2008 tOSU QB discussion (official thread)

[osugrad21]

Blade

Buckeyes take look at backup QBs in spring game
Bauserman, Henton try to catch eye of coaches

By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

COLUMBUS - The spring football game is a loosely organized show-and-tell that gives players a stage and a final opportunity to display their worth before their team reconvenes in August to prepare in earnest for the 2008 season. Ohio State's spring game did not have a lot of suspense in the story lines yesterday, since the Buckeyes are replacing just two starters on either side of the ball from the team that faced Louisiana State in the BCS national championship game. You know your team is loaded when the biggest debate you can muster is over the pecking order between your second and third teamers at the quarterback position.

The quickie report card on the quarterbacks from the spring game, won 20-7 by the Scarlet team in front of an announced crowd of 76,346, looked like this: senior starter Todd Boeckman was just so-so playing only the first half, with a couple of interceptions and a one-yard touchdown carry; redshirt freshman Joe Bauserman showed the arm strength that made him a major league pitching prospect; and sophomore Antonio Henton was diplomatic enough to play a half for both the Scarlet and Gray teams.

Cont...

 

[shetuck]

Mansfield News Journal: Should there be a QB derby at Ohio State

Should there be a QB derby at Ohio State?
BY JON SPENCER

News Journal

Another mostly unwatchable spring football game has come and gone at Ohio State, with the biggest gasps reserved for a high school kid standing around in a rain poncho.

The "next Vince Young" created the biggest sideline buzz at an OSU game since LeBron James showed up in Vince Young's old neighborhood two years ago to watch the Buckeyes hook the ?Horns. This infatuation with Terrelle Pryor, and Saturday's promising audition by an also-ran helping to keep the pocket warm for Pryor, got me to thinking:

What if Pryor's potential is as inflated as Saturday's announced crowd of nearly 75,000?

What if the best quarterback on the roster come September is not Pryor, the nation's No. 1 recruit, or returning starter Todd Boeckman, the reigning Big Ten pass efficiency champion, but a 22-year-old redshirt freshman named Joe Bauserman?

We'll never know, will we?

By all accounts, no one made a greater impression during Saturday?s glorified practice than Bauserman. He completed 7 of 14 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown and had several impressive scrambles. His TD was a 51-yard rope to Taurian Washington. A 63-yard scoring hookup between Bau-Wow and Washington was wiped out by a holding penalty that had no effect on the play.

"I knew he had that kind of arm last year because he always threw it deep on us on the scout team," said safety Kurt Coleman, who snagged one of the two interceptions thrown by Boeckman. "He's come light years ahead from last year. He really showed me something."

cont'd...

 

[ScriptOhio]

Isn't it great...

....the way things are going, Ohio State's 4th string quarterback could easily be better than scUM's starting QB.

 

[Oh8ch]

Should there be a QB derby at Ohio State?

There was a good write up in the current BSB talking about QBs and making a point I took a shot at earlier.

Once the first game rolls around they go into game prep mode. The starter gets about 80% of the reps with the 1's. It isn't like HS wrestling where if you are the #2 kid at your weight class you can challenge the #1 and if you win you get to wrestle in Saturday's meet.

And it would be easier for someone to make a move if there were only one real candidate for the job. We have 2 (some argue 3) who will want to split those 20% of reps.

So if somebody is going to knock Todd off they need to do it in the Spring (which is much more of a teaching and experimenting session than a "let's get our offense ready to play" session) or very early in the fall.

And if somebody is going to move Boeckman out of the way it ain't gonna be by inches. It ain't gonna be because their long ball is slightly better or because they are more mobile in the pocket. They are going to have to demonstrate a clear edge at most dimensions of the position - particularly running the O and reading the D.

There is only one reason I can think of that you would want to put your returning starters job on the line and treat it like a Quarterback Derby. And that is if you want to fuck with his head. (It is very difficult to read a Defense when you are looking over your shoulder.)

 

[smithlabs]

....the way things are going, Ohio State's 4th string quarterback could easily be better than scUM's starting QB.

Dude our fourth string quarterback WOULD have been scUM's starting QB

 

[jwinslow]

Bauserman or Henton would be a tremendous upgrade up north. So much for HTM's comparisons of Sheridan and Bauserman

 

[mercer_buckeye]

Let's just get one thing clear the worst walkon at any position at OSU is better than any Michigan player

 

[Taosman]

I don't see how a QB having more difficulty against better competition could be called "regression". Better competition will make your whole team look worse.
And bad weather will certainly make your QB look worse.

