The Cardinal Countdown: 80 Days Until Kickoff

#80 Charles Standberry

Class: Senior

Ht/Wt: 6-3/243

Position: Tight End

Hometown: Montgomery, AL

Twitter: @ssnug8

Thoughts: The struggle for Standberry the last two seasons has been finding a solid landing spot where some extended PT may be available. As a freshman I loved what I saw from Standberry (7rec/57yds/2TDs) and expected him to be a decent part of the offense in the next couple seasons, but with the Hikutini acquisition Petrino knew it would be impossible to get Cole, Towbridge, and Standberry enough reps at that spot moving forward. So, as any great coach would do, he flexed Charles over to wide receiver because the Cards were going to be young at that position in 2015. Unfortunately for Standberry the newcomers overachieved and we saw Jaylen Smith, Devonte Peete, Traveon Samuel, and even Micky Crum get some significant reps and solid production, which left Standberry (even though he appeared in all 13 games) in a somewhat limited role (6rec/71yds). So, once again as the calendar turned to 2016 Petrino saw the future at the wide receiver spot, which was looking pretty damn good, and moved Standberry back to tight end. Even though no one expected Charles to get first team reps I did anticipate some scenarios were he would get his number called, but Hikiutini was just too good to keep off the field not only as an offensive threat but a solid piece of the run game blocking as well, and thus once again, Standberry saw his numbers decline (4rec/46yds).

So what is in the cards for Standberry, now in his senior season? I think we see flashes of what Charles showed us he could do back in 2014. Now that Cole and Towbridge (two pros) have departed it’s time for someone to step up and take on that big target TE role for the offense. Back on Sunday I pegged Micky Crum as that man, but I would not be stunned at all if Standberry eats in to some of that time early. In the Spring the two were trading first team reps and I imagine they’ll do the same this fall unless one of them makes a huge leap. Standberry had a solid Spring game (5recp/76yds) and has been praised by Petrino for his effort basically since he arrived on campus. Even though he hasn’t filled up the boxscore Stanberry has been a constant contributor since Day 1, appearing in 37 out of 39 games in his career, and making the unappreciated plays on a near weekly basis. Not sure how the tight end position will play out this year with Crum, Davis, and Charles, but I’d love to see Standberry go out with a big season statistically (I’ll say 12rec/115yds/2TDs) and put a nice cap on his Cardinal career.

Sweet Tweet:

We’re now 20 days into the countdown, sitting here in mid-June with another 80 days before we “do the damn thing”, if you will. We’ve got Cardinal Nine baseball for hopefully another two weeks but in between games and after the CWS wraps up where do we turn? Standberry loves him some Netflix, as do I, so what are Cards fans watching this summer to kill the time…besides the obvious answers of 2013 Sugar Bowl, 2016 FSU game, Heisman Ceremony, etc.