Colonials Corner

Colonials Corner has learned that Plymouth, Ohio senior Brook Turson issued a verbal commitment to the Colonials this past weekend.

A 6′4 combo guard from Plymouth High School, Turson is a former AAU Teammate of current Robert Morris freshman center Brad Piehl.

We’ll dig up more on Turson’s high school career later. This is the second of five scholarships that have been handed out for the class of 2010 by Mike Rice’s staff.

Prior to the final drive today, the Robert Morris offense had just 18 plays in the second half. They accumulated -7 yards.

Negative. Seven.

Tells you all you need to know. You can check out the full post-mortem in the Times tomorrow, but really, there’s not much out there. I talked to Coach Walton and Alex DiMichele afterward, and Walton’s quotes are the only ones in the paper. That’s no slight at Alex – Walton just fit the space I had. Points to DiMichele for being a stand-up guy and talking for a long time about how the team needs to stick together.

That said, neither DiMichele nor Walton had any immediate answers to what plagues this team. Walton did put the onus on himself and the offense, saying they were the culprits.

Read on for some additional notes from today’s game…

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Homecoming is upon us, and while extra security in the Western PA area may be hampering travel, you’ll be able to join in on the festivities tonight and tomorrow before/after the game. We’ll get to those in a moment, but first, the all important notes for Saturday’s game…

It’s not officially the start of fall until the early commitments start rolling in for college hoops.

Wilbur O’Neal, who has been on the Robert Morris radar basically since Mike Rice took over the program, gave his verbal commitment to the Colonials following a trip to the campus this past weekend, according to njhoops.com.

A 6′7, 220 pound forward out of National Christian Academy in Fort Washington, Maryland, O’Neal was on the radar two years ago as a high school senior. He ended up going to Blin Junior College in Texas last year and moved on to Harcum College in Pennsylvania for this season.

Multiple recruiting sites have tabbed O’Neal as having extaordinary strength and rebounding skills, with a good finish around the basket. Have yet to find out why he ended up in junior college after having quite a few schools interested in him as a high school senior. Perhaps that will come out in time.

O’Neal, should he officially sign, would fulfill one of five open scholarships available for the class of 2010. Based on the projected class balance for the next couple years, I would not be surprised to see one more junior college player on Mike Rice’s list, with the other three spots filled by high school seniors.

Apologies for the timing and the quality of this update. It will be just a slash and dash of news and notes, as I’ve been wonderfully ill since the middle of the night.

A commentary follows these news and notes:

• You can read more about it in today’s paper (quick note, by the way – The Beaver County Times was the only paper or news organization represented at the home opener), but Joe Walton absolved Camdin Crouse of most of the mistakes on offense. He was extremely disappointed with the play on the offensive line, saying any quarterback would struggle with the pressure he was facing.
• Sherrod Evers took full responsibility for not holding on to the pass that hit him right in his hands slightly above his chest. Evers and King were two of several culprits for not hauling in catchable balls. Crouse did miss a couple times, though, including a short potential TD pass to Jeff Link. Josh Keil plunged in on the next play to save the Colonials.
• This is speculation, but the only time I recall seeing Jeff Sinclair warm up was after Crouse’s fumble in the 4th quarter. Crouse took a shot on that play and Sinclair might have just been a precaution. If someone recalls something else, feel free to speak up.
• Crouse only had two completions longer than 10 yards, both on the same drive in the 4th quarter – A 12 yard pass to Russ and the 25 yard touchdown to Evers.
• Dayton’s Steve Valentino, a converted wide receiver, was not playing QB for the first time. He was recruited as a quarterback and only moved to wide receiver to take advantage of his athleticism. Dayton had depth at QB, only to see that depth ravaged by injury.
• Robert Morris piled up 104 yards due to penalties. Dayton had more flags thrown (9 to RMU’s 6), but most of those were minor infractions.
• Shadrae King played but definitely did not look 100%. He was removed in the 4th quarter after a long pass fell incomplete – despite being catchable – and left him hobbled.
• Brian Bevilacqua, Brad Rodgers, and Logan Miles all played at guard, but Miles spent a lot of time at RG in place of Bevilacqua with Rodgers at Miles’ usual LG spot.
• Nathan Argenta received his first playing time of the season, starting at safety alongside Mike Landers.
• Farren Mason left in the 1st quarter with a knee injury. Early report was that it was potentially a kneecap injury.
• Adam Lawrence has a badly sprained ankle. He was going to be checked out further after the game.

