Why in the name of John Purdue would Coach Hazell so drastically misuse Henry's greatest strength and force him into a pocket passing attack? The kid is lightning - the fastest on the team. Force him to stay in the pocket and compete with his arm? What the HELL??

Possibly, the coaching staff is installing an offense. Something more than simply leveraging a Sr. QB's footspeed. Said offense will take time for ALL the players to learn and develop - regardless WHO is taking the snaps. Maybe Hazell sees the future in Appleby or Etling and is teaching a drop back passer's offense to the other 10 guys on O in preparation for that day. That Henry is not the best fit for that O is immaterial. Hazell probably feels that his footspeed is gives him the best chance of survival (of the three) while the new offense is digested. The brutal truth is that if Henry is broken during the learning phase, it impacts us far less over the long haul than if one of the shiny frosh goes down. Given that players in the "P" hats ran into each other more that a few times down in Cincy, I'd say the O10 still have some lernin' to do.

If you wait until the Saturday of Appleling's first start to install this offense, the other 10 will be so unprepared that the young signal callers would be quickly snapped in two. It just might be that Hazell wants to give the frosh QBs a chance of physical survival when their day comes.

Its a shitty hand to deal a kid like Henry, who seems to be a true leader and has paid his dues to come back. But it's one of the things that makes him a leader - a willingness to do what the TEAM needs to build for the future.

Rob Henry. Boilermaker.