GEHRIG DIETER: Announcing his arrival?
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:07 am
Conner Preston called his shot … and delivered.
"He came in to the huddle, he said, ‘we’re about to score a touchdown,’" freshman wide receiver Gehrig Dieter said. "Whenever we call a ‘nine route’ (straight down the sideline), I always feel like I’m going to score. Conner made a great throw, and I was able to catch it."
The play was the highlight for Dieter, the former Parade All-America who was playing in his first college game, but not his only contribution; he finished the evening with three catches for 64 receiving yards. When he first entered the game, he put his 6-foot-3, 215-frame to use as a blocker, clearing the way for teammates who caught quick screen passes from new starting quarterback Garrett Gilbert.
"I like to block," Dieter said. "I take pride in it, and we took pride in it at my high school. If I didn’t block then, I didn’t get the ball thrown my way much. (SMU wide receivers) Coach (Jason) Phillips takes a lot of pride in it, too - we all have to block. I’m a bigger receiver, so I guess my body type helps, but that’s something we all work on every day in practice."
Those first plays as a blocker helped Dieter shake off any first-game jitters, he said.
"I’m somewhat nervous before games," he said, "but once the game starts, those go away. You think about the game beforehand, but once it starts, you just go out and play football. It’s what I have been doing my whole life, what I’ve been training to do. So the nerves went away pretty quick, but I think going in as a blocker first helped me get my feet wet."
But without his touchdown catch, nobody would be talking to Dieter about his blocking prowess.
"It’s a play we practice 20 times or more every week with the X’s and Z’s," Dieter said. "It’s usually 37 to 39 yards (Sunday’s catch was from the 40). The guy they had on me (Baylor cornerback Tuswani Copeland) wasn’t huge, but he wasn’t small, either (Copeland is listed at 5-10, 170 on the Baylor roster). I was able to go get it, but only because Conner made a great throw."
Preston acknowledged that he made a good throw, but deflected the praise for the result of the play back to Dieter.
"There’s a difference between a big receiver and a big guy who can go up and get the ball at its highest point," Preston said. "(Dieter) does that really well. He could have run under the ball and stretched his arms out, waiting for the ball to come to him. But if you look at the tape, he went up as high as he could and turned his body between the ball and the DB. When he did that and pulled the ball away, to the outside of the end zone, the DB had no chance. (Dieter) made a great play."
"He came in to the huddle, he said, ‘we’re about to score a touchdown,’" freshman wide receiver Gehrig Dieter said. "Whenever we call a ‘nine route’ (straight down the sideline), I always feel like I’m going to score. Conner made a great throw, and I was able to catch it."
The play was the highlight for Dieter, the former Parade All-America who was playing in his first college game, but not his only contribution; he finished the evening with three catches for 64 receiving yards. When he first entered the game, he put his 6-foot-3, 215-frame to use as a blocker, clearing the way for teammates who caught quick screen passes from new starting quarterback Garrett Gilbert.
"I like to block," Dieter said. "I take pride in it, and we took pride in it at my high school. If I didn’t block then, I didn’t get the ball thrown my way much. (SMU wide receivers) Coach (Jason) Phillips takes a lot of pride in it, too - we all have to block. I’m a bigger receiver, so I guess my body type helps, but that’s something we all work on every day in practice."
Those first plays as a blocker helped Dieter shake off any first-game jitters, he said.
"I’m somewhat nervous before games," he said, "but once the game starts, those go away. You think about the game beforehand, but once it starts, you just go out and play football. It’s what I have been doing my whole life, what I’ve been training to do. So the nerves went away pretty quick, but I think going in as a blocker first helped me get my feet wet."
But without his touchdown catch, nobody would be talking to Dieter about his blocking prowess.
"It’s a play we practice 20 times or more every week with the X’s and Z’s," Dieter said. "It’s usually 37 to 39 yards (Sunday’s catch was from the 40). The guy they had on me (Baylor cornerback Tuswani Copeland) wasn’t huge, but he wasn’t small, either (Copeland is listed at 5-10, 170 on the Baylor roster). I was able to go get it, but only because Conner made a great throw."
Preston acknowledged that he made a good throw, but deflected the praise for the result of the play back to Dieter.
"There’s a difference between a big receiver and a big guy who can go up and get the ball at its highest point," Preston said. "(Dieter) does that really well. He could have run under the ball and stretched his arms out, waiting for the ball to come to him. But if you look at the tape, he went up as high as he could and turned his body between the ball and the DB. When he did that and pulled the ball away, to the outside of the end zone, the DB had no chance. (Dieter) made a great play."
