Top Ten Trick Shot Monday Moments

Okay, Now the Good Stuff – Honorable Mention

I narrowed down my favorites to roughly 16, so here are 6 that didn’t make the cut but had fantastic moments I wanted to briefly discuss because I’m too indecisive to exclude them.

Poignant Shot by Sports Medicine Kid

This Trick Shot Monday comes from just this past October, when the players were too distracted preparing for Temple to hit the shot, passing the reins to a young man named Anthony who appears to be a trainer, as his shirt indicates and also as Joe Schmidt calling him “sports medicine” indicates.

He takes the ball, confidently bounces it over multiple trainers’ tables, and then gives a delighted shrug as his shot drops into the cup and the players go wild. It’s also fun to find out that the training staff apparently has Benjamin Button on the payroll, which is both exciting and surprising.

DeShone With the Fresh Cut

There are just a couple things I want to mention here.

First, it’s both awesome and ridiculous that the football team has their own barbershop. It makes sense in some ways because of the amount of time they spend around the Gug and whatnot, but it’s still funny to think about them all lining up to get haircuts.

Secondly, the creativity of this locale and just the shot in general is pretty neat, so props to the squad on putting this one together.

Finally, DeShone’s celebration of pounding his chest like King Kong and asserting his dominance over his teammates is sensational, and I hope he can incorporate said celebration into future touchdowns – say, when he scores the game-winner against USC in the Coliseum to cap an undefeated regular season?

Torii Hunter Jr.’s Dominance Deserves A Shout Out

As I watched these videos, I tried to keep a running tally of how productive every player was. Obviously, players like Joe Schmidt and Romeo Okwara are going to put up big numbers, because they were the most recent regulars, essentially running the Trick Shot Monday show the past 3 years after the graduation of the Golics, Lewis-Moore, and Goodman. However, there was another player who really shined despite not constantly appearing in the videos – Torii Hunter, Jr.

According to my very possibly flawed statistics I accumulated in a hastily-made table in Google Sheets, Hunter was second only to Schmidt (9) in made shots with 6, and added 2 assists (tossed the shot that got headed/blown/knocked in somehow by another player) to boot. Thus, although I don’t think I picked any of the videos where he made a shot for the top 10, he was consistently the guy they called upon to make a tough shot that everyone else could not, so that everyone could go eat dinner.

That’s why I love this video, with the massive celebration and Hunter proclaiming “let’s eat!” over and over as he is mobbed by his teammates.

The Championship of Trick Shot Monday

This one just had to be mentioned. The Irish were in the ‘ship, the Trick Shot Monday guys are surrounded by cameramen and reporters, and Sam Ponder hits the Trick Shot Monday shot. This was the peak of Brian Kelly’s tenure as a coach, and I will stand by that forever and always.

Chuck Martin Swoops In for the Burn

Chuck Martin is now the head coach of Miami of Ohio’s football team, but back in the day, he was Brian Kelly’s offensive coordinator. And he made sure the Trick Shot Monday elites didn’t get too cocky about their abilities, as you will see in the two videos below. Chuck Martin rocks his two cameos here.

The indifference with which Chuck tosses that ball and walks off without watching it land? Legendary.

Absolutely savage. Gotta love his ability to keep these guys grounded.

I Miss Jamoris Slaughter So Much

There is no real need to watch this video past his opening line. It’s poetic, it’s profound, and damnit if it ain’t the perfect way to start off a Trick Shot Monday video. Jamoris Slaughter is the best.

Next: Start The Top 10 Already