The Spaz
04-19-2004, 09:43 AM
Last week, I wondered what it might feel like to be San Diego general manager A.J. Smith in the days before the NFL draft. Would he be able to pass on taking Eli Manning with the first pick this weekend and live with himself? This week, I take you into the confines of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz's office to watch some tape of Hawkeyes left tackle Robert Gallery.
There's a play in Iowa's 21-2 win over Arizona State from last fall that I ask Ferentz to run back and forth, forth and back. It's a counter running play, with the left side of the line moving right to pile-drive a crease in the Sun Devils defense. Gallery, the athletically mountainous 6-foot-7, 323-pound kid from a farm town in Iowa, takes three or four steps laterally right and backward, locked onto his man. Suddenly, Gallery stops and digs in. The Iowa running back is about to sprint past him into a good-sized hole if Gallery can hold his ground. If Gallery gets pushed back a yard further, the back will be stopped for a two-yard loss. But Gallery digs in and doesn't move an inch, even with the ASU plowhorse hard-charging into him. Gallery and his challenger just stop. Dead. The back scoots past the Gallery scrum for a good-sized gain into this hole.
We watched a few plays of Gallery locking onto his man and moving the helpless defender six, eight, 10 yards downfield. But as far as I'm concerned this run against ASU was his signature play. Gallery had all this guy's momentum backing him into the Iowa backfield, and all of a sudden it was like they both hit a wall. Awesome.
"I am telling you as strongly as I can," said Ferentz, "that there is no way we would have been a top-10 team without Robert. It's hard just watching a few plays to put into words how valuable he was for us."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=thesurething&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
There's a play in Iowa's 21-2 win over Arizona State from last fall that I ask Ferentz to run back and forth, forth and back. It's a counter running play, with the left side of the line moving right to pile-drive a crease in the Sun Devils defense. Gallery, the athletically mountainous 6-foot-7, 323-pound kid from a farm town in Iowa, takes three or four steps laterally right and backward, locked onto his man. Suddenly, Gallery stops and digs in. The Iowa running back is about to sprint past him into a good-sized hole if Gallery can hold his ground. If Gallery gets pushed back a yard further, the back will be stopped for a two-yard loss. But Gallery digs in and doesn't move an inch, even with the ASU plowhorse hard-charging into him. Gallery and his challenger just stop. Dead. The back scoots past the Gallery scrum for a good-sized gain into this hole.
We watched a few plays of Gallery locking onto his man and moving the helpless defender six, eight, 10 yards downfield. But as far as I'm concerned this run against ASU was his signature play. Gallery had all this guy's momentum backing him into the Iowa backfield, and all of a sudden it was like they both hit a wall. Awesome.
"I am telling you as strongly as I can," said Ferentz, "that there is no way we would have been a top-10 team without Robert. It's hard just watching a few plays to put into words how valuable he was for us."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=thesurething&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns