RD5 #13/#159: K Justin Rohrwasser, Marshall

PedroKsBambino

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I'm now rooting for them to pick another kicker in the sixth.

Sunk cost.
 

Shelterdog

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the 3%ers literally ran "security" for the Charlottesville rally.

What a pick. Absolutely nauseating.
I thought they-as an organization-actually stood down at Charlottesville and claim to reject racism. (But they’re obviously right wing fringe gun nuts, no questions asked about that)
 

YTF

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Ale Xander

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With tattoo parlors allowed to open in Georgia, does it mean tattoo removal places are open too? He should really get this removed asap
 

Cellar-Door

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I thought they-as an organization-actually stood down at Charlottesville and claim to reject racism. (But they’re obviously right wing fringe gun nuts, no questions asked about that)
I think the issue is that like many of these groups they are loosely aligned blanket structures, so they attract a lot of Neo-Nazi's, but then they distance themselves from their members who get in trouble. Beyond... gov't bad, guns good they don't have much idealogical consistency (though even that is dubious since they love cops and have many cop members)
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Ummm, a white football player at Marshall with a Neo-Nazi tattoo? You think there would have been some issues there, no? Something's off here.
 

E5 Yaz

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Ummm, a white football player at Marshall with a Neo-Nazi tattoo? You think there would have been some issues there, no? Something's off here.
Waiting for how he answers the question, when it's asked
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Hand jobs in strip malls, suspected supremacists, paying a guy $9 million just before he gets accused of rape, video-gate. Varying levels of knowledge and seriousness but some foot faults lately. Maybe this is just the way in the NFL for all teams.
 

Cellar-Door

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Ummm, a white football player at Marshall with a Neo-Nazi tattoo? You think there would have been some issues there, no? Something's off here.
In a very small defense.... it's not Neo-Nazi, there are probably neo-Nazi's in the group, but it's generally more gun-nut, super Republican/Libertarian nut-job group rather than a straight up, racist/anti-Semitic group.

It's still a huge concern and wild that they drafted him either knowing about it, or not bothering to look up something people found in 5 minutes
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Ummm, a white football player at Marshall with a Neo-Nazi tattoo? You think there would have been some issues there, no? Something's off here.
Marshall is over 80 percent white and below average on diversity score for U.S. schools.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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In a very small defense.... it's not Neo-Nazi, there are probably neo-Nazi's in the group, but it's generally more gun-nut, super Republican/Libertarian nut-job group rather than a straight up, racist/anti-Semitic group.

It's still a huge concern and wild that they drafted him either knowing about it, or not bothering to look up something people found in 5 minutes
Or they asked him about it and got an acceptable answer, perhaps in addition to supportive references from his teammates & coaches.

Either way, one of the beat writers need to ask Caserio/BB about this.
 

mikeford

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I thought they-as an organization-actually stood down at Charlottesville and claim to reject racism. (But they’re obviously right wing fringe gun nuts, no questions asked about that)
That was AFTER the events at Charlottesville.

In the fallout from Charlottesville, a statement from a Three Percenters group issued a “stand down order” for members. While the Three Percenters remain a diffuse, bottom-up organization, the statement was notable for its clarion opposition to the violence, and white nationalism, rattling Charlottesville: “While we support and defend everyone’s right to free speech, we will not align ourselves with any type of racist group.”
This is from a Politico article about how far-right militia groups basically just run cover for white supremacist groups.

Hard to really believe the "stand down and don't affiliate with hate groups" order is anything more than attempting to make the optics look better after a person got murdered by a fascist.
 

Sox Puppet

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Yeah the 3%ers are straight up fascists, not rooting for this guy ... I know there are a lot of very conservative white players in the league but we could probably at least have found one who isn't covered in hate group tattoos
Somewhere, Alex Verdugo is breathing a sigh of relief
 

bsj

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I don't know if I can support a team with this guy on the roster. Maybe I'll figure it out but damn this is a big step beyond Tom's coy reverence of Trump.

