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Quarterbacks

sackman

Hates the Counting Crows.
Club Member
Last year at this time, we had three quarterbacks vying for the starting job. We were told that no starter would be named in the Spring, and that the job would be won (or lost) in Fall Camp. Competition is a good thing, it keeps everybody working hard. By the time Fall Camp was halfway finished, there was no clear cut favorite, and Hawkins named James Cox the starter. After a miserable outing against MSU, he was replaced by Bernard Jackson, who was limited to 15% of the playbook (or so we've been told). The third option, the one most of us thought was going to be the guy, transferred...

OK, now here we are in Spring drills with three quarterbacks all vying for the starting job. We're being told that none of them will be named the starter in Spring, and that the job will be won (or lost) in Fall Camp. Competition is a good thing, it keeps everybody working hard...


Do you see where I'm going with this? I would prefer to have a starter named at the conclusion of Spring drills. I am of the opinion that we would have done better last year had Brian White simply been named the starter at the beginning of Fall Camp and gotten the majority of snaps throughout camp. But he didn't. Whoever is the starter THIS year will have the same issue going into the season.
 
Just because last year's QB performance was terrible does not mean that the selection process was flawed. I would blame it more on the fact that we did not have a legitimate QB on the roster.

2 of the 3 QB's being considered this spring are different people.
 
Fair enough, but I can see this happening every year. Next year we have Ballenger in the mix with the potential for Landry Jones as well. Do we open up the competition again in the Spring and Fall? At what point do we say "This is our guy and he needs as many reps in practice as possible"?
 
Did he run the broncos this way? if so the system seemed to work for Ryan Dinwidie and JZ
 
Did he run the broncos this way? if so the system seemed to work for Ryan Dinwidie and JZ

I have no idea how he ran things at BSU, but I suspect he isn't changing things much. But here's something to consider. Had Jared Zabransky been forced to compete for the starting QB job this year, how would they have done? Hell, maybe he was forced to compete for the job for all I know. He was the QB in 2005 as well.
 
I have no idea how he ran things at BSU, but I suspect he isn't changing things much. But here's something to consider. Had Jared Zabransky been forced to compete for the starting QB job this year, how would they have done? Hell, maybe he was forced to compete for the job for all I know. He was the QB in 2005 as well.

And there is the point, I think. He was the quarterback in 2005, and he was competent. At this point, we haven't seen Hawk in the position of having an adequate starting QB return at CU. Klatt was gone in 2006 and BJax begs for an upgrade now. Both springs he has been here, Hawk has been in the position of having to try to identify the best QB on the roster to start. He hasn't had the luxury of handing somebody the reins and letting them take most of the reps yet. I don't recall hearing anything about any quarterback controversy or competition at BSU last year (although admittedly I wasn't really listening for one...)
 
Alright. I'm not going to really argue the point too much, as I'm not as close to the situation as the coaches are. On balance, I think we'd be better off going into Fall camp with the starter named, barring injury. It gives the O-line more reps with the QB. It gives the WR's more time to learn the QB's tendencies. It helps get everybody on the same page earlier, so that executing the offense becomes instinctive.


Gah. whatever. I just hope they're able to pull their **** together this year better than last year.
 
this year in spring, we have a juco transfer who is just learning the offense but who has had success previously. we have a running qb who didn't succeed as the starter last year. and, we have a rs-frosh who has never played a down at the college level but who knows the offense and was fairly highly regarded. it isn't fair to nelson to compare him heads up on knowledge of the offense to cody. we've pretty much already seen what jax brings and i think it is safe to say he is out of the mix for starter. they want to give nelson a fair shot to learn the offense and win the job and that probably means going into fall ball.

last year, in the spring, we had cox, who had flailed horribly in the bowl game and his previous other live action; white, who never played a down and got very few reps in practice; and jax who had made 17 position switches. all 3 were new to the offense. none were going to have the playbook down in spring. none were proven. in the fall, none established himself in practice, so they named cox starter by default. he flailed again in live action. white was in the major doghouse for not signalling in plays during the game and for not having a good enough grasp of the offense. out of frustration, they went with jax and white quit.

comparing the 2 situations, we are in better shape this year, eh? hopefully...
 
Alright. I'm not going to really argue the point too much, as I'm not as close to the situation as the coaches are. On balance, I think we'd be better off going into Fall camp with the starter named, barring injury. It gives the O-line more reps with the QB. It gives the WR's more time to learn the QB's tendencies. It helps get everybody on the same page earlier, so that executing the offense becomes instinctive.


Gah. whatever. I just hope they're able to pull their **** together this year better than last year.

