Albrecht and Burdette playing with targets on their backs

If Quentin Albrecht and Colby Burdette have ever been shopping at Target then they both know what was on each of their backs going into this season.

Albrecht and Burdette were the two standout players from last year’s team, and remained the two guys to look out for as the team prepared for their second season in Conference USA.

These guys were hyped up and rightfully so. Albrecht led the team last year with 10 goals and 23 points while Burdette with seven goals and 18 points was second to only his German teammate. These two guys are the real deal and last year they showed everyone watching just that, but, I think, many opposing coaches might of been watching, too.

With all that said, I can now refer to my first statement: these guys now have enormous targets on their backs. Opposing coaches game plan strictly for them, opposing players know who they are and that they can’t let them out of their sights.

But, hey, they asked for it. That success did not go unnoticed.

Are they paying for it now? It might be too soon to tell as the squad has only played seven games going 3-4 (0-1). But for the sake of this story, I’m going to analyze their statistics through these first seven games.

Albrecht, thus far, has played and started in all seven games, and is one of only three Panthers to starts all seven games in the young season. He’s second on the team in points and goals scored. So, he isn’t leading in every category like it seemed he did last year, but the season is still young and don’t forget about that target I’ve been referencing.

Burdette, so far, has gotten off to a slower start. He has started two games and played in six. He’s scored two goals and registered two points. But, Burdette is coming off of a game against Jacksonville in which he scored late in the match to seal a victory for his team. Maybe he can ride that momentum just like he did last year in order to get past all the extra attention teams are paying to him.

Albrecht and Burdette have targets on their back and as I think about how they earned those targets, a very well-known quote from the movie “Spiderman” comes to mind.

“With great power, comes great responsibility,” Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker.

This completely applies to these two young men. Albrecht and Burdette, because of their stellar play, earned a tremendous amount of power on the field. But with that comes the responsibility of knowing that this year will not be easy. They need to know that this year they will not catch anyone by surprise. Coaches know to watch them on film and players know that they can beat them.

The great responsibility of Albrecht and Burdette will be to find ways to duplicate their success from last year and apply it in order to help their team over the hump. This is a team with enough talented newcomers that all it needs is a push from their established duo.

They just need to remember one thing if they want to continue on the road to success: “With great power, comes great responsibility.”