The QB Issue

[Patman]

He was slow.

everybody wants RGIII speed, we arent getting that guy. Evers seemed decently fast for what we need or else they wouldn't roll him out every flipping play.

 

[UCFBfan]

Am I the only one who wasnt thrilled to see Roberson leave?

Yes

 

[huskysupporter]

Maryland was picked 11th.

We should have looked better than that,

We should have but we didn’t - that’s an indictment of the state of the program. And no one should be getting a pass. Not the players, not the coaches, and especially not the AD.

 

[Bubba1957]

There is no “issue”. We have a QB and his name is Nick Evers. And yes I did see the game and I do think he will be good.

 

[Buffett10]

Am I the only one who wasnt thrilled to see Roberson leave?

Yes

 

[Bomber36]

everybody wants RGIII speed, we arent getting that guy. Evers seemed decently fast for what we need or else they wouldn't roll him out every flipping play.

You asked about Roberson. What does evers have to do with your question?

 

[Patman]

You asked about Roberson. What does evers have to do with your question?

I'm not responding against you. I'm agreeing with you.

 

[noeynox]

everybody wants RGIII speed, we arent getting that guy. Evers seemed decently fast for what we need or else they wouldn't roll him out every flipping play.

Eh, Pindell was plenty fast enough. Go back and watch his TD run against Syracuse. I just want a QB that hits guys in stride and every other throw isn't off the mark or behind the guy. What I'm really concerned about is Sammis as OC. That was less than inspiring.

 

[Patman]

Eh, Pindell was plenty fast enough. Go back and watch his TD run against Syracuse. I just want a QB that hits guys in stride and every other throw isn't off the mark or behind the guy. What I'm really concerned about is Sammis as OC. That was less than inspiring.

I'm going to pray its "first game" stuff... some of the choices were not inspiring... not going for a run on 3rd and 2 in the first half when we needed to show we can score touchdowns, for instance. You have a backfield of fresh runners, run them. Take away a bit of their confidence.

 

[JMick]

Eh, Pindell was plenty fast enough. Go back and watch his TD run against Syracuse. I just want a QB that hits guys in stride and every other throw isn't off the mark or behind the guy. What I'm really concerned about is Sammis as OC. That was less than inspiring.

Pindell ran a 4.54. he was fast. I think people forget how good his production was, especially considering the lack of talent around him. If he was the QB during Mora's first season we'd have won 8-9 games

 

[Omahabound]

Am I the only one who wasnt thrilled to see Roberson leave?

It’s not that I wanted to see him leave but rather why bring in and pay the same skill set QB that you’ve had rostered already and it was obvious, Roberson was not the long term solution or gap closer in regards to overall talent. I agree Evers deserves the benefit of the doubt with his actual experience, but I think the only true QB difference maker on the roster is potentially Welliver. I’m rooting for em all though.

 

[Stinger92860]

From my couch it appeared that neither QB was very good while rolling out, yet Sammis called that play quite a few times. Add in the ineffective runs outside. Is this a case of implementing a scheme which does not fit the personnel? I recall at least 2 rolls left with a RB releasing, just getting crushed and the play was dead.

If we see similar results against Merrimack, then we have a huge problem. However is this our overall goal, to be better than Merrimack? I was hoping to cover against MD, not a win and we got crushed quite easily.

 

[LBird33]

This poll is wayyyy to soon

 

[ZOOCONN]

There is no “issue”. We have a QB and his name is Nick Evers. And yes I did see the game and I do think he will be good.

It is way way to soon for people to be calling for his job, it was quite literally his first career start. On the road against a much stronger opponent. Did it not look great? Yes but he needs time to develop. Now if we get half way through the season and it looks the same then we can talk.

 

[Tdaley]

The roll out just cuts the field in half and gives the D an advantage, in my opinion. Unless the QB is a huge run threat. That is obviously not the case here.

Further, it is helpful if the other players around Evers perform. Twice on a designed roll out play the Maryland linebacker knocked our running back onto his butt and then proceeded to force Evers into a bad throw. The running back has to either make the block or at least stay on his feet for a short pass. In each case he did neither.The first time it was Edwards and the second time it was Brown. Our QB's seem to have more success throwing the ball out of the pocket in this game.