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The home opener against Dayton starts an hour earlier than usual. Home kickoffs have been moved to 12pm EST, meaning you’ll need to get settled in an hour earlier than usual

Your resources for tomorrow’s 12:00 start. The Joe Walton Show starts at 11:30.

Robert Morris audio – WPIT 730 AM or rmucolonials.com

Live video – rmucolonials.com

Live stats - Via RMU (Free and awesome)

I’ll be at the game. I’ll try and update here and on Twitter (just read the feed on the right hand side of the page).

Nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering to get to prior to the Dayton game. Read the Beaver County Times article in Friday’s paper to get a feel for Joe Walton’s and Camdin Crouse’s perspective on the last two weeks and what needs to happen on offense against the Flyers. I’ll put up the Game Day Open Thread tomorrow, but considering this is a home game, I expect it to be quieter during the game and more active afterward. I’ll be at the game and therefore not really participating, although I will try and contribute some thoughts via Twitter.

I’ll get to the answers to some of the question you have posed over the past couple days in a moment, but first a few notes about Saturday.

Shadrae King is “highly questionable” to play on Saturday according to Joe Walton. His ankle is still wrapped, and the head coach said it will definitely be a game time decision. King has not practiced all week, but he gave me a thumbs up and said he was going to give it a shot on Saturday. If King does not go, Harry Girting and Chris Molnar will get more time again. Walton did say King is a much better bet for next week’s game against Bryant.

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Welcome to the Robert Morris quarterback carousel. No one knows where it stops, but it’s guaranteed to make you dizzy.

Perhaps Colonials fans should have known – and maybe some did – that not having an individual step forward in spring ball or training camp was a bad sign. That bit of foreshadowing certainly had to give Joe Walton and the rest of the coaching staff some late night indigestion, and the result has led to an inauspicious start for Colonials’ quarterbacks.

Desmond Brentley lasted a game and a half that consisted of an average performance against VMI and a nightmare against Bucknell. If there is a Quarterback Hell, certainly a portion of it has to consist of a version of Brentley’s two straight pick sixes early in the third quarter against the Bison.

Camdin Crouse came in relief and attempted to lead a comeback, but was unable to do so, getting sacked for a safety and throwing a deep interception.

Crouse apparently will get the call on Saturday versus Dayton. Colonials Corner has been told that Crouse will start and freshman Jeff Sinclair will be his immediate backup. That, indeed, was the order in practice today. However, Colonials Corner was cautioned that the order – or even the participants – could change.  Since this is merely Wednesday morning and Saturday is a long ways off, I expect to be fully exasperated by kickoff. That said, I’m confident that as of 12:26 am Wednesday morning, Crouse is the starter.

It’s a decision that apparently changed even over the course of a couple hours. Earlier Tuesday, Desmond Brentley was going to receive another shot. But within a couple of hours, that had all changed. Obviously, if anything else changes, I’ll pass it on to you. I expect that the first step of confirmation will be with the depth chart released later Wednesday.

When you pile up six sacks on defense, hold the opponent to 183 yards of total offense, and allow just 10 points to the offense, theory says you’ve won the game.

Not if you’re Robert Morris. The Colonials turned the ball over five times – four interceptions by starting quarterback Desmond Brentley – and the Colonials’ defense once again could not overcome the multitude of mistakes on offense and special teams and pull out a win.

It started off wrong for Robert Morris, allowing AJ Kizekai to give Bucknell great field position on the opening kickoff. Bucknell got a field goal, and the two teams traded drives until Brentley hit Sherrod Evers with a 55-yard touchdown pass with 1:43 left in the 1st quarter. RMU followed that up with a Garrett Clawson field goal to make it 10-3 in the second quarter.

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We’ll give this another shot. I’ll be around this time and following the game live just like everyone else, so feel free to drop in here and chat before, during, and after the game in the comment section.

Your resources for tomorrow’s 6:00 start. The Joe Walton Show starts at 5:30.

Robert Morris audio – WPIT 730 AM or rmucolonials.com

Live video – Streaming courtesy of CBS CSTV (not sure if this will work well or if you’ll need to register/pay, but it’s an option. Must have javascript installed. If someone finds a free stream, please post it in the comment section)

Live stats - Courtesy of Bucknell/CSTV (always works well, again needs javascript. Absolutely free)

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