Sorry of this sounds hyperbolic but damn.
 

RI 2 VA Sox Fan

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What I find fascinating is that BB is THE coach. Skilled and disciplined in scouting opponents, game preparation and play calling. His teams are always ready to play. He is a creative and thinks out the box but looks to identify the right timing to apply it during a game and season.

Then when you look at his drafts he has these outlandish lottery ticket picks way too early in the draft every year. Any way you look at it the Marshal kicker could have been had later and more value obtained here for the team. What goes on in his head to rationalize the pick and sacrificing that value? No other modern team or coach has had coaching success that approaches his but no other coach or gm would probably still have a job making these draft picks year over year.

It’s amazing. Ultimately winning SB’s is more important than winning drafts. Most teams however do not have the luxury of separating the two.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Based on the video of the game-winning kick that was posted, it doesn't appear that the football team is anywhere near 80% white.
Well, sure, I think that is true of a great many programs. I think a white supremacist in pretty much any football locker room at a major institution would be surprising. So I don’t disagree with that general point but am not sure if there is anything all too special about Marshall in 2020.

All that said I am still not sure it gives me comfort. I could see nobody paying much attention to the tats of a kicker who probably keeps his thoughts to himself.
 

IdiotKicker

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So kicking-wise, Rohrwasser has pretty much one year of a decent track record. There isn’t a ton of tape floating around on him, but I found a couple videos on YouTube scrounging around after he was drafted. 3 years ago, at URI, his mechanics were pretty messy - chopped at the ball, didn’t follow through, and had all kinds of accuracy problems as a result. His tape from his pre-draft workout is much cleaner, and he’s got a powerful leg with clean, smooth, upright mechanics. Nothing is stiff, nothing jerky, it’s a pretty solid motion. He’s a big dude too, similar to Gostkowski. With just one year of track record, you’re effectively betting that this mechanical improvement can stick and that you can continue to coach further improvement out of him. It’s effectively the Wil Lutz strategy, but those can be very hit or miss.

As far as the tattoos go, it’s not good. We’ll see if he has some kind of explanation, but it’s not good. I didn’t notice it because I was watching crappy URI clips from across the field and generally am not tat-scouting because usually they’re just noise and no one cares, but he’s got some explaining to do here.
 

nothumb

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There are white supremacists in many NFL locker rooms. There are tons of white supremacists in the NYPD, which also has a high proportion of POC. They either don't talk about it or do the usual "I'm libertarian but I don't like all those racists who are part of the organizations I willingly affiliate with." Don't make the assumption that racists and fascists don't blend into multiethnic workplaces. They have a strategy for it, part of which is having these nominally non-racist umbrella orgs.
 

E5 Yaz

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So kicking-wise, Rohrwasser has pretty much one year of a decent track record. There isn’t a ton of tape floating around on him, but I found a couple videos on YouTube scrounging around after he was drafted. 3 years ago, at URI, his mechanics were pretty messy - chopped at the ball, didn’t follow through, and had all kinds of accuracy problems as a result. His tape from his pre-draft workout is much cleaner, and he’s got a powerful leg with clean, smooth, upright mechanics. Nothing is stiff, nothing jerky, it’s a pretty solid motion. He’s a big dude too, similar to Gostkowski. With just one year of track record, you’re effectively betting that this mechanical improvement can stick and that you can continue to coach further improvement out of him. It’s effectively the Wil Lutz strategy, but those can be very hit or miss.
What would be the on-field rationale for him over Blankenship?
 

