I realize there are a whole bunch of legitimate explanations for the Texas doldrums over the past few years, but they all take a back seat, imo, to the simple fact that we were spoiled for seven straight years with two superb college quarterbacks (VY and Colt), and since Colt graduated, we have not found a replacement close to the level of either of them . . . until now. If he can stay healthy, knock on wood, Sam can already keep us in the game with anybody we play, and, like Colt, he looks to becoming something truly remarkable after this first season. So, I'm happy to live with some rookie mistakes this year because the future looks extremely bright with him. (And if we can ever get a healthy offensive line to protect him, the sky's the limit)
Even beyond VY and Colt, and I know this is a sensitive-feelers topic for a lot of UT fans, Chris Simms and Major Applewhite were leaps and bounds beyond Gilbert, Case, Ash, Swoopes, et al. We basically went 12 seasons with more than just adequate QB play, then Colt took that hit and it’s been a 7-year drought of equal severity.
I certainly didn't mean to slight those earlier quarterbacks. I still love the memories of the Major just rearing back and throwing bombs from any position on the field--he was fearless and a fighter. (And Chris was often the unfortunate victim of the coaches insisting on calling those passes to the sidelines that, too often, were picked off because every defensive coach in the country with a third of a brain knew they were coming).
There does seem to be a big upside with Sam as he gains experience. He has a winner’s mentality and the swagger we need at the position. I just hope we can generate a real running game to minimize some of the physical beating he has to take. Watching him truck that DB near the goal line was glorious though. That’s who he is.
I would be surprised if his accuracy doesn't improve as his timing, route recognition, and reading defenses improves. All of this should come with experience. I really like Shane too. He has shown remarkable touch on deep throws. Shane is quite fragile though. I hope he can put on weight, muscle, and gain a little speed and endurance. TH employs a scheme that uses a running QB, we will need two guys. I don't think either will stay healthy the entire 12-13 game season.
. I’d like to see Carter take over that position. He’s a much more complete back and can also catch passes out of the back field and even over the top as we seen again Iowa St. Things happened when he was in the game.
I plagiarized this from Barking Carnival, something to the effect... ‘Meet the Texas QB, the safety from KSU did’ https://giphy.com/gifs/l378uK2XHTDCr2g6I?utm_source=iframe&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=Embeds&utm_term=https://www.barkingcarnival.com/2017/10/7/16442970/meet-the-qb-for-the-university-of-texas
After last night, I am sold on the notion of Toenails being the feature back with Warren and Porter in relief.
Agreed HP. I just think that Ash never had a chance due to injuries. It could have been a different narrative had he stayed healthy. If "ifs" and "butts" were ... well you know the rest. That said, it sure looks like Sam has the magical "It."
Well if Sam is the starter from now on then we are going to have a very good and experienced backup. Well even Heard has experience and can handle going in to do the job. I think our QB situation has come out of the doldrums and will be set for a long time esp if Johnson 2019 and Tanner comes on board in 2020. I think he likes us.
We had good if not great QB play from 1998 through 2009. Since then, not only have we not had that quality of QB play, but the OL has been worse, and the WRs (until last year maybe) have been worse. And let's not underestimate that we've also had no consistency whatsoever. If Sam stays the starter for the rest of the year and doesn't get injured, this will be the list of guys who have thrown 100+ passes during the season: 2010: Gilbert 2011: McCoy/Ash 2012: Ash 2013: McCoy 2014: Swoopes 2015: Heard 2016: Buechele 2017: Ehlinger We've never had the same guy be our primary starter in consecutive seasons, and only once had the same guy throw 100+ passes in consecutive seasons.
When you said "no consistency whatsoever", I really thought you were going to list offensive coordinators. The revolving door in the asst. coaching positions has to be factored in to our problems as well.
I agree with this. He's the only RB we have who can make the first guy miss, and that is key given our OL. I have changed my repeated plea during the game from "Give it Warren" to "Give it to Carter". Or sometimes, "Why the hell is Carter not in there?"
Reads, or earlier recognition, that's my take on what Sam needs work on. He's accurate when spotting the receiver soon enough. Being at the game you could see so many times a receiver would be open but the ball would come out much later than the break. He'll get there with more experience, imo.
I really like Buechele but he would have gotten killed Saturday night, he may have a stronger arm on the deep balls but if you dont have the OL and the running back you arent going to have the pocket to make those throws anyway, there were several plays Saturday that are sacks with Buechele and were gains and sometimes huge gains with Ehlinger. Sam has to be QB going forward.
I saw some real good and some bad one's too. Reminds me of VY's first year. I think maybe we tend to be selective and see what we want to see sometimes. Nobis at BC said this, "He missed high, low and wide on a few shorter throws and could stand to refine his touch on end zone fades, but he also hit a half-dozen beautiful balls on deeper slants and skinny posts." I think that's pretty accurate. What about the pass in the flat that Kareem Abdul Jabbar couldn't have caught, and the pass to Heard that Heard only caught because he has a 45" vertical but still landed 3' out of bounds and a few more that were only caught because of great hands and verticals by the WR's. Even the TD to Warren was severely under thrown and would not been a TD had Warren been covered at all. Not saying he can't be a great QB, just that he still needs to work on accuracy and like cary said will get there with more practice on timing and routes.
He did also miss a wide open guy on the final play of the 4th (right before we missed a FG that would have prevented OT) that would have caused the the FG much more makeable. But we almost have to play Ehlinger with the quality of pass protection we have right now. I suspect he will start and Herman is just being noncommital - as he said in the press conference, he sees no reason to announce to Riley and Stoops what his plans are.
Not sure this has been mentioned yet, but Sam has unbelievable leadership for a true freshman. He seems to take it to another level as the game goes on and it lifts up the others. He's just really competitive which is something you don't teach. It's just in you. I'm guessing the DB that Sam ran over in the second overtime would agree.
I agree about Carter... I think Young has some shake and I noticed Saturday that Kirk Johnson was suited up. Now that's a guy I would really like to see in there, even if it's just 5 plays a game. He might be lightning in a bottle.
Also, he hasn't been prone to 1. wasted timeouts because he gets confused; 2. procedure penalties; 3. delay of game penalties; 4. intentional grounding penalties; 5. batted down passes; 6. 4-yard passes on 3rd and 6; 7. running out of bounds just short of the first down and other things young QBs tend to do. The main "screw ups" that I can remember have been two very long passes for interceptions that did at least move field position 40 yards, and the ball pulled out of his hands in the USC OT--and that was purely being overpowered while being held up in the pile, not due to carrying the ball badly or whatever.
