[LUnpretty11]

Thanks for that. I'm hoping I wrote that with a critiquing tone and not a criticizing one. My goal was to offer an opinion, not criticize them.

I think you succeeded in that - it was a well thought through response.

I appreciate the angle LFN is able to provide. It gives an "insiders" view into the school/athletics without the ties to the university itself. With that said, I would say SJ's points are accurate, but point out small details. I think most of us miss these small details most of the time.

In all, LFN coverage is invaluable to Liberty sports news and information. Keep it up fellas.

[BJWilliams]

I agree...and another example of one of his points was in a recent post...the writer used the words, "yours truly" in making a point about his response. Josh did not call out the writer of the post, he called out LFN.

[badger74]

Didn't JW basically admit they overlooked the teams they recently lost to and were not mentally prepared to win? Thought games would be easy wins. Hard to excuse that for players and coaches.

[olldflame]

Didn't JW basically admit they overlooked the teams they recently lost to and were not mentally prepared to win? Thought games would be easy wins. Hard to excuse that for players and coaches.

I´ve been saying it for weeks now. They shouldn´t let Woodrum anywhere near a microphone.

[olldflame]

Kind of difficult to not make your 5th yr QB available to the media.

Actually, it´s not. The coach decides which player (s), if any, will speak to the media. Send someone else. We have other guys who do a better job and don´t stick their foot in their mouth all the time. If he gets asked why Josh isn´t there, he doesn´t have to pull a Woodrum and throw him under the bus. Just say, ¨we want to give some of our other team leaders the opportunity .¨

[Chris Lang]

That's not how it works. Media members request who they want to talk to. Only in very rare instances has Gill not met those requests. If Gill chose to not make Woodrum available, you can bet there would be some totally justified criticism.

[forbidden]

That's not how it works. Media members request who they want to talk to. Only in very rare instances has Gill not met those requests. If Gill chose to not make Woodrum available, you can bet there would be some totally justified criticism.

JW wants to say the right things it just comes out WRONG, more times than not. Sort of RG3ish. The media KNOWS he a talking time bomb so why not keep requesting him, its great for them. At the end of the day its just an accountability issue. We all know that QB's have to take the good with the bad, and as long as he is talking the talk and making predictions and talking about flames nation and HIS TEAM HIS COACHES then trust he better be able to walk that walk. Right now he is 1 for 1.

[olldflame]

That's not how it works. Media members request who they want to talk to. Only in very rare instances has Gill not met those requests. If Gill chose to not make Woodrum available, you can bet there would be some totally justified criticism.

Obviously, you are very familiar with how things have been done at Liberty for the last several years, but as far as ¨how it works¨ in college football media conferences is concerned, I would stand by my statement that it is the head coaches call, and IMHO it is time for him to take control. If he can close practices, he can certainly decide which of his players he wants to make available. I take exception that criticism would be ¨justified¨if he sent out someone other than whoever the media requested. Of course they are going to ask for Woodrum, but at this point it may have less to do with his being the QB and a ¨4 year starter and 3 year captain¨and more to do with his being a semi-loose cannon who may give them some material. Gill is not obligated to give them that. The fact is, one of the things that concerns me most about the whole situation is that Gill apparently either doesn´t realize how badly Josh has been doing with the media or doesn´t care.

[Chris Lang]

You're acting like I never covered anything other than Liberty. Tech chose who went to the podium on a weekly basis, but you could request whoever you wanted for the other days of availability. Liberty only started putting Josh on the podium this year because everyone wanted to talk to him on Tuesdays and he ended up answering the same questions to different people over and over.

I mean, if you're cool with Gill controlling the message more than he already does, whatever. That's one of the reasons why sports media is so homogenized and uninteresting. JMU is sure fun to read about right now. You get Everett Withers quotes. He won't make players available. And guess what? They've lost two straight. It's definitely helping.

[SuperJon]

I like unfiltered Chris.

