COLUMN: MacLeod wouldn't change a thing

Miles Cohen, Commentary It is evident from the moment anyone has a chance to talk with the backup quarterback for the Penn football team that MacLeod is a "good-natured guy." Despite sporadic playing time, he says his four years under coach Al Bagnoli have been "lots of fun" and he has basically no regrets about life in West Philly. As the one-time starting Quakers signal caller in 1996, he admitted all the decisions he has made in his collegiate career "at the time seemed like the right ones." The old song by Bobby McFerrin "Don't Worry, Be Happy" fits MacLeod to a "T." Even when the senior heard from a friend that Penn had acquired this fall's starting quarterback, Matt Rader, he did not whine to the coaches or quit the team, but used his new teammate's presence to light a fire underneath him. "Knowing I was going to have some competition in Matt made me work twice as hard," said MacLeod, who had been criticized for his work ethic in the weightroom by Bagnoli earlier. "To be honest, I probably would not have come into camp as prepared as I did had I not had that push from Matt." For all of MacLeod's hard work, when it came time for the football team's practice sessions in the spring, Bagnoli responded that his veteran slinger "looked the best he had in his time at Penn." The coach went on to praise MacLeod for his improved offseason work ethic, which included "countless" hours in the gym lifting weights and several hours a day on the gridiron fine-tuning his passing game. Because MacLeod looked "real good" in the eyes of Bagnoli, the decision who to start was a "very, very, very tough" call. MacLeod certainly felt he had performed well enough to get Bagnoli's vote, but in the end Rader was given the nod and MacLeod was headed to the bench for more pine time. Unlike Penn men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy, who has usually been a big believer in making his underclassmen and transfers who have not mastered the system yet learn from the bench, Bagnoli has shown in the past two years he would rather have an inexperienced squad educated through actual game-time action. "I knew what the deal was, and at a team meeting right at the beginning of camp this summer, I stood up in front of the team and I said if there are guys that aren't playing or guys unhappy we can't look for allies," MacLeod said. "You can't be detrimental to the team and basically you can't be cancer." MacLeod said, in a serious tone, that after advising the team he decided to take his own words to heart. Additionally, as MacLeod pointed out, at any given point in a contest, he could be "thrown into action one-two-three." And this is exactly what occurred versus Princeton last Saturday. With Rader wondering what state he was in because of a concussion suffered on his third-quarter touchdown scramble, MacLeod got first meaningful playing time of the year. Although MacLeod was not pleased with his own effort, Bagnoli quickly pointed out MacLeod never turned the ball over, there were no "stupid" false start penalties and he showed "great poise" on Penn's game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter. Sure MacLeod's statistics were not pretty -- 1-for-6 for four yards -- but the bottom line is that in the waning seconds of a game that had Ivy title implications for Penn, he engineered a flawless drive down the field against the Tigers. With only two games remaining in his football career, MacLeod hopes he has another chance to see playing time. Realizing his college days were drawing to a close MacLeod quickly changed the subject and commented on the recurring tendinitis he had in his arm. "Actually after the season is over I am going to have my arm amputated," MacLeod said. "Yeah? then it really is going to be over. No, no, no. For the last couple of games I am just going to enjoy them as much as possible and have fun out there."