I agree with you 100% - I'd much prefer to see one guy be able to start building some consistency with the rest of the offense. It would be great if one guy would step up and grab the job by the throat this spring so that can happen.

I really can't wait until we're going into the spring with a stud returning QB. Hopefully that's in 2008...
 
this year in spring, we have a juco transfer who is just learning the offense but who has had success previously. we have a running qb who didn't succeed as the starter last year. and, we have a rs-frosh who has never played a down at the college level but who knows the offense and was fairly highly regarded. it isn't fair to nelson to compare him heads up on knowledge of the offense to cody. we've pretty much already seen what jax brings and i think it is safe to say he is out of the mix for starter. they want to give nelson a fair shot to learn the offense and win the job and that probably means going into fall ball.

last year, in the spring, we had cox, who had flailed horribly in the bowl game and his previous other live action; white, who never played a down and got very few reps in practice; and jax who had made 17 position switches. all 3 were new to the offense. none were going to have the playbook down in spring. none were proven. in the fall, none established himself in practice, so they named cox starter by default. he flailed again in live action. white was in the major doghouse for not signalling in plays during the game and for not having a good enough grasp of the offense. out of frustration, they went with jax and white quit.

comparing the 2 situations, we are in better shape this year, eh? hopefully...

I think that is a good synopsis of where we are and how we got there. Despite the uncertainty, I'm more happy about our overall QB talent pool now, than at any time in the recent past. The Big 12 can be tough on QB's, so having a backup or two that you actually trust, is a good thing, because odds are we'll need him at some point. I really think that Nelson will be our starting QB, with Cody as the backup. Regardless of who the starting QB is, I believe that we'll see B-Jax used in a set of packages that enable him to line up at RB/QB/WR and run a variety of plays (think Tebow at Florida, McFadden at Arkansas, etc). I think that is Hawk's hope.
 
i think splitting the snaps 3 ways is counter-productive come Fall practice.....pick two guys and have them split reps right off the bat and then you have to make a decision. the dif b/ween 33% and 50% has to be a lot.

but, again, there's probably a reason i'm not coaching football or playing 3rd base in the big leagues. I've yet to figure it out. though, i imagine it exists.
 
this year in spring, we have a juco transfer who is just learning the offense but who has had success previously. we have a running qb who didn't succeed as the starter last year. and, we have a rs-frosh who has never played a down at the college level but who knows the offense and was fairly highly regarded. it isn't fair to nelson to compare him heads up on knowledge of the offense to cody. we've pretty much already seen what jax brings and i think it is safe to say he is out of the mix for starter. they want to give nelson a fair shot to learn the offense and win the job and that probably means going into fall ball.

last year, in the spring, we had cox, who had flailed horribly in the bowl game and his previous other live action; white, who never played a down and got very few reps in practice; and jax who had made 17 position switches. all 3 were new to the offense. none were going to have the playbook down in spring. none were proven. in the fall, none established himself in practice, so they named cox starter by default. he flailed again in live action. white was in the major doghouse for not signalling in plays during the game and for not having a good enough grasp of the offense. out of frustration, they went with jax and white quit.

comparing the 2 situations, we are in better shape this year, eh? hopefully...

white made a better showing than cox in the bowl game, so saying he never played a down isn't quite right. i agree that the major competition for starter is between nelson and hawkins, but i hope they find a spot for jax to get into the offense under specialty situations this fall.
 
Fair enough, but I can see this happening every year. Next year we have Ballenger in the mix with the potential for Landry Jones as well. Do we open up the competition again in the Spring and Fall? At what point do we say "This is our guy and he needs as many reps in practice as possible"?

I agree whole heartedly that we need to get a qb for our O that has built some cohesion with the other starters and the only way you get that is through a lot of reps, but I'm also wary of putting all our eggs in one basket. To name a guy now and give him the majority of the reps/coaching attention may help us a bunch for next season but it will leave us really exposed with an inadequate back up. It was exactly this philosophy that drove me nuts under GB & short bus because the starter got the majority of the reps and coaching attention but they failed to bring along any of the back ups. So when MM or Ochs or Klatt went down we were always left with some unseasoned rookie who knew 10% of the O because he only got 10 minutes of practice running the offense a week. I'm okay with Hawk going this route for now. I would like him to have a starter named by the end of the first week of fall camp so that we can build that cohesion among the starters.
 
gotta be something like 17%:smile2:

smarty pants. more like 16.6 %. sticks tongue out....and wiggles fingers on top of head. and your mother smells of elderberries!

kniggits5hw.jpg
 
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I agree whole heartedly that we need to get a qb for our O that has built some cohesion with the other starters and the only way you get that is through a lot of reps, but I'm also wary of putting all our eggs in one basket. To name a guy now and give him the majority of the reps/coaching attention may help us a bunch for next season but it will leave us really exposed with an inadequate back up. It was exactly this philosophy that drove me nuts under GB & short bus because the starter got the majority of the reps and coaching attention but they failed to bring along any of the back ups. So when MM or Ochs or Klatt went down we were always left with some unseasoned rookie who knew 10% of the O because he only got 10 minutes of practice running the offense a week. I'm okay with Hawk going this route for now. I would like him to have a starter named by the end of the first week of fall camp so that we can build that cohesion among the starters.