[olldflame]

If a player is struggling on the field, and there is someone who can possibly do it better, it´s up to the coach to decide if a change needs to be made. These days, having a representitive player or players answer media questions is part of the game (unless you want to take the Withers approach, which I haven´t heard anyone advocate, so I don´t know where that came from). The media can write and talk about who they think should be playing, but it´s not their call. Why should this be any different? They can ask for whoever they want, but if that player has been doing a poor job of representing the team in that role, the coach can and should make a change.

Was Withers restricting media access to JMU players while they were winning, or is this a recent thing?

[Chris Lang]

It just makes you look like you have something to hide when you don't make someone available. And what message does that send to a fan base? We don't trust our captain and four-year starting quarterback to speak to the public. You may as well strip him of his captaincy at that point. I can understand why Woodrum wasn't available when he was hurt last year. He wasn't going to play, and Gill didn't want the exact nature of the injury getting out. I can understand that. As a media member, I didn't like it, but I at least got it. Coaches are justifiably paranoid about specific injury information getting out there. Tech didn't make Dadi Nicolas available for a long time after he was arrested and suspended a few years back. We kept asking for him, but Belein wasn't having it.

JMU shut off access to coaches and players the second they started losing games. I think that's more problematic at a public school where tax money helps fund the school, ergo the athletics department and the stadium.

[olldflame]

IMHO some of the things Josh has said in the last few weeks should in fact raise questions as to whether he deserves to be a captain, but to strip him of that would be extremely devisive and counterproductive. If we had a QB on our roster (we don´t) that gave us a better chance to win than Woodrum, his status as a captain and 4 year starter would (or at least should) be irrelevant. The other guy should play. If replacing him behind the mic with someone like Chima, Wesley or JaRon, who are all articulate guys who have done a fine job when given the opportunity and have never griped about missing out on personal accolades or thrown their teammates under the bus in front of the media, sent a message that we don´t trust Josh, so be it. He has given us reason not to.

[Purple Haize]

i agree with Lang on this. There are a whole lot of factors at play Its not as cut and dried as it seems

[BJWilliams]

Agreed...and when they (the reporters) ASK for Josh, sending out someone else, no matter how articulate that they may be, and not making Josh available will only raise MORE questions.

[thepostman]

man the media is a sensitive bunch. I'm glad I don't have to worry about pissing off the media in my day to day life. Josh doesn't know how to handle the media, he should just take the Marshawn Lynch approach. I would love him if he started doing that!

[forbidden]

man the media is a sensitive bunch. I'm glad I don't have to worry about pissing off the media in my day to day life. Josh doesn't know how to handle the media, he should just take the Marshawn Lynch approach. I would love him if he started doing that!

Questions:

Man, I'm only here so HCTG doesn't bench me.

JW, how do you feel about Presby?

like I said, I'm only here so I don't get benched, lol

[thepostman]

see, perfect. I would love it. He would be my new hero.

[BJWilliams]

For as much as a lot of us like to hammer Josh on here for his play on the field, and his issues with the media off the field and apparently in the locker room (and before I get hit with the Koolaid smiley, I do believe much of it is warranted), I enjoyed reading this piece from Damien about his relationship with his brother:

http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/l ... TNNoMobile

[adam42381]

Here's a good article about Josh's arm and NFL potential:

http://insidethepylon.com/pylon-u/teams ... rm-talent/

[Sly Fox]

The amount of work required to write that article is commendable. Insane but commendable.

Frankly I would be surprised if Josh weren't invited to an NFL rookie camp.

[adam42381]

The guys that write over there are generally very knowledgeable. It was started as an offshoot of the Red Sox message board, Sons of Sam Horn.

[flameshaw]

Josh does have a good arm and better than average decision-making skills. However if he is going to play on Sunday's he is going to have to learn how to throw an accurate long ball and put some air under the ball, which he very rarely does. Hope he makes it. He seems to be a pretty good guy.

[BJWilliams]

If you look carefully on that play where BJ scored, Josh had Des on a checkdown if that throw had not been available because he got a free release up the middle

[SumItUp]

You couldn't resist.