In a cruel twist, John Bonano is the Pac-12 special teams player of the week
by K_Zim on Oct 24, 2011 4:16 PM PDT
in Arizona Wildcats Football
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PrintI'm not sure who's to blame, but either Mike Stoops or special team's coach Jeff Hammerschmidt should be taking a little more flak than they have for being wishy-washy about the Arizona Wildcats' kicking situation. And after interim head coach Tim Kish motivated his team to a win and called on kick-off specialist John Bonano to become the placekicker, well, they really should be getting the blame for not figuring out that diamond in the rough sooner.
Instead, we're praising Kish; anything for some positivity around these parts, right? Fair enough.
In a semi-ironic twist, Bonano WON the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week award, the league announced Monday. Considering he was not even considered a third option after Alex Zendejas struggled and Jaime Salazar showed little to be impressed with, it now seems slightly insulting to Bonano.
Now, we can look back and say "what-if?" What if he had been given a look?
Anyway, Bonano earned the honor after hitting all six (100 percent) of his extra point attempts in Arizona's bullying of UCLA this past week. That included a 41-yarder and also a make on a tipped kick. In addition, Bonano was required to kick off 10 times thanks to the Wildcats' effective scoring drives. He picked up three touchbacks on those, and leads the Pac-12 in total touchbacks with 19.
So, guys, who's to blame for not figuring out this guy had talent a lot earlier?
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Stoops, ultimately
The head coach determines the guy who kicks (with support of the ST’s coach). Stoops should have given Bonano a chance sooner.
~Tommy~
Yup, it all falls on the head coach’s head. Stoops may have taken the Wildcats to successive appearances in bowl games the past 3 years, but his sideline antics and outbursts could not have been productive for the team. I used to have a boss like that, and let me tell you that after 3 years of that treatment, I could no longer bring myself to produce a good product for this guy because all I wanted to do was to wring his neck every time I saw him.
I think it was a weird mix of love for Stoops and unknowing irritation
Players realized he would fight them and they always fought for him in return. But I feel like they were so concerned about messing up and getting on his bad side that it hurt production. I think that’ll be obvious if the Wildcats can play well against a solid UW team this week.
Under Kish they’ve been loose and free. Makes a big difference.
Kevin Zimmerman
@offensivelyfoul
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