BigRedBuster
International Man of Mystery
This article is a great article about what made the 1997 team so great and (I believe) what is lacking on this team.
LINK
Who else? Who on this defense has the balls to stand up in the first quarter of the game on Saturday and call other players out and make them raise their level of play?
I personally also believe some of this is because of the way Bo handles captains. There isn't a consistent hierarchy on the team of leadership other than Bo, assistant coaches then everyone else. When you have an organization of over 100 players, you need leadership inside those ranks to keep the group moving forward in the right direction.
Thoughts???
LINK
Who on this team has this type of commitment to doing what it takes to lead this team and do what ever it takes to win? Honestly, the only ones I can think of are Taylor and Rex. Now, don't get me wrong. Taylor has his faults with the fumbles. But, I believe he has shown that he is willing to do what ever it takes to get better and win games. These are the only two guys that I can think of on this team that the rest of the team looks up to. But, do they have the personalities to be able to get in other players faces and call them out when they screw up?“We had great leadership on that team, and it started with Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter. They were probably more motivated to win that national championship than anyone else. Nine months before the ’97 season started, they came into my office to talk. Since both were projected to be first-round NFL draft picks, I thought they were going to tell me they had to do what was best for them and their families, but my instincts were wrong. They told me how good it felt to win national championships in ‘94 and ‘95 and how disappointed they were when we didn’t win another one in ’96. So they wanted to stay one more year, finish things up right and go out as champions.
“They were two driven players who took it upon themselves to create the vision for that ‘97 team after we had beaten Virginia Tech (41-21) a few weeks earlier in the Orange Bowl. Without their leadership and talent, I don’t believe that season would have unfolded like it did. Those two really set the tone with exceptional dedication and commitment.
Who else? Who on this defense has the balls to stand up in the first quarter of the game on Saturday and call other players out and make them raise their level of play?
I personally also believe some of this is because of the way Bo handles captains. There isn't a consistent hierarchy on the team of leadership other than Bo, assistant coaches then everyone else. When you have an organization of over 100 players, you need leadership inside those ranks to keep the group moving forward in the right direction.
Thoughts???