Pretenders or contenders? Next test will tell Wildcats’ tale

Eric Tabor
Friday May 11, 2007

Saturday’s loss to the Rio Grande Valley Doradoes settled in eerily. The South Georgia Wildcats hit the locker room and a switch had been flipped – the frustration changed to confusion.

Players were tossing around theories as though anything were possible – maybe the Cats overlooked Rio Grande, Maybe they were buying into the media hype, maybe they just didn’t want it badly enough. What is clear is that the coaches did not panic and have rallied the troops.

This time of year is an interesting one for an af2 coach. He's essentially a plate spinner with a whistle, running from dish to dish, trying to figure out what he needs to do to keep a dozen plates balanced, and spinning perfectly at the same time. Young psyches are fragile and can fall without much notice. Last Saturday against Rio Grande, they all seemed to crash at once.

Time to regroup as the Florida Firecats, the New York Yankees of af2, come knocking with the three headed monster of Wide Receivers Magic Benton, Brent Burnside, and Chris McKinney; Defensive Back Levy Brown averaging an interception per game; and DL Keith Drayton, who in five games has five-and-a-half sacks.

The good news is that the Cats have already shown that they're up to that task - not just recovering from a loss, but hitting a valley and forging ahead. It should be even easier this time because the Wildcats know exactly what's possible and know precisely how great it looks when all of the plates are spinning at the same time.

On Saturday, we'll learn their intentions, and the next time they set foot on the turf, we'll learn a bit more about just who this team is.

Will the real Wildcats please stand up?