That's not "regression" that's "competition"!

 

[OregonBuckeye]

I don't see how a QB having more difficulty against better competition could be called "regression". Better competition will make your whole team look worse.
And bad weather will certainly make your QB look worse.

That's not "regression" that's "competition"!

Anyone in particular you're responding to or just another rambling? :tongue2:

 

[matcar]

I don't see how a QB having more difficulty against better competition could be called "regression". Better competition will make your whole team look worse.
And bad weather will certainly make your QB look worse.

That's not "regression" that's "competition"!

Well, if that's how he stacks up against competition, then he'd better get a WHOLE LOT BETTER.

Personally, I think you're dead wrong. He's better than he played in those games and he did regress. If I'm wrong, we're in bad shape because Todd must play better against "competition" or USC will eat our lunch.

I'm betting they won't and Todd will play better.

 

[Taosman]

The Illinois loss was a TEAM loss. Admit it. The whole team wasn't ready to play that day and got it handed to them time and again.
Just a little more help from the defense, one critical stop would have been the difference between losing and winning.
Against LSU look at all the TEAM mistakes. Dropped touchdown passes.
Offsides. Personal fouls. WRs not finishing their routes or making a bigger effort. All those things contributed to another loss.
None of those things were Todd's fault.
Just admit you are in the "play Pryor camp" no matter how illogical that camp is. It's OK to be excited about the high school kid. :tongue2:
I'm glad your not the head coach at OSU.

 

[sandgk]

You missed corrupt officials in your laundry list, but I guess they aren't on the team.

 

[Sportsbuck28]

The Illinois loss was a TEAM loss. Admit it. The whole team wasn't ready to play that day and got it handed to them time and again.
Just a little more help from the defense, one critical stop would have been the difference between losing and winning.
Against LSU look at all the TEAM mistakes. Dropped touchdown passes.
Offsides. Personal fouls. WRs not finishing their routes or making a bigger effort. All those things contributed to another loss.
None of those things were Todd's fault.
Just admit you are in the "play Pryor camp" no matter how illogical that camp is. It's OK to be excited about the high school kid. :tongue2:
I'm glad your not the head coach at OSU.

Obviously every game is a team loss, but don't you think the good guys would've prevailed against Illinois had he not thrown the 3 picks? Or how about his pick with 8 minutes to go? Sure, the defense could've made the stop of 4th down, but if Todd had found his guys they wouldn't have had to and wouldn't of been put in the situation.

The LSU game did have a lot of personal fouls and dropped balls, but one play in particular that sticks out to me is the 4th down that Highsmith nailed Boeckman on. When teams pressured Todd, he got happy feet and wasn't anywhere near as effective. Most of the teams we faced didn't have the talent to pressure us effectively, but the teams that did (Illinois and LSU) did it effectively.

Here's what I think: You think that we are all throwing Boeckman under the bus and jumping on the Pryor bandwagon. I don't get that sense, at all. The sense I get from this thread is that while we were all impressed with Boeckman being the QB of the B10 champs and a NCG team, we are concerned about his ineffectiveness late in the year. We want to see him improve but if he has hit a wall (Hypothetically Speaking Here) we want to see the best guy out there to manage the team.

I am yet to see anyone rationally suggest that Pryor start at QB in this thread. Hell, haven't seen anything like it. What I see is a lot of people wanting to see Boeckman improve and take the leap to the next level neccessary of a championship QB, specifically in terms of being cool under pressure.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I don't see how a QB having more difficulty against better competition could be called "regression". Better competition will make your whole team look worse.

It is when you play worse at the end of the season than you did earlier. And, if your QB cannot step his game up to the level of competition, then he has no business being the QB. I don't care if you play three NFL teams in a row...two TDs (one being a gimme at the end of the game) and six INTs is not acceptable.

 

[jwinslow]

I don't see how a QB having more difficulty against better competition could be called "regression". Better competition will make your whole team look worse.

What about PSU? I'd easily put their D up with UW & UM, and in the same ballpark as ILL. There was certainly regression from that lights out performance to the later ones.

Good thing is only a few of the 18+ future draftees will hear their names called tomorrow, so Boeckman can take that common step after year 1 and distance himself from late 07.

I am yet to see anyone rationally suggest that Pryor start at QB in this thread. Hell, haven't seen anything like it. What I see is a lot of people wanting to see Boeckman improve and take the leap to the next level neccessary of a championship QB, specifically in terms of being cool under pressure.

If anyone's guilty of premature hyperbole, it's Taos... and he's throwing all of us under the bus :p