One of the best feelings as an employee is knowing your boss has your back. It allows you a freedom with your work that generally results in a better performance.
In every sport I ever played that applied to a coach having your back, too. Defending you to an official after a call you didn’t like, or speaking highly of you to the press after perhaps a not-so-hot performance.
It’s safe to say Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman has his players backs. One night after star tight end Michael Mayer was passed over for the John Mackey Award, which goes to the nation’s top tight end, Freeman weighed in on Twitter.
Freeman is the latest to weigh-in defending Mayer. Last night Brady Quinn, Julian Love, Logan Diggs, and plenty of Notre Dame fans let their thoughts be known as well.
I hate writing these reaction and it coming off at all as a knock on Brock Bowers, the actual award winner. Bowers is an incredibly talented player that has a unique skill set which allows him to be used in very creative ways. He thrives at that and he’s great, no question about it.
The best way to me to make my case for Mayer, besides in just production (that doesn’t always tell whole story anyway), is to think of it like this:
If Mayer and Bowers were on the same team – who would be primarily a tight end and who would be used in less traditional tight end roles?
It’s Mayer as your tight end and it’s not particularly close. But then again, neither was their comparable statistics, either.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]