The 2025 journey begins…

[huskymedic]

 

[UCan3]

Love this. Everybody's got an opinion but you can't fool the guys who are there at every practice.

Remember before last season when there was a vocal ABF (anybody but Fagnano) contingent on the board? I may have been one of them (at least a bit, I don't like to rag on kids). Now, I'd be psyched to have him back, as long as Welliver gets a shot at winning the position.

That’s my take. It will be hard to beat out JF if he plays like he did those last 3-4 games.
But Welliver needs a shot.

My only concern is Mora can be thick headed on QB Position. It was clear to most people that the switch to Joey should have happened well before it did last year but I think it was an injury to Evers that finally got JF a chance and he ran with it.

Mora too much on this whole “standing behind starting QB” thick and thin but really just needs to put best player on the field each game IMO.

 

[CL82]

That’s my take. It will be hard to beat out JF if he plays like he did those last 3-4 games.
But Welliver needs a shot.

My only concern is Mora can be thick headed on QB Position. It was clear to most people that the switch to Joey should have happened well before it did last year but I think it was an injury to Evers that finally got JF a chance and he ran with it.

Mora too much on this whole “standing behind starting QB” thick and thin but really just needs to put best player on the field each game IMO.

From what I remember is he's open to a quarterback competition, but once the season starts, he prefers to stick with one guy.

I'm actually curious to see what a fully healthy Evers looks like. He supposedly was a dual threat quarterback, but after the concussions, he seemed reluctant to run, reasonably, and wasn't as good a passing threat as Fagnano.

Welliver is the great unknown. I'm excited to see what a years worth of development has done to his game.

But as I noted in my post, Fagnano was able to move the team successfully at the end of the season. If that's our baseline at quarterback, I'm pretty excited for the season.

 

[History Geek]

And he likely will need a year of development, but I'm excited to see what the incoming true freshman has to offer. I also wonder if Tucker McDonald has recovered/further developed enough to compete for the job.

Bottom line as always, may the QB that gives us the best chance to win as many games as possible this fall become QB1, and that our backups are as productive as Joey F. was last year when inevitably called upon.

 

[UCan3]

From what I remember is he's open to a quarterback competition, but once the season starts, he prefers to stick with one guy.

I'm actually curious to see what a fully healthy Evers looks like. He supposedly was a dual threat quarterback, but after the concussions, he seemed reluctant to run, reasonably, and wasn't as good a passing threat as Fagnano.

Welliver is the great unknown. I'm excited to see what a years worth of development has done to his game.

But as I noted in my post, Fagnano was able to move the team successfully at the end of the season. If that's our baseline at quarterback, I'm pretty excited for the season.

Great post.

I guess “sticking with the guy” is what I am saying I don’t like… Review play/stats/match ups and yes don’t bring out long arm to yank player after every bad quarter, but please don’t wait half the season to change QBs if it’s evident to everyone that a change needs to be made.

We have lots of good options and at very least I want to see Welliver get some reps in there this year.

 

[AllHusky]

Live ammo brings out abilities not shown in practice. Speaks to giving a kid an extended live look.

Prevailing school of thought on the Yard and in FB I'm told is if you have 2 QB's you have none. Not sure I believe it, but I am not a FB guy by experience, so I defer to the experts.

 

[CL82]

Live ammo brings out abilities not shown in practice. Speaks to giving a kid an extended live look.

Prevailing school of thought on the Yard and in FB I'm told is if you have 2 QB's you have none. Not sure I believe it, but I am not a FB guy by experience, so I defer to the experts.

I think you can successfully have "two quarterbacks" if it's a part of a specific plan. What's difficult is changing quarterbacks because the number one guy is getting the majority of the reps so he establishes timing with the receivers and the line is used to his cadence, etc. Switching that up impacts everybody. Quarterback is not a plug-and-play position.

That's part of why what Fagnano did last year was so impressive. He lost a lot of reps and yet was able to move the team effectively. And probably why as the season went on, and he got more reps, he looked better and better.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[UCan3]

I think you can successfully have "two quarterbacks" if it's a part of a specific plan. What's difficult is changing quarterbacks because the number one guy is getting the majority of the reps so he establishes timing with the receivers and the line is used to his cadence, etc. Switching that up impacts everybody. Quarterback is not a plug-and-play position.

That's part of why what Fagnano did last year was so impressive. He lost a lot of reps and yet was able to move the team effectively. And probably why as the season went on, and he got more reps, he looked better and better.

I don’t know, I’ve seen other teams alternate and approach this position much differently than we have over the years.

Some years, the QB gets disproportionate blame for a bad season when the team is just flat out - not good. No QB is coming off the bench to be the savior - the team just doesn’t have it. Can’t stop Pass rush/lack of line/receivers etc.

2023 is a good example.

But we have actually phenomenal protection for the QB and some good receivers.

So I agree that it is not “plug and play” but if you’ve got someone struggling with decent O-Line and receivers and QB just keeps missing receivers, the Plan B, whatever that is - needs to be on the table vs. “thick + thin“ approach that lands us in 100’s when the rankings come out.

 

[Stinger92860]

From what I remember is he's open to a quarterback competition, but once the season starts, he prefers to stick with one guy.

