Just can’t Legaux

Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Here wegaux again.. (Thanks to my friend Larry Peterson for the wordplay there)

I just read this afternoon that Munchie Legaux and Shaq Washington have received extensions to play one more year at UC.

Shaq’s time wasn’t up yet but he’ll now have two years of eligibility remaining.  That is just plain awesome.  He is a great receiver and he continues to grow.  Two more years could mean a lot to this program and his development as a player.  We have been recruiting well at WR so perhaps an extra year with Shaq will enable us to redshirt a talented freshman this year and keep that position going strong for years.  No question, this is great news for Bearcat fans.

As for Munchie, I have mixed feelings.  To be fair, it’s not Munchie’s fault (entirely anyway).  You would be hard pressed to find a program with more QB drama in the last decade.  Dustin Grutza gets benched for Nick Davila at the end of the season and for the bowl game in 2006-07.  Then Brian Kelly comes in and starts Wake Forest transfer Bionic Ben Mauk who takes us to and wins the Papa Johns Bowl.  The following season had drama that bled into late August as Mauk continued to file appeals for a 6th (or 7th?) year of eligibility.  He was ultimately declined and then we had the flurry of Tony Pike, Zach Collaros and Chazz Anderson.  Following that we had Zach Collaros injured and replaced by Munchie.  Meanwhile Brendan Kay had been fighting injuries for seemingly his entire college career.  Last year we had the drama of choosing between Munchie and Brendan.  Finally we landed on Munchie who was promptly injured in the first road game of the season.

Looking toward next season we had a seemingly clear landscape with two QBs who have never started (Gunner Kiel and Bennie Coney).  We still have competition at the QB spot but at least it was a matter of the best man for the job.  Now it’s complicated again as we have two strong candidates and  a QB coming back who has starting experience and seniority.

It’s also not helping that I’ve never truly been a Munchie fan.  He is a gifted athlete, obviously a hard worker, committed Bearcat and from all signs a wonderful guy.  As a QB though he isn’t my preference for next season.  We could certainly do a lot worse than Munchie but Gunner Kiel (my top choice and Bleacher Report agrees) is the highest rated player that I’m aware of to ever step foot in the UC locker room.  Maybe he’ll work, maybe he won’t but I hope he gets an honest shot at the position even with Munchie around.

So is  Munchie coming back a good thing or a bad thing?  It could go either way.  From what I can tell (very limited access/exposure) he has a good understanding of the playbook and works diligently even on the sideline.  That seems to be the kind of guy you want around.  If I’m pressed on the issue, I have to say ultimately it’s a good thing for the team even though I’d prefer he not be the starter at QB.

Ultimately it comes down to Tuberville.  He’s got a tough decision.  Is this the year he will take us back to a pro-style offense?  In which case, a scrambling QB is not all that appealing.  I’m not sure if we have what we need at RB to make that happen yet but with that being stated direction of the program it opens the question of whether Munchie or Bennie really fit the position.

Anyhow, just this little bit of talk has got me wanting to fast forward to August but perhaps we’ll all learn some things at the spring game.