Agree SJ. Coach Helfrich had a string of qb injuries at ASU, but he always had a backup qb ready to step up and play well. Walters, Keller and Carpenter were thrown into the fire and kept their offenses going. Besides coaching them up, Helfrich also recruited D1 qbs. Barnett/Watson failed on both fronts. Hawkins/Helfrich are addressing the qb issue, but it will take time to fill the qb gap.

Go Buffs!!! Go Hawk!!!:cool:
 
I see your point sackman, but I am of the opinion that Hawk knows what he's doing.
agreed. there has to be a process to 'split' time or no one woujld want to risk coming for fear that the roster is set. hawk is not new to this... he will do what it takes to get the competitive fire stoked, and the right guy quality snaps before the season starts...
 
agreed. there has to be a process to 'split' time or no one woujld want to risk coming for fear that the roster is set. hawk is not new to this... he will do what it takes to get the competitive fire stoked, and the right guy quality snaps before the season starts...

I guess I feel like the time to "split" is in Spring ball. Once Fall camp rolls around I'd feel a lot better if we had a starter named.
 
What's the word out of spring camp? Who's your Ace under center? Not the official word from hawk either, cuz he'll say it's open for competition. but what you guys are thinking, reading, seeing, etc.
 
What's the word out of spring camp? Who's your Ace under center? Not the official word from hawk either, cuz he'll say it's open for competition. but what you guys are thinking, reading, seeing, etc.

Article this morning said B-Jax is basically out of the mix and is playing WR. Nelson has "hit the wall" and that of the three, Lil Hawk has the best grasp of the system. By most accounts, this is now a two-man race, with Lil Hawk in a slight lead.
 
I guess I feel like the time to "split" is in Spring ball. Once Fall camp rolls around I'd feel a lot better if we had a starter named.

Totally agree. If a starter isn't named by the end of "fall camp" (essentially the first week of practices in the fall) I'm going to start bitching. Who ever ends up being the guy is still going to need a ton of work before the lammie game and it would help a lot if he had 70% of the snaps in the two weeks before the game.
 
Hey who knows. I think Nick will be the starter vs CSewe. But Cody will put up a fight. I found this on Cody from the Elite 11 article.

Cody Hawkins - With his size (5-11, 175 pounds), where he comes from (Boise, Idaho) and lack of big-time offers, Hawkins is probably the quarterback on the list who the casual fan probably assumes doesn't belong. That is understandable, but anyone who saw Hawkins throw at the NIKE Camp in Stanford or the EA SPORTS Elite 11 workout the following day at Cal, they know this isn't a reach. Simply stated, at any of the 12 NIKE Camps, Hawkins had the most impressive workout of anyone on the list with the possible exception of Mustain. The Idaho native has a live arm, great feet, an incredible head for the game and his intangibles like leadership and the ability to rally players around him are off the charts.
 
I don't think it is the selection process but rather the lack of a clear leader. I remember one old coach saying if you have a QB controversy it means that you don't have a QB. That no one is distancing themselves could mean the QB talent is not at the level that we want.

I will watch the spring game with much interest.
 
I don't think it is the selection process but rather the lack of a clear leader. I remember one old coach saying if you have a QB controversy it means that you don't have a QB. That no one is distancing themselves could mean the QB talent is not at the level that we want.

I will watch the spring game with much interest.

I will be very much interested in your thoughts of the game and the qb play. Looking forward to a report! (and hopefully a positive one):thumbsup:
 
I agree with you 100% - I'd much prefer to see one guy be able to start building some consistency with the rest of the offense. It would be great if one guy would step up and grab the job by the throat this spring so that can happen.

I really can't wait until we're going into the spring with a stud returning QB. Hopefully that's in 2008...
The reason all of this is happening is because our overall team talent level is poor - almost at every position. The coaches don't come out and say this directly, but it is indirectly said when they openly stated that they expect all of the receivers in the last recruiting class to see plenty of playing time this season. These guys haven't even stepped on the practice field, and won't until fall. That says alot about what the coaches think about the talent of our veterans. We are still 2 or 3 recruiting classes away from contending - we have to give Hawkins time.
 
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