Over The Pylon

With experience at Auburn Pinkston is ready for Bowling Green

Most Ball State fans will tell you that a significant concern coming into 2009, aside from the lack of an experienced offensive line, the lack of any experienced quarterback, the loss of a head coach and most of his assistants, and having a head coach that hasn’t won a game since the Reagan administration was the corner play. Monday night head coach Stan Parrish announced that while all those other problems are still very real, at least the corner position is going to get a bit of a shake up.

Junior Koreen Burch is giving way to freshman Jason Pinkston, and it comes not a moment too soon considering their performances so far and the opponent ready to take aim at the Cardinal secondary. Burch has been burned often this season, including some fairly important plays against Toledo and Temple which certainly made a victory hard to grab. Burch brings in an additional 4 inches (6’1″ to Burch’s 5’9″) as well as some pretty impressive performances to date in very limited use.

The switch comes at a pivotal time for the Ball State passing defense, as they face the best passing team they’ve seen all season, and arguably, the best passing team they’ll face all season long in Bowling Green. While it would be nice for Pinkston to get his feet wet against a team that isn’t led by QB Tyler Sheehan and WR Freddie Barnes, who just caught 22 balls for upwards of 230 yards, Pinkston was one of the most highly touted recruits in recent memory. The product of Glenville High School, Ball State’s apparent big time Ohio pipeline, Pinkston has already managed 1 interception this season at Auburn, and now sets his sights for MAC opposition.

As for Burch, his Ball State career certainly was off to an unexpected start during his freshman season, as he was switched from offense to defense to fill in for a depleted tailback unit. Clearly, the young man is a team player in every sense of the word, and while he may no longer be a starter, Burch will continue to see the field early and often, especially if teams continue to take advantage of a pass defense that, to this point, has been less than impressive.

So, with the shake up at the corner position, that only leaves like 37 other things to worry about. Alright!!! Progress, bitches!!!!

(Ed. Note:  Want to read what Jay had to say this summer when he sat down with OTP? Check it out here)

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