Ale Xander

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There are white supremacists in many NFL locker rooms. There are tons of white supremacists in the NYPD, which also has a high proportion of POC. They either don't talk about it or do the usual "I'm libertarian but I don't like all those racists who are part of the organizations I willingly affiliate with." Don't make the assumption that racists and fascists don't blend into multiethnic workplaces. They have a strategy for it, part of which is having these nominally non-racist umbrella orgs.
Cops being libertarians is a bit odd
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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You sort of wonder if the current situation makes it easier to miss something like this during due diligence. Once a guy gets picked up in the draft you have a million people on twitter and elsewhere who know what things mean, but if they never even spoke with him or met with him and are going solely off tape or whatever, the odds that the ten people in the organization can pick up on these clues is a lot more understandable even though it seems relatively obvious when you put a guy (and his tats) on public display on the most important moment of his professional life.
 

themuddychicken

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He’s from Clifton Park, NY which is a pretty affluent suburb with not a lot of neo nazis.
You'd be surprised how many racist / far right bumber stickers we get in this area. 5 years ago I might have naively agreed, but they feel emboldened right now and are more visible.

And a cynic would say that white people cross the Mohawk River to Clifton Park to get away from the minorities that live in Albany/Schenectady/Troy.
 

Rough Carrigan

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In a very small defense.... it's not Neo-Nazi, there are probably neo-Nazi's in the group, but it's generally more gun-nut, super Republican/Libertarian nut-job group rather than a straight up, racist/anti-Semitic group.

It's still a huge concern and wild that they drafted him either knowing about it, or not bothering to look up something people found in 5 minutes
How is it a huge concern?
 

Marciano490

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There are white supremacists in many NFL locker rooms. There are tons of white supremacists in the NYPD, which also has a high proportion of POC. They either don't talk about it or do the usual "I'm libertarian but I don't like all those racists who are part of the organizations I willingly affiliate with." Don't make the assumption that racists and fascists don't blend into multiethnic workplaces. They have a strategy for it, part of which is having these nominally non-racist umbrella orgs.
Rage Against the Machine said it more succinctly.

This pick is pretty disturbing. You don’t just end up with tattoos.
 

Cellar-Door

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Do you know this? Or are you assuming?
I'll try and find it, but someone on twitter had some of his ld tweets. None were like Neo-Nazi, but a bunch of retweeting Corona conspiracies and general fairly right wing stuff, more Nick Bosa than David Duke
 

IdiotKicker

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What would be the on-field rationale for him over Blankenship?
Spitballing here - could be they wanted a bigger kicker because they think they do better in bad weather. Could be they like his mechanics. Could be he interviewed better. It’s really hard to tell. Heck, my top kicker this year was Matt Ammendola who had a far worse track record than Blankenship, but I like his mechanics better. But who knows, maybe after interviewing him I would have realized Ammendola’s a headcase and I’d rather take Blankenship.
 

TomTerrific

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He’s from Clifton Park, NY which is a pretty affluent suburb with not a lot of neo nazis.
I don't know, when I was growing up in Guilderland, NY we pretty much thought the Shenendehowa kids were all Nazis. Probably because they were a) lily-white, and b) kicked our asses in football and swimming (my two sports) every single year. They were the first football field I ever saw that was noticeably sloped from the middle down to the sidelines for better drainage, whereas our biggest concern with our home field was that there not be too many rocks in it.
 

DJnVa

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I'll try and find it, but someone on twitter had some of his ld tweets. None were like Neo-Nazi, but a bunch of retweeting Corona conspiracies and general fairly right wing stuff, more Nick Bosa than David Duke
So, can people not root for a right wing kicker?
 

AlNipper49

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Only one warning - politics in V&N and if you want to discuss politics on the public there are other sites for it.
 

Cellar-Door

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So, can people not root for a right wing kicker?
They can if they want to, and if that were all it was I wouldn't really care. I do care about the 3 percenters bit because that is more than politics, that's an umbrella group that gives cover to Neo-Nazis, criminals and wannabe domestic terrorists
 

Ed Hillel

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Only one warning - politics in V&N and if you want to discuss politics on the public there are other sites for it.
This thread should be moved, then, because it’s hard to avoid discussing politics when your fav sports team drafts a neo nazi.

Edit - PROBABLE neo nazi
 
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