BOISE, Idaho - Chad Plummer did not have a great year as University of Cincinnati quarterback, as Plummer himself will tell you.
''Not at all,'' he said. ''I had a better season last year, when I was a sophomore. But I'm getting one more chance.''
That comes in the Sports Humanitarian Bowl game here at 3:30 p.m. Monday (ESPN2), when UC (7-4) faces Utah State (6-5). For Plummer,the game offers a chance to erase bad memories, particularly of the 14-7 loss at East Carolina in the season finale Nov. 13.
Plummer completed 7-of-15 passes for only 71 yards and one interception in a misty rain that night, and rushed 10 times for minus-25 yards. In the end, with UC facing fourth-and-goal at the East Carolina 13-yard line, Plummer badly misfired a sideline pass that fell incomplete. He threw left as his intended receiver, Tony Smikle, was cutting the opposite way.
''I've replayed it over and over in my mind, and on film,'' Plummer said Saturday, smiling. ''If I had it back, I'd throw it to somebody in the end zone.''
Chad Plummer scrambles from Boston College lineman Chris Hovan.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |
|
For the year, Plummer completed just 46 percent of his passes for 1,178 yards, with six touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Those numbers declined from 1996, his sophomore year, when he completed 52 percent for 1,335 yards with seven TDs and eight interceptions.
Passing, it has become clear, is not his game.
Running is.
At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Plummer is a punishing, deceptively fast runner who excels as an option quarterback. That was how he made his mark as a UC freshman in 1995, sparking several comeback wins. And his legs remain UC's most dangerous offensive weapon.
Plummer rushed for 606 yards to rank second on the team this year and tied for the team lead with seven rushing TDs. But he admittedly remains a project as a passer, having played just one year of quarterback in high school.
Therefore, Plummer is not upset with coach Rick Minter's decision - revealed last week - to play backup QB Deontey Kenner for a few series in the Humanitarian Bowl.
Plummer will still start but will see some time at wide receiver. Kenner, a freshman with a strong arm, is UC's quarterback of the future.
''I probably won't play quarterback at the next level (NFL), so this is probably good for me,'' Plummer said. ''I'm probably going to have to be a receiver or a possession tight end, if I want to make it.''
Minter said Plummer will be the No. 1 quarterback entering 1998, which will be his final UC season. But Plummer is not averse to playing receiver, should Kenner force Minter's hand.
Plummer said before the 1997 season that he wanted to challenge UC's career passing records, but he has altered his thinking after a tough year.
''Quarterback may not be my best position,'' he said. ''I realize that now.''
Yet here he is, quarterbacking UC's first bowl team since 1950. He has helped guide UC to three straight winning seasons, something the program had not achieved in 20 years. He is UC's only quarterback with three career 100-yard rushing games.
And yet, he is not sure where he will play in 1998.
''It depends on what coach wants,'' Plummer said. ''As long as I'm somewhere on the field, I don't care where it is.''
Notebook: Basketball deal backfires
Bowl reports - Season in stories
Humanitarian Bowl web site
Utah State web site
