Clifton Smith Is Holding His Ball

November 21, 2008 at 02:47pm by Scott   •  1 Comment »

Clifton Smith has gone old school to try and fix his fumbling problem.

Smith, who has fumbled the ball away in each of his last three games, is walking around the Bucs complex today carrying a football everywhere he goes. He even took the ball with him as he walked into the shower area just off the locker room.

When asked if his coaches had forced him to carry the ball everywhere, Smith said, “No, I’m making me carry the ball everywhere.’’

It’s nice that he’s being proactive and all, but I seem to remember that the reason carrying the ball around everywhere worked in high school was because every other player was instructed to try and knock the ball out of the fumbler’s hands as he went about his day. Just carrying it isn’t the cure — you have to secure it at all times. Well, just the fact that he cares enough to do it is pretty cool and shows that he’s not making excuses. But you know every time he gets the ball, the Lions are going to attack it like Peter King attacks deep-fried ice cream sandwiches.

My own experience with having to carry things around because I kept spontaneously dropping them wasn’t as successful. I must have walked around holding those pants for weeks.