Whitmer is not a D1 QB

[uconndogs]

Doesn't mean he has better and smarter feet.......

I didn't say it did..........

 

[AZHuskiePop]

If you think Boyle can do better than Whitmer, you put him in. Even if the O-line is still having issues - maybe he can handle the pressure a bit better. See if he can cut down on 2-3 mistakes a game, which contributed to losing to Michigan last night. With the caveat that whoever comes in can still get injured, and that it might take more than 1 game to get to / surpass Whitmer's level of production and of course any new QB can still make mistakes. I am a bit curious to see if Boyle can learn from game situations quickly, supposedly he was doing well picking up the playbook which got him to the depth chart.

Witmer is a decent passer when given time.
His slow feet require him to have substantial pass protection.
Our lack of a running game gives the defense only our passing game to worry about. Is pretty easy to play defense against a one dimensional team. It also gives our QB less time to pass. (You don't have to stay home for the playfake.
Pass blocking isn't that bad Witmers slow feet make it seem worse than it actually is.
The problem with the offense is twofold. The offenive line is an extremely weak group of run blockers made worse by lack of a real running back threat.
If we have. a QB with quickness who can turn the defensive rush against them and have a good as good an arm as the currrnent QB,
he should be playing. A one dimentionsl scambler unless he has incredible ability won't help.
Its the offensive line stupid

It really isn't about play calling its about execution.
Last years Alabama team could tell you the play in advance and get positive yardage. If you getting blown off the line of scrimmage the play doesn't matter.
To answer the question. Yes Witmer has an FSB arm. we have to find a running game to give him a chance to use it.











H

 

[hthusky74]

Whitmer is the least of this team's problems and is the best QB we've had since Dan O. He still makes some poor decisions, but so do 90% of the other QBs in college football. For the life of me I don't know why we would want to burn Boyle's shirt this season.

No way we should burn Boyle's redshirt unless there is a rash of injuries. However, Whitmer is terrible. True, he has no offensive line, but he should show better poise and decision making than he does. The plays that really irked me was one when he was running right and easily had a five yard gain in front of him and he threw the ball away. He seemed to have no idea of what the situation was. The ultimate was in the second half on a play in which he had so much time he could have written a novel. He then proceeds to throw a pass into Michigan coverage for an interception. The specter of him at QB the rest of this season and, shudder, next season, is frightening. Time to give Cochrane or Taylor a shot. We can't do any worse than 0-3 with someone else at the helm. It would have been tough to bring them in against MD or MI, but we have Buffalo and USF the next two weeks. The back-ups need to get some reps in those games to see what they've got, and in case Whitmer is injured. They also need to give Max Delorenzo more carries. McCoombs is a joke.

 

[hthusky74]

If you think Boyle can do better than Whitmer, you put him in. Even if the O-line is still having issues - maybe he can handle the pressure a bit better. See if he can cut down on 2-3 mistakes a game, which contributed to losing to Michigan last night. With the caveat that whoever comes in can still get injured, and that it might take more than 1 game to get to / surpass Whitmer's level of production and of course any new QB can still make mistakes. I am a bit curious to see if Boyle can learn from game situations quickly, supposedly he was doing well picking up the playbook which got him to the depth chart.

CAn't do any worse than 0-3!

 

[huskymedic]

No way we should burn Boyle's redshirt unless there is a rash of injuries. However, Whitmer is terrible. True, he has no offensive line, but he should show better poise and decision making than he does. The plays that really irked me was one when he was running right and easily had a five yard gain in front of him and he threw the ball away. He seemed to have no idea of what the situation was. The ultimate was in the second half on a play in which he had so much time he could have written a novel. He then proceeds to throw a pass into Michigan coverage for an interception. The specter of him at QB the rest of this season and, shudder, next season, is frightening. Time to give Cochrane or Taylor a shot. We can't do any worse than 0-3 with someone else at the helm. It would have been tough to bring them in against MD or MI, but we have Buffalo and USF the next two weeks. The back-ups need to get some reps in those games to see what they've got, and in case Whitmer is injured. They also need to give Max Delorenzo more carries. McCoombs is a joke.

Not sure I understand the rationale that there is "No way we should burn Boyle's redshirt" but in the same breath it's okay to burn Taylor's red shirt?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

"It was just a simple zone coverage," Morgan said. "I just dropped back and did what I was coached to do, kind of read off his eyes and lo and behold he threw it that way so I was just trying to jump up and make the play on it. Once I got the ball in my hands I was just trying to follow the blockers."

-Desmond Morgan on the late interception.

There are times when I wonder if we don't utilize passing progressions or if Whitmer just gets determined on what he believes the best route will be at the snap and looks only there but on the interception he stared down the pattern from when he got the ball. Unfortunately, this is not the first time he has done this.

 

[sportsart]

If Phillips was playing I'd say maybe put in Boyle. Without him you give him very little chance at success. No running game, lack of play makers and inconsistent OL play make it very possible you damage the goods.

