Teddy Bridgewater seems like the perfect prospect. He's a football nerd with ideal measurables and he's humble. Bridgewater doesn't want the Heisman attention that comes with being one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, however, he seems like he enjoys getting fat on cupcake opposition. So much so, that on a fourth and 2 just before the half against Eastern Kentucky, Bridgewater'e ego bubbled to the surface, pulled rank on the coaching staff and ordered the punt team to get back on the sideline. Only problem is he got out of his lane and was quickly put back in his place by Charlie Strong.
Via ESPN:
"I told him to get off the field. We have enough coaches on the field. We have enough coaches on staff," Strong said he told Bridgewater when ordering him to the sideline. "The punt team is coming. You don't send them off the field."
Bridgewater turned in another strong performance, throwing for 397 yards and four touchdowns in the seventh-ranked Cardinals' 44-7 win over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday. He completed passes to eight different Cardinals for a second straight game and threw TDs to three different players.
But Strong was not pleased with Bridgewater's attempt to convert the fourth-and-2.
"You can't call off the punt team, not in that situation where that ball was," Strong said. "It was a 1:10 left before [the] half, and plus our side on the 50. No, we were going to punt that football."
Bridgewater, who inspired a T-shirt worn by at least one fan against Eastern Kentucky that simply said "Teddy Heisman," also explained what happened when he called off the punt team with less than 2 minutes left in the first half. He said it was a little confusing because of the no-huddle tempo.
Ultimately, Bridgewater settled for a 397-yard, four touchdown performance that reaffirmed his Heisman frontrunner status and kept him on pace to be the No. 1 pick in April's NFL Draft. Fortunately, for the Louisville quarterback there is no Bridgewater Cam that is following his every mother and national beat reporters aren't covering his every tweet. Otherwise, this instance of his competitive fire getting the best of him might have been portrayed as the rebellious act of an immature student-athlete.
Somewhere out there Nolan Nawrocki is scribbling in his notebook.
