Omar in the Sporting News this week

falconman · Post by **falconman** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:40 pm

If you get the Sporting News go to the college football section and look halfway down the page there's an article by Matt Hayes.

I got my Sporting News in the mail today and in the College Football section there was a article titled:
"4 Things I know now that I didn't know then" His number 1 item is Omar Jacobs is a better pro prospect than Matt Leinhart.

I think this is setting the pace for a big year out of Omar.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:49 pm

All this preseason hype for a BG player is simply unreal. This is the sort of thing that none of us could've imagined in the times when Blackney was here just 6 years ago.

Now the real question will be whether or not the Athletic Department markets Omar as the sell he could be, or if they expect us to do it as we did with Harris. Omar already is a more nationally known player than Harris ever was, that I can say for sure.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:54 pm

hammb wrote:All this preseason hype for a BG player is simply unreal. This is the sort of thing that none of us could've imagined in the times when Blackney was here just 6 years ago.

Now the real question will be whether or not the Athletic Department markets Omar as the sell he could be, or if they expect us to do it as we did with Harris. Omar already is a more nationally known player than Harris ever was, that I can say for sure.

If only there were a really strong Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Corporate Relations ... hmmmmm....

BGDrew · Post by **BGDrew** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:05 pm

I was wondering how that search was going 87.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:13 pm

BGDrew wrote:I was wondering how that search was going 87.

Yeah, me, too.

Falcon52 · Post by **Falcon52** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:32 pm

I've got $50 towards a billboard of Omar in Times Square.

BGDrew · Post by **BGDrew** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:40 pm

That was Harrington, right?

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:41 pm

BGDrew wrote:That was Harrington, right?

I was thinking Onterrio Smith.

Dayons_Den · Post by **Dayons_Den** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:45 pm

Warthog wrote:
BGDrew wrote:That was Harrington, right?
I was thinking Onterrio Smith.

I think it was Nike.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:46 pm

Warthog wrote:
BGDrew wrote:That was Harrington, right?
I was thinking Onterrio Smith.

I think they did it for both.

With Nike's help.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:27 pm

hammb wrote:Now the real question will be whether or not the Athletic Department markets Omar as the sell he could be,

Seems to me all the ink Omar is getting is a sign that the Athletic Department is doing a pretty darned good job marketing him.

BGSU Falconz · Post by **BGSU Falconz** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:02 pm

Falcon52 wrote:I've got $50 towards a billboard of Omar in Times Square.

Well that should get you about a 1/4 square inch.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:14 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:
hammb wrote:Now the real question will be whether or not the Athletic Department markets Omar as the sell he could be,
Seems to me all the ink Omar is getting is a sign that the Athletic Department is doing a pretty darned good job marketing him.

You think so? I was just thinking that his numbers were so good last year that the national publications couldn't avoid talking about him for fear that he blows up again this year. They'd hate to have a heisman hopeful that they hadn't propped up pre-season.

I'm thinking along the lines of come see Omar & the Falcons type billboards & stuff. They've got a VERY marketable player, and they need to use that to draw a crowd. They probably cannot use his name, but they can certainly show a picture of him.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:25 pm

hammb wrote:I'm thinking along the lines of come see Omar & the Falcons type billboards & stuff. They've got a VERY marketable player, and they need to use that to draw a crowd. They probably cannot use his name, but they can certainly show a picture of him.

Well, okay, but we are talking about a different angle -- getting locals excited versus building up his Heisman cred with the national media.

Incidentally, why couldn't the university use his name? What is the rule on that?

I'm sure Al-Mar Lanes can't use Omar's name -- but doesn't ABC hype players, e.g. "Jason White and the Oklahoma Sooners take on the Kansas State plus other regional action Saturday on ABC..."

(Am I crazy and the networks aren't allowed to do this and I've never noticed?)

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:52 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:
hammb wrote:I'm thinking along the lines of come see Omar & the Falcons type billboards & stuff. They've got a VERY marketable player, and they need to use that to draw a crowd. They probably cannot use his name, but they can certainly show a picture of him.
Well, okay, but we are talking about a different angle -- getting locals excited versus building up his Heisman cred with the national media.

Incidentally, why couldn't the university use his name? What is the rule on that?

I'm sure Al-Mar Lanes can't use Omar's name -- but doesn't ABC hype players, e.g. "Jason White and the Oklahoma Sooners take on the Kansas State plus other regional action Saturday on ABC..."

(Am I crazy and the networks aren't allowed to do this and I've never noticed?)

I'm not sure. When I first made my post I was thinking that they could, and did do that sort of thing. But then I was thinking perhaps they couldn't and I just never noticed. They cannot put players names on jerseys or in video games. I'm not positive about the rules, however.

Either way they could certainly use his likeness on billboards, etc.

The heisman cred is definitely good, but I'd like to see us use that heisman cred as a means to put more butts in seats. With a QB like Omar no reason we shouldn't average 25k+. We won't, but we should.