Wednesday Waffle, 2010 Week Eight

A few weeks in a row now, we have seen an unheralded backup making significant plays for BYU.  Against Utah State, JD Falslev sparked hope for Cougar nation with his kickoff return.  Against SDSU, it was Matt Marshall who ran a fake field goal and played in several wild Cougar formation plays (which he also did against TCU).  Jordan Richardson has filled in really well at Nose Tackle for BYU the past two games.  And, of course, I have long been a proponent of getting CB Corby Eason on the field, who got a huge hit and sack on Dalton in the TCU game.  My question is: why are more players like Falslev, Marshall, Richardson, and Eason not getting a shot to play in the first place?  Are there more potential players like them on the bench?  BYU fans will recall Brandon Doman sitting on the bench as the 3rd/4th-string QB and was (thankfully) forced into action due to injury (not thankful for the injuries, but thankful for his opportunity).  That guy was a gamer and was an NFL Draft pick, but there he sat, watching LaVell's last season go down in flames, from the sidelines because someone misjudged his ability to lead a football team.  How many Doman's are on this BYU team?  Utah fans will recall Alex Smith in a similar situation: he led them to a BCS win and was the #1 overall pick.  Prior to that he was, according to Urban Meyer, third on the depth chart, but only because there were only 3 QBs on the roster, or else he would have been 4th...

I could easily sit and question why some of the guys that are on the field are still on the field (like Brandon Bradley who takes bad angles, does not tackle well, and does not cover well.  What is it that he does that BYU wants from its DBs?  Or why did it take a suspension to prevent O'Neill Chambers from kickoff return duties: I would want a shifty, quick, agile player who can make guys miss or break tackles when they don't miss.  He is slow, with no agility, moves, or tackle-breaking ability.  Plus, he will run 15 yards to go catch the ball right in front of the other return-man, and then only return the ball to the 20-yard line.), but let's focus on the positives of those on the bench instead.

At 2-5, with several blowout losses, a lot of the starters obviously have not been getting it done.  There there are several big, speedy, and/or athletic guys as backups.   They may be inexperienced, but when experience isn't getting the job done...you can see where I'm headed with that.  So here's a list of the potential ballers that are sitting on the bench.  Ask yourself: why are these guys not seeing the field, at all?  I will not touch the backup QBs.  Lark and Munns could both be great, but neither has the experience that Jake Heaps now has, even if they are just as good.  On offense, I actually will not touch anybody, since they have played so many players already, except to mention there might be a few players (including some defensive players) who could come in and run a reverse, or as a blocking FB, or on some kind of trick play (like former QB Dallin Tollestrup).

CB Robbie Buckner
CB DeQuan Everett
DL Tayo Fabuluje
LB Austin Nielsen
P Brian Smith
CB (and former Canadian QB) Dallin Tollestrup

I am interested in your thoughts on these players, or if you have any personal knowledge of their abilities or accomplishments in high school/junior college, or if you want to tell me I'm wrong and these guys suck, big-time, and could not contribute, even to this 2-5 Cougar team.