The QB Issue

[Jimdish255]

Why are we accepting as fact that Evers is only starting due to NIL? Four weeks ago no one wanted to see Fagnano take another meaningful snap at UConn.

Evers won the job and at the open practice at least looked better than Fagnano. Heck after that practice many were clamoring for Welliver to be the starter because of how well he did against the second defense. Fagnano played very well against an overmatched FCS team. He was ok against the Maryland backups.

Evers had a tough time on the road with the Maryland starters. He looked improved on the road against Duke generating enough offense to give the team a chance (and I don’t think people are giving enough credit for his threat as a runner helping to open up lanes for Edwards as you couldn’t sell out that he wouldn’t pull it).

I believe the coaching staff, whose compensation and retention is based on success on the field, is selecting the players they feel give the team the best chance to win. No surer way to lose the locker room (and the season) then to intentionally start a player the team thinks is inferior (or lacks confidence in) for any reason (money or otherwise).

History is littered with backups having a good performance, particularly against lessor competition. Fagnano was great against Merrimack and his performance, in that game, was the best in game performance of our QBs this year. That does not necessarily mean that he gives the team the best chance of victory against FAU (or against Duke).

I believe the coaches are picking the player they feel gives the team the best chance to win… not in some fan generated conspiracy that the starter is only the starter due to NIL dollars.

The open practice is not that meaninful. We're 3 games in now.
The win against Merrimack wasn't just an asterisk. In recent history it was monumental.
You lose the locker room by playing a guy who keeps losing and does not make significant gains that show a probability of winning.
Yes the Coaches want to win and you want to accept their best judgement. But they are not infallible.

I hope Evers can make the improvements necessary, and you can see the athletic ability is there. Now he needs to settle in as a game manager and decision maker. And the accuracy needs to be there. We need to see progress from him every week. More importantly we need to get some wins. He doesn't have to be superman. Use the tools you have and hopefully get good direction from your OC. But it's like they both have training wheels on now. Time to step up.

 

[gopher2]

If NE's decision making is not great and he lacks accuracy, that will result in INTs which may force the coaches to bench him in favor of other options during this long home stretch. We have to win at least 4 of the next 6 and we can do it if we play well on D and avoid turnovers. I don't think the coaces will stick with a QB who throws INTs against beatable opponents, regardless of his upside. We desperately need to get to 6 this year any way we can. That has to be the priority this year, not the development of NE.

 

[ZooCougar]

Seeing the field, making good decisions, and accuracy are three hugely important skills Evers needs to improve on. Hopefully the game slows down for him and decision making improves. That could also be part of the accuracy issue. Seeing the field may also be related. But just because he improves in one facet doesn't automatically mean the others are solved.

We need to see gradual improvement every week. If not it raises serious questions about his future. He's inexperienced but he's not a kid and his athletic ability means he should be able to adapt to this level of football. Tomorrow is a big game for him. And every game is a big game for this team.

Everyone talks about Nick’s physical tools but he doesn’t appear to have the football IQ and awareness to take full advantage of them yet.

 

[Slick]

Zoo he hadn’t played in a full football game in THREE YEARS! Give him a chance and let’s see if he can improve before you throw him under the bus!

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Everyone talks about Nick’s physical tools but he doesn’t appear to have the football IQ and awareness to take full advantage of them yet.

Thats why everyone says he needs reps.

 

[ZooCougar]

Thats why everyone says he needs reps.

I’d rather win games.

 

[Bubba1957]

Bottom line, I trust Mora.

I don’t get how some of you have concluded that JF is definitely the answer. This is coming from someone who sat in the stands and was wowed by his first drive against NCS. I was more impressed with that than the Merrimack game where most of the yards were YAC.
If Evers doesn't move them team, I think they’ll start rotating JF into the game.

 

[CL82]

Seeing the field, making good decisions, and accuracy are three hugely important skills Evers needs to improve on. Hopefully the game slows down for him and decision making improves. That could also be part of the accuracy issue. Seeing the field may also be related. But just because he improves in one facet doesn't automatically mean the others are solved.

We need to see gradual improvement every week. If not it raises serious questions about his future. He's inexperienced but he's not a kid and his athletic ability means he should be able to adapt to this level of football. Tomorrow is a big game for him. And every game is a big game for this team.

I feel as if we are going have a much better sense of what the coaching staff believes, he brings to the table after this game.

On the other hand, if he sputters, it will add more steam to the people who are critical of him.

 

[CL82]

y it was monumental.
You lose the locker room by playing a guy who keeps losing and does not make significant gains that show a probability of winning

On the other hand, you can also lose the locker room by benching your starting QB after he comes back from injury. Let's see what happens today.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

I’d rather win games.

I would guess the coaches would also. I would also guess they think they can win the most games this year by playing Evers. They are in a stretch now of winnable games with decent qb play . they think they will win the most games this year if they develop Evers. If he doesn’t develop…they can put in JF or someone else.

