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About to go to bed, but then the thought struck me that this year's Viking team reminds me in some ways of the 2007 Vikes - a team with a young quarterback, a star senior running back, talent at receiver and a slew of injuries.
The 2007 Vikes finished (6-4, 4-4) in fourth place in Wesco, one game out of the playoffs. Junior QB Nick Baker was beginning to show signs of stardom to come.
In fact, it's been often mentioned lately that Baker started his entire junior year after replacing prior starter Paxton Paynter, as opposed to this year's QB rotation where the coaching staff has shuffled through three different starters.
I thought I'd revisit the stats and see if the coaches were just more patient with Baker, or if he clamped down the position through on field performance. Let's take a look:
2007 QB Nick Baker**
93/169 passing for 1353 yards,
55% completion ratio,
12 TD/5 INT,
47 rushes for 174 yards (4.0 avg) and 4 TDs.
**Voted Second team All Wesco behind all state QB Marshall Loebestahl.
Wow. Better than I remembered, but maybe we were just spoiled. Especially notable is that sterling 12-5 TD/INT ratio and the 55% completion ratio. The four rushing TDs were nice too.
Of course, Baker went on to throw for 30!!! TDs the next year, but suffice it to say that if any of the 2009 Viking QB's had put up numbers on par with Baker's junior season...well, there wouldn't have been a competition at all.