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Montez’s 2018 Season - Thoughts?

I think 2016 hurt his development a little. As a backup he won at Oregon, and was overall very good in spot duty on a 10 win team. 2017 was hopefully a wake up call for him as it brought him down to earth. Am hoping he has some new motivation/maturity for 2018 and with Ropers help and hopefully a better OL and game plan he proves in 2018 what he is capable of.
 
I don’t care where Montez ends up on this list.

I’d like to see Top 20 rankings on QBR, TD:INT and YPA, things that lead to wins.
 
Just something to remember. This applies in a lot of areas, not just the QB, you can say it about coaching, about recruiting, etc.

We see our own all the time, it is easier to focus on the average and below average performances. When looking at our opponents we tend to see their positives out of context to their average or below.

My guess is that a lot of our opponents fans would have a higher view of Montez than we do. Big, mobile, strong-armed kid who "just missed on a couple of deep balls that would have killed us."

I'm not saying he belongs in the top third right now but the potential is there. I want to see how he does with the changes in the coaching staff and having had a year where he had plenty of lessons that he couldn't dominate at this level on talent alone.
 
It all boils down to his ability to make his progressions effectively. He has the tools, but last year it seemed like he struggled getting to his second option most of the time. If Roper can help him out there, then I think we'll see marked improvement from him this year.
 
I haven’t seen any evidence to make me think he will be better than last year. So all I’m left with is ...... man, this is tough.

If I have anything it’s that he
  • Has a season as starter under his belt
  • Has a proven, dedicated QB coach
  • Has a new offensive coordinator who came up through a passing power house in Texas Tech
  • Has a receiver corp that should be one of the tops in the league
  • Aside from the two INT’s, he made some great throws in the spring game
  • Last season humbled and motivated him
Given all of that, I believe it adds up to a Top 4 performance.
 
Bufffan68 said:
I get that but I wouldn’t call it mediocre. And losing isn’t on him.
Click to expand...

Therein lies the rub. By every statistical measure, he has been pretty mediocre. It just seems like elaborate spin to say otherwise.

And losing is not ALL on him, but he is not absolved of blame for going 5-7 in 2017.
 
I’ve been waiting for the post that says the 3rd team QB should be starting. After all everyone knows he is the best athlete out there.
 
I think most people are skeptical about Montez because, in spite of his physical tools, he didn’t seem to progress much from being a backup who played frequently to being the full time starter.

His completion percentage went up 1.2%.

His yds/att went up by 0.2 and his att yds/att went up 0.4.

His TD:INT ratio was basically 2:1 both seasons.

We can make excuses about everything from last season. Ultimately, it is on him to get better and make the right plays. Decision-making is his big issue. Will that improve? If yes, nice year. If no, meh year when he’s the QB.
 
One thing I will give Montez credit for is being better about safer throw decisions after the Washington game. Through the first 4 games of last year, Montez threw for 6 tds and 6 ints. For the remaining 8 games, he threw for 12 tds and 3 ints. That is legit improvement.
 
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Duff Man said:
Therein lies the rub. By every statistical measure, he has been pretty mediocre. It just seems like elaborate spin to say otherwise.

And losing is not ALL on him, but he is not absolved of blame for going 5-7 in 2017.
Click to expand...
Splitting hairs here I think but I'm not sure being in the top half of FBS QBs in QBR (46th out of 100) is "mediocre"...average might be a better word. Not bad for where he is in his career IMO...but if he doesn't make a jump this year then we need to move on...he now has a QB coach with a great pedigree and one of the best (though unproven) receiving corps in the conference, if not the country. No excuses...10 wins! lol
 
Bufffan68 said:
Splitting hairs here I think but I'm not sure being in the top half of FBS QBs in QBR (46th out of 100) is "mediocre"...average might be a better word. Not bad for where he is in his career IMO...but if he doesn't make a jump this year then we need to move on...he now has a QB coach with a great pedigree and one of the best (though unproven) receiving corps in the conference, if not the country. No excuses...10 wins! lol
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Not to quibble but what you show is not QBR. On QBR he was 63/127 nationally and 8/12 in P12 last year.

It supports your conclusions.
 
