Somewhere in the hills of BrentwoodCalifornia, there once stood a statue of O.J. Simpson which
bore the marks of a son’s fury, inflicted by an aluminum
baseball bat. Being the son of one of football’s
greatest players and beloved figures, even prior to his
father's highly publicized problems, must’ve been
incredibly difficult on a son.
In the
case of the two youngest Manning boys, one has eclipsed
his father and the other is expected to, though Archie
shouldn’t be considered one of the greatest, but that is
rare indeed. In most cases, after the pride and
boasting of early childhood, a son is left with enormous
expectations, probably more so from within and from a
sport’s fans than from the father. Trying to form their
own identity under those circumstances and find a place in
the world where they can be happy with themselves has left
many young men on soft leather sofas, trying to explain
their psychoses to wealthy psychologists.
Not
Michael Munoz.
Among
his achievements, he was recently nominated for the NCAA
sportsmanship award by the SEC, earned All-Academic SEC
honors, named as a captain as a junior, and a starter for
the Tennessee Volunteers as a freshman. Phillip Fulmer
has repeatedly expressed amazement at how quickly and
easily Munoz picked up the instruction he was given, it
follows that Munoz just might blow the top off the
Wunderlic test.
If he
hides any demons from following in the footsteps of his
father and that bronze bust in Canton, he certainly hides
them well. Munoz is well adjusted, alert and one hell of
a player, but, let’s get this straight — he is NOT as good
as daddy. But I imagine he can live with that.
Anthony
Munoz was arguably the very best left tackle to ever play
the game. Michael is much like his dad; he seems to have
inherited the quickness and the same uncanny balance that
would make him ideal for the left tackle spot. At 6’6”
305, he has the nice size and still looks to be able to
put on another fifteen pounds comfortably and still
maintain his foot speed.
For
whatever tools Munoz was blessed with at birth, he’s done
well himself in putting them to work on the field. He has
a nice wingspan which allows him to push the outside pass
rush past the quarterbacks. After being moved from left
tackle to right tackle last year, he seemed to improve
greatly in his run blocking technique. He has the same
big butt his daddy did, allowing him to generate some nice
leg drive. This was displayed nicely on several plays
during Tennessee’s first touchdown drive in the Bowl game
against Clemson last year in which Munoz cleared some room
by caving in his entire side of the line.
However,
with all of that praise, several things look to keep Munoz
from coming out this year as the elite tackle in the
draft. He has been injury-plagued throughout his career
at Tennessee, missing the entire season in 2001 after knee
surgery, in addition to being nagged by injuries even in
many of the games in which he has played. Unlike his
father who rolled over defenders like that giant stone
ball in Raiders of the Lost Arc, he doesn’t maul and
punish his opponents; instead Michael seems content to
simply push them out of the way. At times, he seems to
get lax at fighting to get into position to seal off the
inside pursuit, though a better weight room regimen may
improve that somewhat.
It’s
difficult to judge whether it was just a side effect of
the move to the right side, but his side step in pass
protection was a bit slower last year than the previous
year, but that may also have something to do with the
knee. It will be evident early on now that he’s back on
the left side, whether it’s a flaw in his game or if it
was just a matter of recovering another year. And, as
athletic as he is, he should be picking up defenders in
open space better than he did last year. Again, we’ll see
early this year if that’s something which will get better
once he’s on his natural side.
Some
team should and will make Michael Munoz an early day one
pick in next year’s draft. It will be critical for him to
avoid the injury bug or he will doubtless be tagged as
“injury-prone.” He will also have to show a bit more
tenacity so the “nice” label doesn’t drag him down, but if
he manages to do that, he should “climb the boards” as the
pundits like to say and make a major impact.
As for
not living up to daddy’s enormous legacy, he shouldn’t
feel bad about that, not many men can.
