Apparently Eli put a NOLA-style voodoo curse on the Ole Miss Rebel quarterback slot. After the youngest Manning left for the NFL, it's been one huge embarrassing failure after another.
The latest mark against the Ole Miss quarterbacking fraternity, is potential backup hopeful, Jared Foster, formerly of Gulf Coast C.C.:
The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson reported Foster's arrest Monday on its Web site. The school announced that Foster was off the team in a one-sentence release but did not say why.
"It's a shame," Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt told the Clarion-Ledger. "But we're trying to build a football program and that's stuff we can't tolerate."
[espn via The Clarion Ledger]
Not only is Jared Foster the Illegal Steroids Club for Men president, but he's clearly also a clientOne very fitting quote from a recent recruiting article on young Jared from
Rebelsports.net:
One coach Foster wants to begin spending time with as soon as he passes his physical is the Rebels new strength and conditioning coach, Don Decker.
"Coach Decker has trained players like Darren MacFadden and has made a difference and he'll make a difference at Ole Miss."
[Rebelsports.net]
Today
Don Decker was quoted as saying, "WTF?! That dumb boy better leave my name out of this #$%&! This Ain't No BALCO, Son! You ain't Rodger Clemens, and I certainly ain't gonna be no Brian McNamee! Huh? Nobody cares? Cool."
[HT:
DailyFootballFix]
Ole Miss Quarterbacks In The Wake of Eli: A Tragedy of Errors...2004 (Record: 4-7 with wins over Vandy, Arkansas State, South Carolina and MSU):
Michael Spurlock - This much hyped "Mike Vick Clone," seemed to shat the bed on demand on his way to passing for 1,709 yards on 142-of-267 completions with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions and two rushing touchdowns
in two seasons. Did I mention he couldn't see over the offensive line? (5' 10" in heels) That led to the emergence of...
Ethan Flatt was the complete opposite of Spurlock (except when it came to winning...they were much the same in that catagory): A flat footed, skin-and-bones, legit 6 '5" honky. Ethan may have been able to see the field with ease, but unfortunately he had the savvy of a Britney Spears and the arm strength of Stephen Hawking. However, Flatt did account for Ole Miss' last SEC road win at South Carolina. (yeah, you read right: last SEC road W, in 2004) And the third piece of the '04 "three headed QB monster" is...
Robert Lane - This
highly regarded, duel-threat quarterback was often viewed as the "heir apparent" to Eli when he set foot on campus in 2003. And to his credit, he had some early Tim Tebow-esque moments on the playing field (If Tim Tebow happened to not be able to pass worth a damn...which if usually frowned upon in quarterback circles) As is standard operating procedure, Lane was swiftly converted to tight end and never heard from again.
Off Season: Head Coach
David Cutcliffe gets fired; Enter crazed
Shimp-Boat Captian Orgeron of the S.S. Failure. Recruits:
Billy Tapp - Late, late "find." Other offer(s) for Tapp - Columbia (yeah, of the Ivy League...a football powerhouse). Orgeron says pre-season that he's gonna feature Spurlock and Lane in "The USC Offense." Meaning "Southern Cal" (preemptive, "pssssssffffff!").
2005 (3-8 with wins over Memphis, The Citadel and Kentucky):
The
Same 3 deadly QBs as above battled it out with an even worse result under a first year Orgeron.
Off Season: Offensive Coordinator
Noel Mazzone gets the axe in an extremely messy divorce (supposed fisticuffs!), and retread Miami OC,
Dan Werner hired. Recruits:
Brent Schaeffer - Ah, Brent. A
highly regarded duel-threat quarterback that Orgeron hung his career on.
Michael Herrick - 6'1", 175 lbs quarterback (but he's got big feet) from California with zero other offers. Sweet backup plan.
Ethan Flatt leaves Ole Miss with a year of eligibility still on the table, if that tells you anything. For depth, Orgeron signs a few walk-ons out of desperation. One of them being the great Delta State/Hinds Community College "a walk-on to remember,"
Seth Adams.
2006 (4-8 with wins over Memphis, Vandy, Northwestern State, and MSU) :
Brent Schaeffer - Because Brent is not smart, the transfer didn't make it to campus until pre game warm ups of the Memphis game. Amazingly enough, the savior of the Orgeron Era rattled off 47 % passing with 9 TDs to 10 INTs in 2006 and basically lost his starting job by season's end. Who's next???...Lil' Herrick???
Off Season: Orgeron, realizing that Schaeffer sucked ball, turns to completely unproven former walk-on
Seth Adams. Pre-season, he named Seth the starter over poor, misguided Schaeffer. Orgeron pulls a huge pseudo-victory in recruiting by getting
highly regarded, duel-threat quarterback (seeing a pattern?) ,
Jevan Snead to transfer from Texas to Oxford. Unfortunately for all involved, Jevan has to sit out a year (especially, in hindsight, for The Orgeron)
2007 (3-9 with wins over Memphis, Northwestern State and La Tech):
Seth Adams - He actually looks like a somewhat serviceable quarterback for a few games (relative to the previous assholes), but Ole Miss still didn't win anything. Then, like a flash, he started to suck balls, (even by The Rebs lowered standards) and slang interceptions like they was crack rock! Back to the same ole, Ole Miss post-Eli era.
For the rest of the season, Seth goes on to split time with the underwhelming superstar, Schaeffer until they both mercifully ran out of eligibility. [There is some speculation that Schaeffers' talents (running and what not) were wasted by forcing him into a pocket-passer, pro style offense. In the end, what does it really matter? At least 4 years of Ole Miss fans lives were wasted in search of a real quarterback]
Off Season: Ed Orgeron is fired, largely for failing to produce a quarterback/offense that could compete in the SEC. Michael Herrick decided to take his big feet to I-AA football at Northern Arizona, leaving Ole Miss with one real scholarship QB (Snead) and then Billy Tapp (remember the Ivy League-esque stud?). Houston Nutt is hired and charged with righting all of Orgeron's wrongs. A big piece of the puzzle has to be...
2008 (???):
Is this the year when Jevan Snead leads Ole Miss out of the cellar and above .500? Is Jevan the highly regarded, duel-threat quarterback Ole Miss has been waiting for? I sure as hell hope so.