 

[UCHuskies08]

So, why do I not see a lot of discussion of seeing what Cochrane can do? Not redshirt concerns, obviously. I'm ready to see what someone else can do at the position. Has Cochrane not looked good enough to handle the starting job at all?

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

So, why do I not see a lot of discussion of seeing what Cochrane can do? Not redshirt concerns, obviously. I'm ready to see what someone else can do at the position. Has Cochrane not looked good enough to handle the starting job at all?

I agree on Cochrane. They should plan for him to play the second quarter of buffalo game. He needs game reps in case Whitmer goes down plus we can see how he manages the game. The gators didn't think they had a good backup until Murphy got in the game. Give Cochrane a planned opportunity in a non-panic situation.

 

[hthusky74]

Not sure I understand the rationale that there is "No way we should burn Boyle's redshirt" but in the same breath it's okay to burn Taylor's red shirt?

Boyle is #2 on the depth chart. Taylor is #4. If Boyle is the man of the future, you want to extend his eligibility.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I'd be more concerned with burning Boyle's RS today because this offensive line may get him killed - not over 2017.

Good point. Given our running game Witmer won't last too long
Smallwood may have to play QB at some point.

 

[Jax Husky]

Boyle is #2 on the depth chart. Taylor is #4. If Boyle is the man of the future, you want to extend his eligibility.

This thought process is outdated. You can't worry about what may happen 5 years from now. If he can play (and that is a key piece), you don't worry about redshirts.

 

[CTBasketball]

He had a couple good throws last night, but his mistakes outnumbered his bright spots. Geremy Davis made him look decent last night though.

 

[BlueDogs]

If we had a credible running game, Whitmer would be fine. He made some great throws last night, and also some really bad ones. The Int. and scramble and throw with a wide open field were really bad lapses. The Oline really started collapsing in the 4th and Whitmer was heavily pressured.

Whitmer may not be great, but he is a reasonably capable guy sufficient for a season that is at best a minor disaster when all said and done. I wouldn't burn Boyle's RS on a 0-3 start, unless they intend to run him all the way through, thick or thin, to let him get reps and experience for next season.

 

[noeynox]

If we had a credible running game, Whitmer would be fine. He made some great throws last night, and also some really bad ones. The Int. and scramble and throw with a wide open field were really bad lapses. The Oline really started collapsing in the 4th and Whitmer was heavily pressured.

Whitmer may not be great, but he is a reasonably capable guy sufficient for a season that is at best a minor disaster when all said and done. I wouldn't burn Boyle's RS on a 0-3 start, unless they intend to run him all the way through, thick or thin, to let him get reps and experience for next season.

Here is the thing. Whitmer will not single handedly win you a game, but his turnovers will single handedly will lose a game for you. It is getting to the point where you are wondering when his crucial turnover is coming.

 

[Jax Husky]

All I know is that I would love for Boyle to have 30 or 40 passes under his belt when he starts next year. Think about it. You are burning the RS, but you otherwise have a QB with ZERO experience next year.

 

[gtcam]

While you are assuming they do.

Whats up with Casey C?
Boy I bet he wishes he went to Yale

 

[John]

UConn hasn't had a bigtime QB since Orlovsky. I may agree with you, but Whitmer is better than Bones, Frazer, Lorenzen, McEntee and I forget who else we've had back there. That's not saying much.

At this point, no way I burn Boyle's redshirt. No way.

DJ

 

[hthusky74]

Whats up with Casey C?
Boy I bet he wishes he went to Yale

I predict if he doesn't play this year he will be transferring. There is absolutely no reason he shouldn't get some opportunities this year with the disaster we currently have.

 

[Waquoit]

If Boyle is our 2nd best guy he should play. Worrying about his redshirt is admitting that you care about the 2017 season more than the next four.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If Boyle is our 2nd best guy he should play. Worrying about his redshirt is admitting that you care about the 2017 season more than the next four.

No. It only means that the entire 2017 season is more important than the last third of what is likely an already lost 2013 season.

 

[Waquoit]

No. It only means that the entire 2017 season is more important than the last third of what is likely an already lost 2013 season.

Playing now would help in 2014.

 

[Hoophound]

I agree with preserving Boyle's eligibility. I want to offer a new coach a four year franchise QB and RB (Newsome) right off the bat. If we want to land a coach that is accomplished, Boyle and Newsome combined with big money may be just the formula needed to pull a known guy in.

I like the idea of giving Taylor a shot because he is a scrambler. We need a guy that can move the ball and compensate for a weak OL. I have no idea if Taylor can throw the ball but we hear he can run it. If he can throw some, he might be the QB we're looking for.

I'd like to see Casey get a shot as well, but I'm not sure that a 6'0" pocket passer is likely to be successful as this team is constituted.

