QB situation

[ulukinatme]

This has been an ongoing issue with QBs under BK. The backups get very little real game experience short of handing off the ball late in the 4th quarter. They dont develop.

Look at the schedule. BG, Duke, and Navy game PJ should have been in after halftime or worst case, 1/2 way through the 3rd. Giving the guy two mop up possessions at the end by throwing a couple of four yard passes and handing off the ball doesnt quite cut the mustard.

Keep hearing PJ isnt ready, he isnt ready. How exactly does one get ready? Ian probably smokes the practice field but doesnt do a whole lot game time except against fairly hapless competition.

I just dont know how a kid spends two years in the system and cant competently play the position. Either he is terribly overrated or he is getting terrible coaching. QBs all over the place are starting by year two and performing.

So what is it?

First off, saying teams like VT, Virginia, Navy, and USC are hapless competition is quite the exaggeration. Are their defenses the crème de la crème? No, but they're respectable teams that we beat. We hung with a very good Georgia team as well. The Michigan game was an abomination from top to bottom. Book did not play well, but neither did the rest of the offense and much of that stems from the weather and a poor offensive game plan. It was essentially a team failure, but more so on the offensive side for sure (I don't completely fault the defense for folding as the game went on with all the 3 and outs).

As far as PJ, maybe the coaching is to blame, but if I had to guess where the problem lies I would say it's just not his time yet or may never be. If it was coaching then how could you explain a three star prospect in Book having the success he's had? 3 losses in roughly two full seasons is pretty respectable. He's obviously responded to the coaching, even though he struggled in a few games (Again, some of which isn't just on him). Scouts are never right 100% of the time, and people are constantly getting wrapped up in the # of stars a player carries, but all of that means jack once they actually get to college. Players fail to live up to that hype all the time, and players exceed their billing as well.

If you can't prove it in practice, you can't expect to be given the starting job in a game. Players don't develop in a game, not a whole lot anyway. As they say, "the hay is in the barn" by that point. Most development occurs in practice, and by game time you have to execute on that. There will be jitters that can be worked out with game time experience, but if you can't read a defense come Saturday you're probably not going to learn it while on the field that day. If PJ fails to beat out Book in practice then he'll just have to wait till Book's time is done or find some extra motivation to improve. By all accounts Book is the last one out of the film room each day, maybe that's one area PJ could devote extra time.

 

[BeatSC]

It feels that when Kelly lets PJ p,ay a few series that anyone can do what he isn’t being asked to do. The only thing we have to go on as fans is the drive against Michigan which didn’t look too bad. No pass plays = no chance. If Phil looked great Kelly would here it from the fans. Of Book plays like the last two weeks going forward I welcome him back next year. Get rid of Long though. Two words to describe Chip Long ........Over and Rated!!