Mora has already shared what Evers can’t continue to do…I think he has a short hook. But he wants to give Evers a shot to develop.

 

[ZooCougar]

I would guess the coaches would also. I would also guess they think they can win the most games this year by playing Evers. They are in a stretch now of winnable games with decent qb play . they think they will win the most games this year if they develop Evers. If he doesn’t develop…they can put in JF or someone else.

Mora has already shared what Evers can’t continue to do…I think he has a short hook. But he wants to give Evers a shot to develop.

Never underestimate a coach's desire to not be proven wrong.

And it's not that simple...

Mora said: "When you get a QB from the portal and pay him, you start him".

 

[CL82]

I would guess the coaches would also. I would also guess they think they can win the most games this year by playing Evers. They are in a stretch now of winnable games with decent qb play . they think they will win the most games this year if they develop Evers. If he doesn’t develop…they can put in JF or someone else.

Mora has already shared what Evers can’t continue to do…I think he has a short hook. But he wants to give Evers a shot to develop.

I don't know if it's a decision to develop him, per se, more than Mora believes what he can do overshadows what he needs to work on.

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't know if it's a decision to develop him, per se, more than Mora believes what he can do overshadows what he needs to work on.

I think part of it is that he gave him his word when he was recruiting him. Which is fair but also unfortunate.

 

[Husky68]

I hear all the get more reps comments and it still doesn't ring right to me concerning accuracy. Over last 2 years he was on D1 teams where they were trying to develop him and he got plenty of practice passes in. Must have been in the thousands, then comes to UConn and works with guys for months passing to them and reading how they run routes. Come game time and he misses targets bad, not always, but enough to get the chorus to say "needs more reps".

Could it be he is just not an accurate passer? Not sure what magic will come with more reps as far as accuracy goes. Coaches must have given all the hints, mechanics corrections already so what improves? Now quite sure he can improve his field awareness and game management decisions which will improve team play and get him to more makeable downs and distances, but accuracy, don't see it.

Kept thinking Zack Frazier would get more accurate and better touch, but don't remember him getting better. Nick may be the Tim Tebow of UConn, seeing that as most likely upside.

 

[Omahabound]

Never underestimate a coach's desire to not be proven wrong.

And it's not that simple...

Mora said: "When you get a QB from the portal and pay him, you start him".

If this Mora quote is accurate (No reason to think it’s not)) then this does say it all as far as the QB questions are concerned.

Evers is starting because of the money. I believe Mora signed off on him out of the portal and probably does/did think he can play but not at the cost of the overall good of the team. If it’s a tossup, the guy who got paid is gonna play first.

 

[Omahabound]

I think part of it is that he gave him his word when he was recruiting him. Which is fair but also unfortunate.

It is unfortunate and I think that’s all Mora would “owe” to Evers should he bench him. He kept his word, gave him his job back after injury, and now performance outweighs money.

 

[uconnbill]

Tonight will be a good gauge of his improvement or not. This is not another ACC team but AAC team

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Never underestimate a coach's desire to not be proven wrong.

And it's not that simple...

Mora said: "When you get a QB from the portal and pay him, you start him".

He has started him…but doesn’t mean he will continue to start him.

He also said Evers needed to stop throwing the ball in the ground and throwing inaccurate passes to open receivers. It doesn’t sound to me like he will start Evers at all costs. But he wants to give him a chance to earn it.

 

[CL82]

He has started him…but doesn’t mean he will continue to start him.

He also said Evers needed to stop throwing the ball in the ground and throwing inaccurate passes to open receivers. It doesn’t sound to me like he will start Evers at all costs. But he wants to give him a chance to earn it.

Theoretically, he should have less pressure and more separation on his receivers tonight. Let's see if he looks better.

 

[UConnJim]

Never underestimate a coach's desire to not be proven wrong.

And it's not that simple...

Mora said: "When you get a QB from the portal and pay him, you start him".

I wouldn't take that comment literally. He was saying if you are recruiting a QB from the portal and you are paying him, you have already evaluated that he is the best QB at UConn. You would not recruit and pay a QB if you thought he was the backup. And, I have to believe that Evers has looked better in practice than Fagnano and he is more physically talented than Fagnano and has more upside. That said, he has to show it in games or he will be replaced. Today's game is very important

 

[UCFBfan]

I think Evers is still rough around the edges, especially with needing to settle down and make his throws. However, if this team can get the RPO down and working, I think he becomes a completely different QB and opens this offense up. We ran it a few times with mixed results last weekend. Another game or two and I think we start running it a lot and Evers threat as a runner, plus the skill of Edwards and our other RBs, makes it hard to stop. Evers needs to just work on getting his throws to not be bullet passes or not forcing something that's not there due to coverage. I'll give it a few more games before we no longer are having this argument.

 

[ZooCougar]

Start Fagnano

 

[UCFBfan]

Stupid TD pass! He had to keep the thread alive....lol