The good thing with this situation is at least now there is talent behind Montez (unlike with Sefo) so if he does not improve I think they will gladly put Lytle out there. If Montez is going to still make mistakes that freshman do then might as well play the freshman. I'm rooting for Montez to figure it out and become the QB I think we all know he can be but if not it won't mean the season is over.
 
Bufffan68 said:
Splitting hairs here I think but I'm not sure being in the top half of FBS QBs in QBR (46th out of 100) is "mediocre"...average might be a better word. Not bad for where he is in his career IMO
Click to expand...
I feel like basically being in the 50th percentile of anything means you're pretty "mediocre". The second synonym that pulls up for mediocre is average, btw. They literally mean the same thing.

As for the bolded... I feel like Montez has received a lot of excuses and slack from people for "mediocre" play because of "where he is in his career". The guy just finished his 3rd year on campus and 3rd full season as part of this football program. That's 3 years of S&C, 3 years in the same offense, 2 years behind one of CU's all timers at QB, he's saw what it took to be great in 2016, he's had big performances and really, really awful performances, both on the road and at home, etc. etc. etc. He is not a True Freshman being thrust into the spotlight in the National Championship game or anything..... Cause, you know, that never happens, amiright? The excuses of Montez being young and inexperienced need to stop.
 
Looking at the list's order it isn't too difficult to find some flaw in each above SM and I could make an argument for SM @ #4. Consider: In 16 it seemed that Fields, Bobo & Ross caught just about everything thrown to them with few drops and that didn't happen in 17, this alone cost SM 4 sure TDs and several hundred yards and 2 wins (ASU & UCLA). I attribute the drop off or loss of focus by the 3 in large part to who they were practicing against. In 16 they were going against 3 NFL draftees not so in 17. Another issue in 17 was our OC didn't make any real changes to the plays called from 16, all of the WRs were getting jammed and weren't getting the separation they got in 16.
18 is promising with different WRs that are physically bigger, different OC means different plays and play calling philosophy and add Roper to the mix.
To me it's the most interesting situation to see develop this next season.
So before I get basted I'm not trying to make it sound like SM is perfect he has his flaws, just trying to point out that Athlon probably didn't take into account some of the issues from last season.
 
Highlander said:
One thing I will give Montez credit for is being better about safer throw decisions after the Washington game. Through the first 4 games of last year, Montez threw for 6 tds and 6 ints. For the remaining 8 games, he threw for 12 tds and 3 ints. That is legit improvement.
Click to expand...

Except for an improvement in the W/L record, but that's none of my business.

I hope he kicks ass this year, I just haven't seen anything to indicate he is able, or willing, to take the next step. This isn't a video game where a player is guaranteed to improve every year. I'm in wait and see mode.
 
manhattanbuf said:
I think most people are skeptical about Montez because, in spite of his physical tools, he didn’t seem to progress much from being a backup who played frequently to being the full time starter.

His completion percentage went up 1.2%.

His yds/att went up by 0.2 and his att yds/att went up 0.4.

His TD:INT ratio was basically 2:1 both seasons.

We can make excuses about everything from last season. Ultimately, it is on him to get better and make the right plays. Decision-making is his big issue. Will that improve? If yes, nice year. If no, meh year when he’s the QB.
Click to expand...

I am of the opinion that the Sophomore Slump is a real thing....yet it doesn't always apply. I am curious to see if last year was a sophomore slump for SM, or if it was a window into the type of player he really is. If the former holds true, then we should expect to see some great things from our QB this year. If the latter is in fact true, I would expect that we might see some of the younger QB's playing a lot more by mid season. We find out in 4 months
 
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TSchekler said:
I feel like basically being in the 50th percentile of anything means you're pretty "mediocre". The second synonym that pulls up for mediocre is average, btw. They literally mean the same thing.

As for the bolded... I feel like Montez has received a lot of excuses and slack from people for "mediocre" play because of "where he is in his career". The guy just finished his 3rd year on campus and 3rd full season as part of this football program. That's 3 years of S&C, 3 years in the same offense, 2 years behind one of CU's all timers at QB, he's saw what it took to be great in 2016, he's had big performances and really, really awful performances, both on the road and at home, etc. etc. etc. He is not a True Freshman being thrust into the spotlight in the National Championship game or anything..... Cause, you know, that never happens, amiright? The excuses of Montez being young and inexperienced need to stop.
Click to expand...
The denotation if the 2 words are equivalent but to me not so the connotation...that’s just me.

