. But NO ONE is stepping up for him, and the drops and penalties on 3rd down are killing us. Add to that the fact that our return game has turned from a deadly weapon into an achilles heel overnight, and it obvious how critical Jordan was. We KNEW we were going to miss Colt when he graduated, but we also knew that GG had a great pedigree and could be the next great signal caller on the 40 acres. What is a surpise is that not one of the 5 star WR recruits we have on campus has stepped up to replace Ship; and indeed, those guys have been a huge liability so far. Ditto the two butter-fingered corners we inexplicably have returning kicks. Shipley has stepped right into the best receiving corps in the pros (Ochocinco, Owns and Grisham) and emerged from camp as Palmer's favorite target. That should not surprise us at all given everything he did here. Any chance Jaxson can graduate early and be here by the Nebraska game? By the way, Davis needs to ditch the pro set run plays and just put GG back in the gun and let him run the spread like he did in high school. That is what we are, at least until we get a decent RB, and a new OC and/or Oline coach.