 

[Palatine]

It is almost impossible believe to have the level of QB play we have experienced since DanO.

Every Saturday I watch QBs at every level who pass better than our QB. Although I hope it is not the case, I would not be surprised if the Merrimac QB outplayed ours on Saturday. And I don't blame the offensive line who gave adequate protection on the majority of passing plays versus Maryland and who played well last season.

BTW, Evers made it an issue Saturday. He was very inaccurate.

 

[ZooCougar]

Maybe Mora is just not going deep into the playbook before conference play?

Too soon to have a sense of humor about this?

 

[WestCoastHusky]

We need a few more games before deciding who the best QB should be for the team. It was clear there was a talent gap between us and Maryland, and it simply made everything look much worse than it is. If we play like this against a FCS opponent next week, then we got issues.

 

[gopher2]

Further, it is helpful if the other players around Evers perform. Twice on a designed roll out play the Maryland linebacker knocked our running back onto his butt and then proceeded to force Evers into a bad throw. The running back has to either make the block or at least stay on his feet for a short pass. In each case he did neither.The first time it was Edwards and the second time it was Brown. Our QB's seem to have more success throwing the ball out of the pocket in this game.

We sorely miss having an Anthony Sherman in the backfield.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Evers has to get 3 or 4 games. Judging him against the best team of our schedule game 1 is silly. If he doesn't look the part by game 4, give Cole a shot. I have seen all I want to see of Fagnano.

Fagnano had a great run at Maine. He just may be a level beyond his abilities now. I could see him shinning next week, then getting dog-walked against Duke. He started college in 2019. If the game hasn't slowed down by now, I doubt it will.

 

[AllHusky]

Maybe Mora is just not going deep into the playbook before conference play?

Too soon to have a sense of humor about this?

Yup!

 

[SuperHuski]

Man, I watched Evers play in high school. Count me as someone who expected to see more out of him and the overall offensive schemes. I was expecting to see more play action and RPOs which he excelled at in HS. Then mix in some spread concepts which thins the defense and gives him more lanes to work with. There were maybe 5 or so total plays that were play action. Some here said there were too many rollouts. I don't think that's a bad thing, but our line is kinda not good at blocking in space. (We had big plays called back because of holding.) Which is why we had so many run plays that ended up with 1 or less yards. Plus Maryland is actually a really good defensive team with good team speed.

Our line actually did better forming a pocket. Was hoping we would adjust our play calling to more mid/long passes. Especially to Skyler Bell who was constantly getting behind the defense. It wasn't just pure speed either. He had a good bag of tricks to fake the defender out and they seem to always bite. Really impressed there. I think that's why Fagano did better -- he was asked to be more of a pocket passer or he recognized that Bell was torching the CBs.

Overall, our play calling was still pretty limited. I was hoping to see more schematic diversity. Maybe it's a function of not enough practice time with a completely new group of kids. But it made it easier for Maryland to defend if they knew you were going to run 60% of the time. Maryland actually didn't blitz much, if any at all. This tells me that pretty much expected UConn to run all the time and played contained. Our interior oline needs to be much improved if we want to run more. Hopefully, this is something more reps will fix.

Defensively, a lot of people brought up the tackling issues. I want to highlight some really good positives. Cam Chadwick was a shut down corner. Yes, he missed a key tackle that lead to a TD. But really that was his only blemish. Can't believe he's just a frosh. He might have been UConn's best player on Saturday. Langston Hardy also stood out to me. He was excellent as both a run stopper and a coverage line backer with some important open space tackles. Kid needs more snaps. Really good mobility.

We do have some good pieces. We just need to best utilize them...

Edit: Wanted to add that people here seem to revere Lashlee. Well, one of this main philosophies is up-tempo offensives to stagger the defense. Would love to see hurry up play calling in the future.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Eh, Pindell was plenty fast enough. Go back and watch his TD run against Syracuse. I just want a QB that hits guys in stride and every other throw isn't off the mark or behind the guy. What I'm really concerned about is Sammis as OC. That was less than inspiring.

I thought the offensive design was a bigger issue. The dependency on called rollouts was scary. Neither QB looked accurate doing it, and both were much better when stationary. I assume he didn't think the O-line wouldn't be able to stop their pass rush, but they held their own, for the most part.