I don’t think I was making excuses for SM...IMO he did alright for where he is in his career...but he needs to take a big step this year or he can ride the pine.

With all the problems with last year’s team I’d put QB play below OL, DL, LB and WR.
 
Back-the-Buffs said:
The good thing with this situation is at least now there is talent behind Montez (unlike with Sefo) so if he does not improve I think they will gladly put Lytle out there. If Montez is going to still make mistakes that freshman do then might as well play the freshman. I'm rooting for Montez to figure it out and become the QB I think we all know he can be but if not it won't mean the season is over.
Click to expand...
Montez as a sub for Sefo >>> Lytle as sub for Montez
 
Mediocre with the worst offensive line in the conference in terms of sacks given up and second lowest in yards per carry just doesn’t scream to me “he needs to be replaced” but I do understand the lack of leadership aspect. There is no way he should have let the crap with the senior receivers happen last year and even he needed to be more involved. I just don’t see a backup as some answer to the issue. Lytle needs to play some this year but if we are having issues up front and aren’t able to establish a run game a change will probably be just more of the same.
 
onealcd said:
Mediocre with the worst offensive line in the conference in terms of sacks given up and second lowest in yards per carry just doesn’t scream to me “he needs to be replaced” but I do understand the lack of leadership aspect. There is no way he should have let the crap with the senior receivers happen last year and even he needed to be more involved. I just don’t see a backup as some answer to the issue. Lytle needs to play some this year but if we are having issues up front and aren’t able to establish a run game a change will probably be just more of the same.
Click to expand...
I don't think I put enough stock in to the fact that 2 Sr captains were suspended & created a huge void, set a bad tone and threw leadership all on PL. SM is not Sefo they're paths will be different because of their skill sets, albeit they'll both wind up eating about the same amount of turf. There's no PL to block the thought of blind sides is pretty ugly PL's absence hopefully won't bury this offense before it has a chance. In all honesty PL contributed to the offense's success last season in ways that weren't noticed, made something of nothing and more the once I saw him get in the face of an OL at the end of a play.
It was visibly obvious several times when SM either missed an open receiver on a long ball/same when he made a good throw and it was dropped, PL would talk to him.
 
Probably for another thread later this year but...
I foresee a 60/40 split pass/run next season, 2 back sets, incorporation of the TE, an additional 10-15 offensive plays per game and creative play calling.
For SM's skill set the above will set him up to succeed rather than fail. IMO Chiv may turn him lose and be more than willing to live with the results. If that happens as a fan it will make for some really entertaining football to watch doesn't mean it's going to equate in to wins.
 
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Montez has to be more consistent. It seems he is prone to bad decision making at times. Does not appear to be the guy you want out there when the game is on the line.
 
Always BUFF said:
Probably for another thread later this year but...
I foresee a 60/40 split run/pass next season, 2 back sets, incorporation of the TE, an additional 10-15 offensive plays per game and creative play calling.
For SM's skill set the above will set him up to succeed rather than fail. IMO Chiv may turn him lose and be more than willing to live with the results. If that happens as a fan it will make for some really entertaining football to watch doesn't mean it's going to equate in to wins.
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Huh? Not anywhere what they did this spring and how they are trending.
 
Always BUFF said:
Probably for another thread later this year but...
I foresee a 60/40 split run/pass next season, 2 back sets, incorporation of the TE, an additional 10-15 offensive plays per game and creative play calling.
For SM's skill set the above will set him up to succeed rather than fail. IMO Chiv may turn him lose and be more than willing to live with the results. If that happens as a fan it will make for some really entertaining football to watch doesn't mean it's going to equate in to wins.
Click to expand...

That is not going to be the offense. Flip the ratio to 60/40 pass to run, mostly one back sets, TEs mostly lined up in the slot, and that is really the offense to expect in 2018.
 
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