If you ask many fans, they would say that the theme is "Who's the quarterback?"
But as senior DB Jarard "Main Man" Cribbs said in his hilarious media day interviews with players and head coach, it looks like the theme is really one of a fresh new start. Putting the exclamation point on it? The brand-new Under Armor uniforms unveiled on media day. (more)
The video - which is not to be missed, by the way - sees Cribbs' unique, frenetic interviewing style that gives him my new nickname for him - "Main Man". Calling junior WR Jake Drwal "Sure Hands" and "Drizzy Jake", junior LB Colin Newton "Justin Bieber Number 2" (nice one), and the part that completely split my sides laughing, calling head coach Andy Coen "your Don" - that is some priceless stuff.
The interview also talks uniforms. It's all pretty fun, tame stuff as Cribbs talks about the "fresh outfitted jerseys" and Mr. Bieber... sorry, Mr. Newton... gives his "stamp of approval" of the new threads as well.
Personally about the uniforms I'm a bit tossed about them. I'm still a big fan of that "traditional" brown with white block numbers that were part of the team in the 1990s, sported by QB Phil Stambaugh, FB Brett Snyder and the like. But another part of me realizes that it's not 1998 anymore, either, and the new 2010 uniforms look slick, and big-time. They look Division I - like they belong on the cover of EA Sports NCAA Football 2012. They look good right here, right now - and they do bring excitement to the new season.
But the talk of the jerseys also shows - oddly enough - a break from the drama of preseasons past.
It's as if getting rid of the old jerseys - and the old Lehigh Athletics website, incidentally - also got rid of the bad memories of the last few seasons. The losing records. The pressure of coach Coen's job status. The struggles on offense. The past few years, it was hard to picture a team that was as loose as the kids that appeared in the video that came out.
There is a lot of new-ness around this team this year. Will it translate into success? We'll see.
*****
New uniforms and blogger symbolism won't win football games, however. After the first few weeks in practice, there remain a bunch of questions - not least the one posed by the Morning Call in regards to the starting quarterback:
Senior QB J.B. Clark, junior QB Chris Lum and sophomore QB Mike Colvin shared reps with the first-team offense and all had their moments.
"It [the quarterback decision] didn't clear up, but they all played well," Coen said. "I feel like they're all capable of doing the job. No matter who gets the job, we're going to have pretty good depth there.
"And there were a lot of other good things. … we ran the ball pretty well and freshman RB Keith Sherman continues to be impressive. Freshman WR Lee Kurfis did some good things. We were looking for people to step up and they did."The reports show there was a lot to like as well from some other veterans - junior WR Jake Drwal, catching tough balls over the middle (and getting punished for it), senior DB Shane Ryan, the former walk-on with an interception off a tip, and senior TE Alex Wojdowski made a juggling catch of a Colvin pass to close out the last session on Thursday. It's not hard to picture any one - or maybe all three - of these hard-working guys being vital pieces of the puzzle this fall.
This coming week should be a good one - with a probable announcement of the starting quarterback against Drake, the final preparations as camp breaks, and thick anticipation for Des Moines. (Never thought I'd say "anticipation" and "Des Moines" in the same sentence.)
The only thing that could make it better is if Jarard "Main Man" Cribbs could make the announcement. (But I'll settle for the "Don".)
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