RCT Readers Choice Awards; Most Improved Player

by Owen on Jan 11, 2009 10:00 PM CST in Kansas Jayhawk Football

"RCT Readers Choice Awards"

As we continue the RCT Readers Choice Awards we get into an award where the nominees are a little less black and white and we get much more into the gray area. That being the case I will be adding an other category for this one and you're welcome to vote other, but you must put in the comments who that vote is for. Consider it a write in vote.

In terms of Most Improved player there are two ways to look at this one and either one is fine. First the player that improved the most from last year to this year. Secondly if there is a player that improved immensly over the course of this year, they to are in the running.

Let's get right into it then. The Nominees for Most Improved Jayhawk of 2008 are...

Poll

Most Impoved Kansas Football Player of 2008?

Jeremiah Hatch

7 votes

Daymond Patterson

2 votes

Jake Laptad

6 votes

Johnathan Wilson

1 votes

Dezmon Briscoe

11 votes

James Holt

5 votes

Justin Thornton

0 votes

Kerry Meier

5 votes

Other...add name in the comments...

0 votes

37 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

I went with Meier

with the improved most from last year to this year. If you were looking at it as the course of the season then it’d be different but that was my criteria. I can’t wait to see how much he improves to next year ( can he?)

by I need more Esteban on Jan 11, 2009 11:16 PM CST reply actions

My vote was for Hatch...

playing undersized and out of position at left tackle I thought by the end of the year he really made major strides.

Watching him at the Insight Bowl there was one drive where his helmet was malfunctioning and falling off nearly every play, he made it through and dominated his guy on a TD scoring drive. That sealed it for me.

Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.

by Owen on Jan 11, 2009 11:32 PM CST reply actions

I thought I was taking an underdog with Hatch;

But the vote totals show him up. Nice for the big uglies to get some credit. The flip with he and Spikes seemed to work wonders and hopefully they keep it up for three more years.

by hunter s. royal on Jan 12, 2009 12:13 AM CST reply actions

I hope the two keep it up over the next three years...

but I do hope that Hatch can move to the interior line which would be his more natural position. That will mean Spikes has stepped up at LT and one of our other youngsters will take the reigns at right tackle. We’ve got the size on the roster it’s just a matter of if and when it happens. If not though, at least we’ve got Hatch ready to make it happen.

Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.

by Owen on Jan 12, 2009 7:12 AM CST up reply actions

I went with Laptad

and apparently I’m alone in that thinking. My reasons were two-fold. First, I wanted to select someone that played last year so I eliminated Patterson and Hatch – both obviously improved a lot as the year went on and were integral to our success, but we really didn’t have a measuring stick for them coming into the year.

As for the returning players, I selected Laptad because I thought he truly improved the most from last year to this. Obviously Briscoe, Meier and Wilson would have all been good choices because of the drastic increase in production from all three. Same with Holt. And Thornton really proved valuable when he moved to corner. What separated Laptad for me was that he became an every down player. Last year he was a pass rusher only, that showed promise. This year he became a viable run stopper as well, improved his pass rushing and showed the ability to play effectively no matter the situation. Our d-line was probably the weakest aspect of our team, but I don’t even want to imagine what it would have looked like without Laptad.

by hiphopopotamus on Jan 12, 2009 9:02 AM CST reply actions

The sentence I left out was...

that of all the other returners besides Laptad, I knew they were plenty capable of what they produced, whereas I had no idea what we could expect out of Laptad.

by hiphopopotamus on Jan 12, 2009 9:03 AM CST up reply actions

I definitely can't disagree with your rationale...and had I not already voted...

I may have been swayed…

While I voted for Hatch I did, as you mentioned, struggle with the fact that I had no measuring stick and all his improvement was within the season in question. Laptad is an excellent choice based on the criteria you’ve set out and if our local Jake Fan Club votes I doubt you’ll be alone.

Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.

by Owen on Jan 12, 2009 9:42 AM CST up reply actions