Overhyped Qb Just Trying To Lead
It was back in early February of 1999, and Mike Kramer was in desperate need of a warm, fuzzy, feel-good story. The former Eastern Washington University football coach had just jettisoned his starting quarterback, fifth-year senior Griffin Garske, in a much-publicized and unseemly manner that had Eagles fans - including Garske’s father - roaring their disapproval.
Enter Fred Salanoa, the anointed heir to Garske’s starting position and ill-starred lead character in the tale Kramer needed to tell.
“He’s a player we have been enamored with since we saw him on film,” Kramer said of Salanoa, a 6-foot, 190-pound transfer from Snow Junior College, at the time. “He has great mobility and decision-making abilities, and is real athletic.
“Signing him is one of the biggest recruiting victories we’ve ever had.” It was a terrific sales pitch that helped numb some raw nerve ends among the Eagles’ faithful. But, in retrospect, it certainly didn’t do any favors for Salanoa, who is still laboring to live up to Kramer’s hype.
And no one understands that as well as Salanoa’s new coach, Paul Wulff, who was promoted from offensive coordinator after Kramer bolted for Montana State last winter.
“Mike had built him up so much and said so many wrong things regarding the poor kid,” Wulff said of Salanoa earlier this week. “It wasn’t fair to him and it wasn’t fair to the whole situation.”
It didn’t help that Salanoa suffered a season-ending knee injury after playing in just three games last season. Or that he has failed to distinguish himself during Eastern’s 1-1 start this fall.
Heading into Saturday night’s 6:05 Big Sky Conference opener against Idaho State (1-0) at Woodward Stadium, the junior left-hander has completed just 47.2 percent (25 of 53) of his passes for 234 yards. He has thrown two interceptions and no touchdown passes and had a dismal efficiency rating of 76.71.
In general, the Eagles’ passing game has failed.
But Wulff is quick to warn that placing the blame entirely on Salanoa’s shoulders would be a major mistake.
“It’s not just Fred, it’s the whole offense,” he explained. “I think it’s a little of everything - inconsistency in pass protection at times, inconsistency in maybe running the exact same route all the time and inconsistency in the accuracy of throws.”
In addition, the Eagles injury-plagued offensive line has not afforded Salanoa the kind of protection he needs to get comfortable in the pocket. And the news on that front only got worse this week when it was learned that tight end Danny Curley will be lost for the season after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery to repair damage suffered during preseason drills.
Still, it is Salanoa who is having his every move and every decision analyzed, criticized and second-guessed by the masses in the bleachers.
And Wulff, while understanding the knee-jerk reactions of most fans, claims that, too, is unfair. Even in the wake of Salanoa’s unimpressive 12 for 23, 95-yard passing effort in last Saturday’s 28-6 win over Division II Western Oregon.
“The quarterback is the most visible player on the field and the easiest (for the fan) to evaluate,” Wulff said. “They’re probably going to get more credit than they deserve and more blame than they deserve. That happens all the time.
“Yeah, Fred could have played better, no question. But our right guard could have played better, too, for example, but he’s not as noticeable.”
According to Wulff, under a points system used by his staff, Salanoa graded out at his position against Western Oregon as highly as most members of the offense.
Salanoa admits he still feels pressure to live up to his billing, but it’s nothing like he experienced prior to his first start as an Eagle against Division I Idaho last fall.
“I was overwhelmed with pressure in that game,” he admitted. “I tried to act like I wasn’t, but you could see during the game that I was whipping the ball harder than I normally throw it and our receivers couldn’t catch it.”
Salanoa tried to do it all against the Vandals and ended doing very little. It was an ill-advised approach that he has since altered.
He knows now that Eastern’s offense is about running the football, and that his role - as defined by offensive coordinator Dave Telford and quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach - is to simply lead the offense, not necessarily carry it; to simply play smart, not necessarily great.
“Being at the quarterback position, you’re always going to have pressure,” Salanoa admitted. “But this year, being a captain, I’m trying to throw away some of that pressure and just show good leadership out there.
“Coach Rosenbach and Coach Telford are teaching me and (backup quarterback) Chris Samms to play smart. We don’t need to force balls, we don’t need to make big plays. If the play’s not there, throw the ball away, and that’s what I did a lot against Oregon State.
“It doesn’t look good on paper, your completion ratio, but during the game you’ve got to what’s right for your team.”
And that’s an approach Wulff can live with as Salanoa continues to grow into his position and, quite possibly, into the kind of player Kramer first described.
“Fred is a great kid and he’s a good player,” Wulff said. “He’s just not a great quarterback right now. That’s not to say he can’t get there, but he’s just not.
“The kid was built up bigger than he really is, and that’s too bad. But he making progress - along with the rest of our offense.”