After a few drinks yours truly finally got the nerve to talk to UB President William Greiner at his holiday party last December. Greiner shared his optimism on the 2002 UB football season, and made a point to mention how good Aaron Leeper, at the time a true freshman red-shirting his first season, was going to be in the blue and white.
The president's words were prophetic last Thursday when Leeper, one of the few bright spots in Buffalo's 37-26 loss to Lehigh, plunged in from 2-yards out to earn the Bulls their first touchdown of 2002. It was the redshirt freshman running back's first collegiate carry. He went on to lead the team in rushing with 73 yards on 15 carries.
If it's true that players improve most dramatically from game one to game two of their college careers, Leeper could be set for a breakout evening when the team travels to Piscataway, N.J. to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights of the Big East Conference Saturday at 7 p.m. (WGR 550-AM).
Leeper doesn't take much credit for his touchdown run, noting that he went in untouched behind a strong push from the offensive line, however his hard straight-ahead run prevented Lehigh from making an impressive goal line stand.
"I was on the sideline watching (UB senior running back) Marquis (Dwarte) and the offense and they weren't able to push it in, Coach was like 'Aaron get in there'," Leeper said. "Usually when I'm on the 2-yard line I have enough confidence in myself to push the ball in, but on that fourth and two the offensive line did a great job. I was very nervous; I hadn't played a football game in over a year. I had a lot of jitters, that was the first play I got in.
"The feeling was great. I had a lot of fans from back home, my parents were up and everyone was cheering for me. We came off with a good start, unfortunately we couldn't come off with the win."
So after such an impressive debut performance, will Leeper get even more carries against the Scarlet Knights, pushing Dwarte to the sidelines?
"I think that we're going to need them both and we may even need more than both as we go through the season," said UB Head Coach Jim Hofher. "Whether we're looking at it as a 'hot hand' issue, which we may, or whether we're dealing with a rotation, which we did, I'm certain that were going to need them ."
With three extra days to digest their losses to Division I-AA opponents, Rutgers and UB will be hungry for a win to restore their confidence. The Bulls and Scarlet Knights were the only two Division I-A teams to lose to Division I-AA schools last week.
"We can't take them lightly just because they lost to Villanova, and they can't take us lightly because we lost to Lehigh," Leeper said. "Their defense is pretty tough. They have a lot of big guys up front and their fast . it's a very skillful team that we can't let down on."
If Leeper can run the way he did in game one in game two at Rutgers, he will take a lot of pressure off of UB sophomore quarterback Randall Secky.
Secky has taken quite a beating in the local news media over the last week despite the fact that Thursday was his first full collegiate game. The media scrutiny, however, came partly due to Secky's self-admission that his performance was sub-par and Hofher's citing of each team's passing game as the major difference. Hofher never shielded Secky, who passed for only 154 yards and had an interception returned for a touchdown to seal the game, away from the criticism.
According to Leeper the blame should lie with everyone.
"I know the media and everyone else put a lot of the blame on Secky but I don't think you can really put all the blame on Secky," said Leeper. "I made mistakes, everybody made mistakes. After the game he was very discouraged. I told him 'you have to keep your head up, you just have to get used to the game'. It takes time."
"Randall I think is going to prove to be a very tough guy from a mental standpoint," Hofher said. "His tempo was a little too quick for the ballgame, maybe that's to be understood with a first game start. He was a little out of rhythm, now he's come to find out he doesn't need to be so hurried . all he's got to really focus on is the reaction of the defense for the rout that's been called or the read that he has to go through. He did an excellent job with virtually every read that he had, it was just execution."
There is reason to believe that Secky will improve dramatically this week against Rutgers. According to Leeper he has delivered the ball with improved accuracy this week in practice.
If Leeper is right, Greiner may have a one-two punch to boast about this December.
News / Notes
The Bulls will be without the services of sophomore center Eric Weber for the rest of the season. Weber had shoulder surgery last Thursday morning. As a freshman he started all 11 games for UB in 2001. Junior Kevin Dunn took his place in the lineup against Lehigh and will get his fourth career start Saturday at Rutgers.
UB senior split end Andre Forde was named Mid-American Conference East Division Special Teams Player of the Week after returning a punt 83 yards for a touchdown last week against Lehigh.