 

[emshorts]

with the last automatic BCS bid for this conference on the line, coach P will stubbornly not make any QB changes until they are officially eliminated from being the champs

 

[Carl Spackler]

There are times when I wonder if we don't utilize passing progressions or if Whitmer just gets determined on what he believes the best route will be at the snap and looks only there but on the interception he stared down the pattern from when he got the ball. Unfortunately, this is not the first time he has done this.

Gee whiz man. You really think that we are that inept in the coaching staff that we're not even trying to teach QB's to go through a progression of reads on the defense? I think maybe just take a step back from your feelings on the coaching staff for a moment. Shane Day was handpicked by Mike Martz to coach QB's in the NFL. There is no doubt in my mind, that they are being taught to make pre snap reads and then have progressions on a live ball. You seem to know football. This is not a basic skill set, progressions are an advanced skill, especially the ability to be "looking off" a linebacker or safety that's dropping into a zone defense, or might be part of some kind of man-coverage shell.

Whitmer needs to take the next step in development and be able to unlock from his pre-snap reads, and he also needs to be able to adapt during a game to what a defense is going to do, to defend things that have been working, and that - to me - is more of what happened against Michigan.

I do think he's missing that middle step I think, but that's a skill that is not easy to develop, and takes time, and he's still a soph, really, that's on his second OC. He appears to me - to go through a pre-snap read, (and I think from media reports, is also involved or responsible for blocking calls pre-snap - which his something that we seemed to apparently disregard in the past - actually adjusting blocking schemes pre-snap based on defensive fronts - a DL would jump or shift in the past, and it screw our entire offensive line up, and players would come through unblocked) but I digress.....I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he's got pre-snap blocking reads and calls responsibility......

but after the pre-snap look, he appears to either lock on to the first option on the pre-snap read, or some kind of clock goes off, that puts him into desperation heave and throw, or scramble mode, (Which he's got plenty of reason to be hitting that clock in his head early rather than focusing on second, third options). No middle step. Whether or not he can develop it, is a good question.

But in a situation like the INT against Michigan, that's got nothing to with what happened. it looks to me like a clear learning situation, where he can't make that kind of mistake again - have to learn from it. We had just run a 4 wideout shotgun set with the back on the right, handoff to delorenzo for a first down over LG. We ran it against a 4-3 front seven, single deep safety look, with the OLB's playing inside leverage left and outside leverage right. We had a success with same running play early in the game going left. We looked like we used to look running the ball. We came out on first down with same formation except mccombs back in. Michigan countered on the down, by bringing 5 men to the LOS, overloading the left side, and setting up a middle field open zone coverage shell. (I'm guessing on that, but it's what it looked like to me)

It clearly caused some kind of problem on the left side of our formation, because Bennett false started. If we had gotten the play off, and been able to get it blocked, we had the opportunity to throw down field against a soft zone, with no eeep coverage shell. Huge big play possibility. We didn't. Big risk on Michigan D part, and it paid off.

We come back with another 4 wide set, but this time QB under center and single back set deep directly behind QB.

Michigan goes back to their 4-3 front, inside left outside right OLB leverage, and single deep safety (middle field closed) shell.

What changed here for the defense, is our QB under center single deep back. The inside leverage left OLB doesn't need to crash down to fill right off the snap on the run out of the backfield that we had just given to Delorenzo for a first down. The hash route, seam route that we had success with through the game, is not going to be a good first option against this formation, it can still be open, but with our offensive set, the OLBs have the time to make the read on the run first, and then drop into their zone coverages, rather than playing run first at the snap. THe entire Michigan defense keyed on that route, and whitmer's head. If you watch the play, Foxx had run a short drag pattern to the left flat, and then turned into a wheel route up the left sideline, and had Whitmer been able to unlock from what was working, and thrown a deep ball over the seam route down the sideline (which would have been part of the progession somehow) - Foxx had the step and the opening to go to the house if the pass was on target and caught. In my book, the route to Foxx should have been the first read, and not the progression, but none of us knows the playbook or what's being taught.

If he at least recognizes he's throwing into tight coverage on the hash, and freezes the linebackers for a split second by looking right with his drop back and footwork, he might fit the ball in to the seam on a well covered route that had some space, but as it was, the LB keyed on the QB, Whitmer ended up throwing into the coverage, and the LB dropping into the lane made the athletic grab to snatch it out of the air.

Against that D set, with our offensive formation, the outside route away from the safety, should have been the first read - I think - no way to know for sure.


All that said, it's not so hard for me, with more years experience around this game than Whitmer ahs been alive, and not being in the middle of things on the field, to see waht's happening, and react to it.

Whitmer has plenty room to improve, the only question is can he? none of us knows that.

I would prefer a freshmen making freshmen mistakes, rather than an upperclassmen though, so that needs to get sorted out, and this play is certainly something that should not be repeated as a mistake, if he is able to improve.