Strong promises "wide open" duel for Texas quarterback

Sam Ehlinger, Sam Ehlinger, Sam Ehlinger, Sam Ehlinger,..... Just getting a head start.

Where are the Vinklarek and Holtz fan clubs?

I trust that Gilbert will choose the best man for the job. Why would he do any less? His future is at stake as well.

 

I assume you're referring to never seeing a true freshman start from game one and play all season. That might be correct in that sense. But Jarrett Stidham tore **** up as a true freshman when he briefly took control of Baylor's offense last year...

75 for 109, 68.8%, 1,265 yards, 12 TD, 2 INT, 199.0 QBR

Stidham was an early enrollee in the Spring just like Shane. Both were very similarly ranked coming out of HS.

Just saying, there's a very recent example of an early-enrollee true freshman playing lights out when his number was called to lead the offense ours is based upon.

Not sure how being a run-heavy offense prohibits having a clear-cut favorite at QB. Especially when none of the three serious candidates have a skill-set that resemble each other in the least.

Without question Gilbert will have a clear-cut QB favorite in August...the guy who's executing the passing portion with the highest efficiency. I doubt that decision is gonna be as clouded as it stands now. Hard to say who that would be now as none of us have seen them run this type offense at their present physical and skill levels.

 

It's rare but it has happened. For example, just last year Josh Rosen of UCLA was pretty effective as a true freshman...

 

Will he ? Will it be his choice or final decision ?
Whatever you want to refer to it as.....
Example: All because he was such a leader in the locker room and on the field and had a good work ethic ( was it that much better than anyone else ? Who knows )....A RB was constantly put in a starting role at RB this last season when we had, as it turned out, TWO really quality RBs who should have been starting all season long...
The same thing could happen with the QB position this year...Why is Swoopes and Heard getting all the snaps on day one when the competition was said to be wide open ?
Gilbert has lots of tape on their skills...Why use all that time on them early ? He needs to see the others perform in 11 on 11 to make judgment on their skills in action......

 

Does complaining about how a QB competition unfolds make anyone look smarter than the coaches who actually have firsthand experience with the skill sets they are evaluating.

Control freaks complain about everything they have no control over.

 

From another thread:
"I was told was Locksley did not make a good first impression with the new offensive coaches and there were questions about if Locksley is mature enough to handle the QB position. I was told, however, Locksley was likely to stay at QB. So we’ll see if anything changes. But, honestly, it doesn’t sound likely.

From what I’m hearing about Matthew Merrick, it sounds like the coaching staff just doesn’t think he’s ready yet."

You have no idea what's going on behind the scenes as far as players being late to meetings, not learning the playbook, arguing with the coaches, etc.
Again, feel free to sit back and enjoy the spring practices.
Soak in the excitement and intrigue of who wins what position.
Go to or watch the spring game on LHN.
Enjoy.
Or put in your resume at UT.

 

Ok I stand corrected in with Rosen, I will not give you the Baylor QB as he only played what 2 games or 3? A true freshman QB is not what this team needs. Unless SB is head and shoulders above the rest, he needs to red-shirt. Time will tell but we will have a multiple headed qb next season.

 

Ever occur to anyone that they only had three QBs take snaps the first practice because it's harder to get a rythm as a player with 40% fewer snaps? Maybe the other two QBs get the lion's share of snaps on day two?

 

True freshmen can succeed at quarterback and you can have an Asian starting point guard in major college and NBA. It's not impossible, just doesn't happen much. Matt Barkley, Josh Rosen were pretty much day one starters for good NCAA programs. Teddy Bridgewater played as a true frosh at Louisville, but not on opening day. I can't remember others.

 

Exactly! The coaches are in the meeting rooms with these guys, they watch them in the weight room, they look into their and see what's there. They are on the practice field and see who gives it everything on every snap. They see who respects the game, who is always trying to learn, and who drives themselves constantly.
It is fun to play armchair coach, but we don't have near the knowledge base or the information to even think about second guessing them. That being said, sometimes they will still make us wonder and the Gray/Foreman/Warren situation was a case in point.

 

Car54....where are you?
They're trying to get the new offensive pace in place, Car54.....it's not bumper-car, after all.

 

I think you don't want to publicly state who your preference at quarterback is. If you did, and that quarterback won the job, you wouldn't be able to ***** about how unfairly Strong treated the other quarterbacks. You're just positioning yourself for more bitching later on.

 

I would like Buechele to win it since he can give us more years at the helm than the others. Plus, if any of the others win it we will be guaranteed to have some of the same issues we had last year.
My "so called, bitching" is simply stating that if you are going to have a true open competition for a spot; you give EVERYONE a fair shake from the beginning with somewhat equal reps etc..UNTIL they show they can't hack it. Then, you start giving preferential reps to the ones who out play the others. You can do that along with implementing your offense without any problem. NOT..Ok you three get all the reps while the rest of you get nothing.....