I'm actually curious to see what a fully healthy Evers looks like. He supposedly was a dual threat quarterback, but after the concussions, he seemed reluctant to run, reasonably, and wasn't as good a passing threat as Fagnano.

Welliver is the great unknown. I'm excited to see what a years worth of development has done to his game.

But as I noted in my post, Fagnano was able to move the team successfully at the end of the season. If that's our baseline at quarterback, I'm pretty excited for the season.

My take on Nick was he lacked the speed/quickness to get to the next level when running. His passing was subpar. Those 2 skill levels, or lack of, combined, present the defense with better options to cover our offense. JF may not be able to run, but the teams we played had to respect his passing capabilities. IMO results matter.

 

[CL82]

My take on Nick was he lacked the speed/quickness to get to the next level when running. His passing was subpar. Those 2 skill levels, or lack of, combined, present the defense with better options to cover our offense. JF may not be able to run, but the teams we played had to respect his passing capabilities. IMO results matter.

I don't disagree. I'm just hoping that there is a better version of Nick then we saw last season.

 

[Chin Diesel]

My take on Nick was he lacked the speed/quickness to get to the next level when running. His passing was subpar. Those 2 skill levels, or lack of, combined, present the defense with better options to cover our offense. JF may not be able to run, but the teams we played had to respect his passing capabilities. IMO results matter.

To me a dual threat QB needs decisiveness and quickness moreso than top end speed.
They need to make their key read player or their shadow miss. That gets the 6-10 yards you want when the QB tucks and runs.
Sure, a perfectly drawn play which gets a long TD is great. But for me, I want the dual threat who is constantly getting the 6-10 yards, moving chains, extended drives and soaking up the game clock.

 

[LBird33]

I just want a quarterback that can throw quick accurate passes. Who ever that might be !

 

[UCFBfan]

I'm actually curious to see what a fully healthy Evers looks like. He supposedly was a dual threat quarterback, but after the concussions, he seemed reluctant to run, reasonably, and wasn't as good a passing threat as Fagnano.

If I remember correctly, Evers was healthy to start the season. He was pretty awful at MD. Look, I was a huge Evers supporter for most of last season and totally ate crow on JF. However, I don't see NE developing into what he could be.

I do agree with wanting to see what Welliver can offer. I think we are all excited to see that

 

[noeynox]

If I remember correctly, Evers was healthy to start the season. He was pretty awful at MD. Look, I was a huge Evers supporter for most of last season and totally ate crow on JF. However, I don't see NE developing into what he could be.

I do agree with wanting to see what Welliver can offer. I think we are all excited to see that

All I want to see is an open and fair competition where no one is anointed on anything other than performance based merit. Hard to look at the situation last year and not think that NIL commitment didn't impact who was named starter to begin the year.

 

[hardcorehusky]

A year later, with a new passing game coordinator and a new offensive line, we will need to see who fits the offense the best. Evers needs to be healthy and read the defense better and deliver better short and intermediate balls. Fagnano really improved but doesn't provide the dual threat that they wanted.

In looking back, the outside zone blocking is at full affect when the QB can keep it and run. It helps the Tackles and freezes the LBs. We got bogged down a little in the middle of the year (see Temple and Rice) when that QB threat wasn't there. That is why I think we saw Mora sticking with Evers until he couldn't anymore.

 

[noeynox]

A year later, with a new passing game coordinator and a new offensive line, we will need to see who fits the offense the best. Evers needs to be healthy and read the defense better and deliver better short and intermediate balls. Fagnano really improved but doesn't provide the dual threat that they wanted.

In looking back, the outside zone blocking is at full affect when the QB can keep it and run. It helps the Tackles and freezes the LBs. We got bogged down a little in the middle of the year (see Temple and Rice) when that QB threat wasn't there. That is why I think we saw Mora sticking with Evers until he couldn't anymore.

With running backs we have a dual threat isn't a necessity. If the threats are turnovers and incompletions, well who needs that anyway.

 

[freescooter]

I wanted Evers to step up last year but he didn’t. Fagnano did. With his performance last year I can’t even imagine a scenario where he isn’t #1 coming into the season. He is ranked in the Top 25 quarterbacks on Fox Sports. He rarely threw an int, I think he had 5 at least 2 of which were the result of opponents making great plays or our guy dropping it. And for a guy who wasn’t known as a runner, he was rarely sacked and when he was pressured he rarely did dumb things with the football. When he did run he made solid gains. He might not have been in the Heisman picture but by most statistical analyses he was an above average college quarterback. We might not have recognized it because it has been so long since we have seen such a thing wearing national flag blue and white!

 

[Waquoit]

It turned out just to be a snapshot but for a good portion of that Duke game, the Devils did not have an answer for Evers. I remember thinking "that's what Mora's plan is". Then he failed to close.

 

[noeynox]

It turned out just to be a snapshot but for a good portion of that Duke game, the Devils did not have an answer for Evers. I remember thinking "that's what Mora's plan is". Then he failed to close.

Thought his best game was Wake Forest. I had hoped he could build off that, but next game back to 79 yds passing. You're just not gonna win with no passing threat.