Football: Stingers move Mahoney to receiver; Laval lands D-1 linebacker

Apparently, the solution is simple when a team has a fast quarterback but finishes last in their league in passing yardage, as Concordia did last fall: Move him to receiver.

Former CIS rookie-of-the-year QB Liam Mahoney is moving to to receiver, as Remi Aboussouan at RDS.ca reported. The Stingers have veteran Robert Mackay, who is more of a pocket passer, ready to step in.
"L’électrisant Liam Mahoney, qui a dirigé l’offensive des Stingers au cours des deux dernières années, s’alignera au poste de receveur, l’an prochain. C’est Robert Mackay qui retrouvera son poste de quart partant, lui qui a complètement raté la dernière saison, en raison d’une opération à un genou."
Concordia passed for only six touchdowns last season, one less than Mahoney alone had rushing. Last season, Mahoney led all quarterbacks in rushing, gaining 561 yards, which was fourth overall in the QUFL. Of course, it's a team game and Concordia struggled in the passing game; Mahoney's yards per rush (7.1) almost matched the Stingers' yards per pass (7.6, which drops if you take into account they averaged nearly one sack per 10 dropbacks and had more interceptions than TDs).

Of course, this move could also be to better showcase Mahoney for the CFL, but there are pure football reasons. He is also not the only former Peter Gorman Trophy-winning QB whose status is in limbo. Calgary's Dalin Tollestrup won in 2006, went on a two-year Mormon mission and now the Dinos have Erik Glavic in the fold.

If you click through to Aboussouan's column, he is also reporting that linebacker Frédéric Plésius is transferring to Laval from Baylor in the Big 12 (this was covered previously). Plésius would be eligible to play right away. The report also notes that defensive end Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, who was said to be interested in leaving Rice after a pretty successful freshman season, might just take a year off from football.

Related:
À travers la LFUQ (Rémi Aboussouan, RDS,ca, via lvroberts' Twitter)
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4 comments:

  1. Very bold move by coach McGrath. Last year when we played (les Carabins) against ConU, the legs and quickness of Mahoney must have saved them from 10 sacks. With 2 of their starting O-Lines retiring, I am skeptic on how it will turn out. Mackay should practice its "quick release".

    We will know how it goes pretty soon in the season, ConU starts at Québec and we're visiting them the second week.

    Mackay got hurt against us in 2007.

    As for Gascon-Nadon, let's say that the idea of going from starter in a Div 1 team in the NCAA to practice roster in the CIS (he has to sit for one year) isn't very exciting for him...

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  2. I also have strong doubts about Mackay's ability to lead Concordia's offense after a full year out. Time will tell but the first two games of the season as Deuxfans pointed out will be a big test for him against top defenses. Mahoney will definitely be a constant threat as receiver.

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  3. McGrath has always had a thing for MacKay.

    The '06 team, a team that went toe-to-toe with Laval, was ruined by McGrath's inexplicable platooning of Syvret & Mackay. This ill-advised setup destroyed Syvret's rhythm and confidence, to say nothing of Con U's chances of knocking off Laval that year.

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  4. The main problem with Mahoney at QB was that while he is a very ellusive QB, he much prefers to gain yardage instead of using his legs to buy some time to find his receivers. If you take a guy like Glavic (Calgary), the guy is as elusive, but while evading 4-5 defensive players, he always looks downfield to find an open receiver, so you can't have all the guys rush him when he starts running or he will burn you bad. Mahoney could have probably work on that aspect of his game, but clearly he wanted a chance to reach the CFL and we can't blame it for it.

    Looking forward to see what special plays concordia's offence will pull out using a speedy receiver that can run like a running back and throw like a QB :P

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