 

My speculation as to what the coaches have done is they have watched as much film as they can on each of the quarterbacks. Not just game film. Practice film as well. Based off of that, they can create a hierarchy of quarterbacks to start from.

You've already stated that you want the coaches to pinpoint who the top QB is ASAP. Is it all that unreasonable for the coaches to essentially try to get a head start in that process by applying the past performance of each player to the process?

I would also speculate if a player receives a small number of reps relative to the other players but tears it up when he does get to play, the coaches will reward him with more reps. Seem fair?

 

I think the competition is wide open and the coaches are doing a great job of evaluating the QB position. I think maybe Buechele have proven he is better than Locksley and Merrick and he is getting more reps. Swoops and Heard are there because of experience I see no issue with that. I am sure that the other two QBs will see reps later on, but for now the top three in the eyes of the coaches are getting reps. Who is to say that might not change next week?

One thing I am pretty sure about is coaches are not visiting forums for coaching tips.

 

Unless those players are better now than they were then.

 

I get that the main 3 QB's are all getting extensive reps. But just as they muffed last year, it's not truly a "wide open" QB competition without rotating order during team sessions.

Practice 1: TS, JH, SB
Practice 2: JH, SB, TS
Practice 3: SB, TS, JH

If one guy is constantly getting the 1st team reps starting off with the first group of targets, said player holds an unfair advantage.

I'm sure receivers rotate and mix in at times with all 3 QB's. But it's still guaranteed the QB who starts first is by default gonna throw more to the leading receivers.

TS is taking the vast majority of first team reps. That's not "wide open" as claimed by CS, that's an "open" competition with swayed preference and concrete hierarchy.

Which means a lower guy has to greatly outperform the top guy to alter the lineup. Doing slightly better won't rock the boat. Same way it went down last off-season and Swoopes held on from Practice One to ND.

 

Let's not get caught up in the weeds and expect a statistically accurate "wide open" competition else we say Charlie or Sterlin did not give qb 4 and 5 a "real chance" to win the job.
And as much discussed here, we came to see deficiencies in JH's game which could support Watson's selection of JH over TS, as surprising or disappointing as the choice was in September.
The new OC knows his offense and what he needs/wants/expects from his qbs. Let's not spend these months debating what the meaning of 'is' is.
Granted, if my son is qb 2,3,4 or 5, I'd want him to get a fair shake and tell him to make the most of his opportunities.
Okay ,I'll go to the basketball board now and come back to this discussion after the tournament. I have faith it will still be going strong.

 

After the Cal game it sure looked that way, but after the entire season, I'm not as sure.

 

Uuuuuummmmm...... i'm pretty sure they were quickly able to put Merrick and Kai on the back burner because they saw obvious signs that they were behind the other three. CS, SG and MM both are vastly more knowledgeable at this then you and I.......pretty sure they got this.

 

Oh, and last year was Shawn Watson who i believe was a pro style QB coach trying to play with spread QB's and he was trying to move to the spread, it was obvious he knew too little about the spread to facilitate change.

 

Yes, and they ( coaches) had the RB situation last year as well.

 

Seems to me they picked the top 3: the two upperclassman and the best freshman. Impossible to give reps to 5 QB's. Criteria for top freshman is a coach's decision.

 

I never even eluded that 5 QB's should be rotating reps, that's counterproductive. I also knew they'd be able to backburner at least two just by watching them throw against air.

It's not that hard to determine if QB's can make the necessary throws with regularity. Just watch an NFL Combine and it's easy to separate QB's into levels by throwing the route tree.

All I'm saying is if (as CS said) we are honestly giving the top 3 a "wide open" chance to win the spot, all true candidates need to see first team reps occasionally.

If a coach told two NFL free agent QB's he signed that the top spot is wide open and both will have an open competition for it. One of them would rightfully feel slighted if the other always started out first in team sessions with the top offensive players.

As for them knowing more than you and I. Sure a higher level coach has more in-depth experience and knowledge. Since when did that prevent many of them making the wrong choice while dialed in team fans knew it would end poorly?

I just watched the Cowboys scapegoat and cut Brandon Weeden the week before their defense returned starters to give him any chance of winning.

Instead they elevated and praised Matt Cassell as their season savior. I shouted at the rooftops the guy was a lame QB far removed from any success he had several years prior.

Weeden had played well enough to win once the defense returned key starters, which Cassell was about to enjoy. They foolishly rode Cassel like a wounded pony to 7 losses, a few he threw away all by himself while the defense held below 14 points.

And when we start TS because he's looking so confident and throwing the best ball in practice, I'll continue to hold strong they made a poor choice and watch coaches again look befuddled when they see a different player on Saturdays.

 

A true freshman QB may not be what we need, but it may be what we have to do if he is better than the rest.