July 26, 2016 at 4:37 p.m.
OL help should bolster Luck’s performance
Rays of Insight
Are you ready for some football?
It starts anew this week, with many NFL teams starting training camp. But it’s not the only sport on readers’ minds.
Some are still in baseball mode, wondering if their favorite team is making smart moves in their quest for a World Series title. Others, in the true Hoosier spirit, are thinking about high school basketball history.
Let’s give them some answers.
••••••••••
Will Andrew Luck return to Pro Bowl form or will another year of a leaky offensive line limit his production?
—Steve Garbacz,
Fort Wayne
This is the key question for the Indianapolis Colts in 2016, and they did something to address it.
Indianapolis used three of their first six draft picks on offensive lineman, including No. 18 overall to pick Alabama center Ryan Kelly. They added tackle Le’Raven Clark from Texas Tech in the third round and tackle Joe Haeg of North Dakota State in the fifth.
The Colts also added the highly regarded Joe Philbin as their offensive line coach.
Whether draft picks will pan out or not is anybody’s guess, but Indianapolis just needs average play from its line.
In 2014, Football Outsiders ranked the Colts’ line 16th, and Luck completed 61.7 percent of his passes and totaled 40 touchdowns. During an injury-riddled 2015, the blockers ranked 27th and Luck completed just 55.3 percent of his throws with 15 TDs and 12 interceptions.
I’d expect somewhere in between — 60 percent completions and 30 touchdowns sounds about right.
••••••••••
Do you like the move for the Chicago Cubs to pick up relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees for the four players they had to give up and do you see him and his agent Marc Anthony signing an extension if they don’t win a World Series?
—Nathan Miller,
Wanamaker
As a Cleveland Indians fan, I hate the move. The Tribe could use some bullpen help.
But for the Cubs, I love it.
It almost doesn’t matter who you have to give up in order to get bullpen help of Chapman’s caliber. He brings with him a blistering fastball, 20 saves, a 0.89 WHIP and 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
While it seems as if Chicago is set up to be a contender for years to come, over the years I’ve come to embrace a philosophy: Go for the title when you have the chance.
There’s no telling what injuries or declines in performance could happen next year or the year after that. The Cubs have a real opportunity to win their first World Series since 1908. They have to go all in.
As for re-signing, it would seem a team the caliber of Chicago has as good a chance as any of enticing him to stay.
••••••••••
Before consolidation, is Dick Masters the holder of the career amount of points scoring in Jay County basketball? Doesn’t he hold the single-game record as well? I recall Masters receiving a scholarship to attend Murray State University. Is he the only player from Bryant to receive one?
—Jerry Sullivan,
Portland
Masters scored a lot during his career as a Bryant Owl from 1956 to ’59. But he is not the career record-holder for points.
While Masters did hold the mark for more than a decade, Redkey’s Greg Bales surpassed him as he scored 1,723 points from 1969 through ’72. The total for Masters was 1,574.
The rest of the top five is all about Bryant, as Tom Weigel, who is third on the list, fell fewer than 50 points short of Masters when he scored 1,529 from 1968 through ’71. Following him on the list at 1955 graduate Dallas Simon (1,372) and 1972 graduate Rick Schoenlein (1,370).
Masters, who led the county in scoring three times, does, however, hold the single-game scoring record. He poured in 49 points in an 81-42 sectional win over Gray on Feb. 25, 1959, falling short of the half-century mark when he missed his final free-throw attempt.
Thanks to Dean Monroe’s book “Glory Days,” which recounts pre-consolidation basketball in Jay County, those answers were easy to find. The college scholarship question is more difficult.
Masters did play at Murray State in 1961 and ’62. Perhaps our Bryant readers know whether or not any other former Owls earned college scholarships.
It starts anew this week, with many NFL teams starting training camp. But it’s not the only sport on readers’ minds.
Some are still in baseball mode, wondering if their favorite team is making smart moves in their quest for a World Series title. Others, in the true Hoosier spirit, are thinking about high school basketball history.
Let’s give them some answers.
••••••••••
Will Andrew Luck return to Pro Bowl form or will another year of a leaky offensive line limit his production?
—Steve Garbacz,
Fort Wayne
This is the key question for the Indianapolis Colts in 2016, and they did something to address it.
Indianapolis used three of their first six draft picks on offensive lineman, including No. 18 overall to pick Alabama center Ryan Kelly. They added tackle Le’Raven Clark from Texas Tech in the third round and tackle Joe Haeg of North Dakota State in the fifth.
The Colts also added the highly regarded Joe Philbin as their offensive line coach.
Whether draft picks will pan out or not is anybody’s guess, but Indianapolis just needs average play from its line.
In 2014, Football Outsiders ranked the Colts’ line 16th, and Luck completed 61.7 percent of his passes and totaled 40 touchdowns. During an injury-riddled 2015, the blockers ranked 27th and Luck completed just 55.3 percent of his throws with 15 TDs and 12 interceptions.
I’d expect somewhere in between — 60 percent completions and 30 touchdowns sounds about right.
••••••••••
Do you like the move for the Chicago Cubs to pick up relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees for the four players they had to give up and do you see him and his agent Marc Anthony signing an extension if they don’t win a World Series?
—Nathan Miller,
Wanamaker
As a Cleveland Indians fan, I hate the move. The Tribe could use some bullpen help.
But for the Cubs, I love it.
It almost doesn’t matter who you have to give up in order to get bullpen help of Chapman’s caliber. He brings with him a blistering fastball, 20 saves, a 0.89 WHIP and 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
While it seems as if Chicago is set up to be a contender for years to come, over the years I’ve come to embrace a philosophy: Go for the title when you have the chance.
There’s no telling what injuries or declines in performance could happen next year or the year after that. The Cubs have a real opportunity to win their first World Series since 1908. They have to go all in.
As for re-signing, it would seem a team the caliber of Chicago has as good a chance as any of enticing him to stay.
••••••••••
Before consolidation, is Dick Masters the holder of the career amount of points scoring in Jay County basketball? Doesn’t he hold the single-game record as well? I recall Masters receiving a scholarship to attend Murray State University. Is he the only player from Bryant to receive one?
—Jerry Sullivan,
Portland
Masters scored a lot during his career as a Bryant Owl from 1956 to ’59. But he is not the career record-holder for points.
While Masters did hold the mark for more than a decade, Redkey’s Greg Bales surpassed him as he scored 1,723 points from 1969 through ’72. The total for Masters was 1,574.
The rest of the top five is all about Bryant, as Tom Weigel, who is third on the list, fell fewer than 50 points short of Masters when he scored 1,529 from 1968 through ’71. Following him on the list at 1955 graduate Dallas Simon (1,372) and 1972 graduate Rick Schoenlein (1,370).
Masters, who led the county in scoring three times, does, however, hold the single-game scoring record. He poured in 49 points in an 81-42 sectional win over Gray on Feb. 25, 1959, falling short of the half-century mark when he missed his final free-throw attempt.
Thanks to Dean Monroe’s book “Glory Days,” which recounts pre-consolidation basketball in Jay County, those answers were easy to find. The college scholarship question is more difficult.
Masters did play at Murray State in 1961 and ’62. Perhaps our Bryant readers know whether or not any other former Owls earned college scholarships.
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