As I wrote on Twitter a little while ago, cornerback Reggie Rembert’s dreams of playing offense will probably remain just a dream.
“Not initially,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said about the possibility of Rembert playing some offense this season. “His priority is to play very well for us at corner.”
Rembert joked earlier in the day at Mountain West media days that he wanted to play some offense (Calhoun said the offensive assistants have lobbied him for that too), as he did in 2008. Calhoun didn’t completely rule out Rembert playing some offense late in the year, but he didn’t sound like that was in his plans. Calhoun wants Rembert to concentrate not just on cornerback and becoming a better returner, but is also going to add more to Rembert’s plate as a slot cornerback in the nickel defense.
The Falcons played a lot of nickel in 2009, with five defensive backs, but usually with an extra safety. With a lot of depth at cornerback, Air Force will use a third cornerback more often this season. With that, Rembert will often move inside and use his quickness to cover inside receivers.
Calhoun said Rembert could also move around the field if the Falcons decide that he matches up with a certain receiver (or if fellow All-MWC preseason first-team cornerback Anthony Wright Jr. matches up with a big receiver from the opponent), and that will be new to Rembert, so he should be busy even without offensive snaps.
“If he’s going to be in the slot and learn that position he’s got to understand run fits and zone coverages too,” Calhoun said.
The offensive backfield is already overloaded. There aren’t enough snaps to go around. Halderman, Warzeka, Getz, and Jones are all game breakers.
There’s a lot of depth there, sure, but I don’t see the downside to getting one of your more dynamic players a touch here and there on a gadget play. Doesn’t appear Calhoun is excited about the possibility anyway.
There’s the starter, Asher Clark, also. The players that AFAFan mentioned all have great potential. Getz and Jones were freshmen last year and got little exposure, but when they did, their potential was obvious. I’m anxious to see all of them play in the first game because I agree that they could all be game-breakers. It might be one of the best stables of running backs that Air Force has ever had, but they’re still very young.
There has been talk of Rembert on offense since he was a freshman. But he is invaluable to this team as a shutdown corner, recognized in this preseason as one of the best in the MWC. If he were injured while running an offensive play, it would hurt the team much more than that offensive play could have helped. He gets enough exposure as a returner, it would seem.
I agree Rembert will have a full plate on defense punt and kick off returns. To get him hurt on offense is not worth the risk
I’ve never agreed with keeping a guy off offense (or defense, I suppose) to avoid injury. Rembert has just as much chance of getting hurt on defense – and definitely returns – as he does at playing offense. If he got hurt playing offense, that’s more coincidence than the reason he got hurt.
I wonder if Stephens not playing changes the Coaches’ minds on Rembert playing offense. Probably not…I think the Z backs, Full Backs and Clark, Getz, Jones will do well.