Thursday, October 15, 2009
Undersized Minter filling gaps for Radford
Julian Minter, at 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, plays bigger for the Bobcats' line.
RAY COX The Roanoke Times
At 5-foot-8, 160 pounds, Julian Minter doesn't fit the usual profile of a two-way starter on the offensive and defensive lines.
JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times
Radford's Ryan Patterson celebrates a touchdown against Eastern Montgomery during Friday's game. Radford won 44-8.
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
e-mail ray.cox@roanoke.com or call 381-1672
Ray Cox
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| Ray Cox
ray.cox@roanoke.com, 381-1672
RADFORD -- Julian Minter was greeting a guest to the Radford High School football dressing quarters the other day.
Minter hadn't yet put on his practice gear and was still attired in his school clothes.
"You're not as big as you look on the football field," the stranger blurted out.
"That's what they all say," Minter said.
Admittedly, at 5-foot-8, 160 pounds, Minter doesn't fit the usual profile of a two-way starter on the offensive and defensive lines. No matter how you stretch it (or him), he's not very big for the positions he plays.
As every kid on the sandlots learns early, it's not how big you are but how big you play that matters.
So how large has his game been?
"He's a real good football player," Radford coach Matthew Saunders said.
Has been, too.
That's why Minter plays where he is now after moving from last year's assignments at running back and linebacker -- positions he would seem to be better suited for based solely on physical stature.
The Bobcats had running backs and linebackers. What they didn't have was a noseguard defensively and an offensive line leader at guard.
After losing big to Eastern Montgomery last year, Radford assistant coach Chris Vicars was struck by the play of Mustangs noseguard Justin Fisher, who goes 5-9, 150.
"No. 30 [Fisher] killed us last year," Vicars said. "I said, we need one of those."
It so happened that Radford had the football equivalent of an ill-tempered terrier right there on the roster.
If anybody knew what Minter was capable of, it was Vicars, also the Bobcats' wrestling coach. Minter rolled to the state Group A title last winter at 145 pounds. The young man clearly knows how to scrap.
So when deployments for this year's football team were being discussed before the season, Minter's name came up regarding openings at offensive guard and noseguard.
After the decision was made to move him, Saunders wondered how Minter would react to the switch.
The coach needn't have worried.
"Anything that can help us win, I'll do, coach," was the reply.
Minter has definitely helped Radford win. His work was a key component of the Bobcats' 44-8 dismantling last week of EastMont, the same team that had shocked the Bobcats so badly a year ago.
Radford limited the Mustangs to a puny 49 yards rushing for the game and zero points over the last 42:08.
The Bobcats kept ace Mustangs quarterback Shawn Christian under duress in passing situations, which is one of the reasons he was held to seven completions in 15 attempts for 112 yards and the lone TD. EastMont came into the game undefeated and averaging an astounding 50.2 points per game.
As for Radford's attack, it churned out 320 yards of gains, 256 of that on the ground. Running back Kevin Adkins had 119 yards on 13 carries and scored three touchdowns, all on the same trap play out of the spread. Guess who sets the trap.
"It's my favorite play," said Minter, who had played on the offensive line only rarely in the past and never at the high school level.
"What happens is, I pull out and run down the line to trap the first guy I see. It worked great the other night."
Adkins saluted the guys up front.
"Our line's blocking was great all night," he said,
When Minter first got the word that he was switching to a new position, he was apprehensive but open to change.
"I wondered how I'd do against the bigger guys," he said. "I wasn't sure about my size and the size of other guys."
One-on-one confrontations are the essence of wrestling, but the guys who grapple each other are all in the same weight class.
Saunders didn't think twice about it.
"He has great strength and balance from wrestling," Saunders said.
It's been an on-the-job training course in football and humility.
"Did he tell you who took his linebacker job?" Saunders said.
That would be William Minter, a freshman and Julian's younger brother. If this has been an emotional issue for the brothers, it's not readily apparent.
Julian Minter had to be a quick study.
"I had to learn to play big," he said. "If you don't, you'll get knocked. I had to learn how to get off blocks and get after it."
A noseguard is often the toughest undersized guy on a team. The idea is to penetrate when you can in passing situations but mainly to stay low and unblockable so as to create maximum clogging of the middle of the interior line.
Quickness, muscle, guile and stubbornness are job requirements. A wrestler, who needs those same qualities, can be perfect for the job.
Football has helped him with wrestling, said Minter, who plans to travel to Appalachian State on a wrestling recruiting visit soon.
"Football helps me because it taught me about the drive to compete," he said.
