The Cardinal Countdown: 38 Days Until Kickoff

#38 Drew Brenowitz

Class: Junior

Ht/Wt: 5-10/210

Position: Long Snapper

Hometown: Olney, MD

Twitter: @2kbreno_

Thoughts: When folks try and crack jokes about the countdown or depth charts one of the biggest criticisms I hear is “yeah, let’s spend a day breaking down the backup long snapper”. Welp, that’s exactly what I’m “finna do” so listen up.

Drew has been with the program for awhile but was put in the position to be the backup to Mitch Hall, a top long snapper in his class who won the job as a freshman and had performed well the last four seasons. The plan was for Drew to take over the role in 2021 but the extra year of eligibility was too much for Hall to pass up and he decided to fling balls through his legs for the University of Louisville for another year. The likely scenario is that Hall retains that starting spot and Brenowitz (who should be in a buddy cop movie with Gabe Wiznitzer, ‘The Wiz’ and the ‘The Witz’) will remain as the backup. Shout out to Drew for holding it down the last few years waiting his turn. Almost there buddy.

Sweet Tweet:

‘The Witz knows he’s livin’ the good life right now. The ‘specialists’ practices don’t hit quite as hard as the others. (P.S. Go try and spiral a long snap this weekend. I tried a few times and it went about 4 yards straight into the ground. My wife, my kids, and my dogs were all embarrassed. Put some respect on that position.)

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#38 Jack Fagot (fuh-GO)

Class: RS Senior

Ht/Wt: 6-0/195

Position: Linebacker

Hometown: Lexington, KY

Twitter: @jack_fagot

Thoughts: I‘m going to miss writing about Jack next season. The former walk-on corner out of Lexington will have now appeared on this countdown 5 times in his career, which is 50% of the seasons I’ve been doing this thing. I noted it last year but Fagot is the template for what coaches are looking for in a walk-on. A guy who can come in with a good attitude ready to learn, work his way into playing situationally or on specials teams, find a spot he can contribute consistently and get in the rotation and then, maybe for your top tier athletes, earn a starting role. This is pretty much Jack Fagot’s journey soup to nuts.

Staring his career at corner Jack played special teams and then found a spot at safety the last couple seasons, and no matter what happens the rest of his career he can tell people he was one of only a few to intercept Trevor Lawrence in college. So does he ride off into the sunset as a safety? No, that would not fit the mold of the ‘swiss army knife attitude’ of Fagot. Instead, Coach Brown called on Jack to slide down to the ‘Card’ position to try and help replace the departed Rodjay Burns. Jack has the speed to cover the smaller zone in the flats and as we’ve seen he can tackle with some of the best. Fagot knows the defense and the philosophy at this point so sliding him down to help could be a big boost for Brown as he teaches the spot to a relative newcomer in Marvin Dallas.

No matter who winds up winning the starting spot (Dallas is on the depth chart now) both will contribute without question. Jack has stacked up 45 tackles, a TFL, a sack, a forced fumble, and 2 interceptions the last two seasons at safety. Since this is the last ride on this series with Jack a tip of the cap to the PWO who stuck around, earned a scholly, and has been a big contributor to the program on and off the field the last five year. Congras, man. Been a fun ride.

Sweet Tweet:

T-Law looked at Jack and thought “we got a Billy Hoyle out here at safety” and tried to drop it in the bucket on him [tisk-tisk-tisk]. If you didn’t know, now you know, never doubt the hops of Jack Fagot.