Could Anthony Cannon Wear White and Meet the Pope?

I must admit I did not know this. Who doesn’t like and respect tradition, right?

It was a semi-bleak weekend here at “Frank Helps You Think It All Out”: Flyers routed. Talladega rained out. But Tulane fans were cheered to see Anthony Cannon- a consensus free agent- go and get himself drafted by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round. The Lions might not value football talent- but they have started to admire character. And frankly, anyone who played defense for four years at Tulane deserves lots of good things.

Anthony Cannon was such a dependable I-A player- a real joy in a program that struggles to produce them- particularly on defense, particularly against the run. Sometimes you can look at linebackers and get myopic. You know, this ‘backer runs real well, moves laterally like a champ, gets off blocks or has great one-on-one cover skills.

Cannon suffered from this. For one thing, he clearly lacks the ideal height/weight body the Day One linebackers possess. We could argue about his singular attributes- like the ones itemized above- which suggests there is no consensus about what exactly he does NFL quality-wise.

But, at Tulane, we knew one thing for sure. Cannon undoubtedly possessed the most significant linebacker skill: flat out tackle people. This manifests itself in one of two ways: all the guys you get to go down- or you get to a lot of ball carriers but miss a couple. Cannon is the latter; he may miss a couple- but he is around the ball an awful lot and consequently makes a lot of plays- particularly for a guy you know opposing defenses were totally able to go out of their way to block.

I don’t have this year’s numbers but look at 2005. Eleven tackles at MSU and Houston. Eight stops against ECU. Sixteen(!!!) against USM. He was unreal that day against the Golden Eagles in the Dome. Again, this is particularly impressive in light of the fact that no one ever rushes the football at Tulane without making sure someone is assigned to block him.

It was re-assuring to know Cannon was out there every game- contributing. We’ll miss him. Heavens- can you imagine his joy when he sees those pro defensive linemen keeping offensive linemen off him? Tear’em up!