2015-16 Ohio State Quarterback Discussion

[bukIpower]

I think Urban learned some very important lessons from his time at Florida... First I think he learned that he'd better recruit the QB position very hard because if you have someone as talented as Braxton (or in his UF days case, Tebow) go down or leave you cannot be dead in the water like Urban was once Tim left. Now he did have Cam Newton waiting to play once Tebow left but that ended with Cam's dismissal but I think Urban will always carry a great deal of QB's because as he once learned if you lose one to the NFL or Injury you cannot afford to lack talent there because it kills this offense.

Secondly, and this has nothing to do with the QB discussion so excuse me, but I feel Urban learned you MUST have a back bigger than 190-200 pounds. Yes, there's still places for speed on this team but you need someone like a Hyde, a Zeke, or a Weber (body style fits this mold at least) to churn out those tough yards.

It's rare for a team to obviously be as stacked as us at QB but I always see us trying to have this type of depth where 2-3 guys legitimately are good talented players.

 

[Honor&Glory]

As far as I know, nobody on this board has seen Brax's medical records or has inside knowledge regarding his recovery. Heck, I don't even know if anyone here's an orthopedic surgeon or otherwise has training that qualifies them to have an opinion. Yet there seem to be plenty of opinions regarding his future physical ability and durability. I'll just wait to see what happens.

To be fair the history and return to form rate of torn labrum surgery is pretty well documented. I'm 44. In my lifetime the only two successful return to form stories from this surgery is Drew Brees and Roger Clemens. And one of those was likely aided with PED's.
I'm not saying Brax can't or won't. But you can count me in the camp that is concerned based on the overall success rate of returning from this injury and surgery for throwing athletes.

Edit: found an online article in the last 5 years 36 MLB pitchers had the injury and surgery. Only 1 has returned to the bigs.

 

[jlb1705]

Every press conference Urban has he downplays the QB..PSU or WISC he didn't gush over the QB. He knows its a TEAM game and feels he can win with any QB on the roster or they wouldn't have been recruited. He treats the QB as one of 22 that's why there won't be a locker room problem. The QB and the TE are the same to him or at least that's what he projects to the team and media. UFM is playing chess while the media and fans play checkers.

I feel like this is a slight adjustment to his time at Florida. JTB, Braxton, and Cardale are all super talented, but the offense is not dependent on one of them to be really good or great. With the power run game they've established through Hyde and Elliott and the other skill players they've stockpiled, the offense can take a hit at the QB position and they will be able to adjust more than they could at Florida.

I think part of the QB de-empahsis this season stemmed from the injury situation. Meyer did everything he could to take pressure off of the redshirt freshman Barrett, and later off the inexperienced Jones.

I think it's also a reaction to the ending of his tenure at Florida. I've been posting about this in other threads, but to me it all goes back to losing Cam Newton at Florida. A lot of his disillusionment with the SEC and his reaction to it after coming to Ohio State seems to stem from that. Imagine being stuck with John Brantley while seeing your guy win a Heisman and NC at another school in the same conference. I would want to make sure that never happened to me again by making the team less QB-centric and also by recruiting at least one quality QB every season to try and make sure there is always somebody to take the reins.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I think part of the QB de-empahsis this season stemmed from the injury situation. Meyer did everything he could to take pressure off of the redshirt freshman Barrett, and later off the inexperienced Jones.

I think it's also a reaction to the ending of his tenure at Florida. I've been posting about this in other threads, but to me it all goes back to losing Cam Newton at Florida. A lot of his disillusionment with the SEC and his reaction to it after coming to Ohio State seems to stem from that. Imagine being stuck with John Brantley while seeing your guy win a Heisman and NC at another school in the same conference. I would want to make sure that never happened to me again by making the team less QB-centric and also by recruiting at least one quality QB every season to try and make sure there is always somebody to take the reins.

Well to be fair, the best way to avoid the Cam Newton scenario is to not recruit Cam Newtons.

Instead just Recruit good players who aren't thieves.

 

[cincibuck]

Well to be fair, the best way to avoid the Cam Newton scenario is to not recruit Cam Newtons.

Instead just Recruit good players who aren't thieves.

Son of a preacher - must have looked like a safe bet at the time. I sense that the pressure to find game breakers is such that many coaches take a chance based on the premiss that they can they can rein the troublemakers in. Then there's Jimbo and his tight ship program, a modern day Boystown where the troubled kids learn how to turn their street smarts into playing time.

 

[pnuts34]

Son of a preacher - must have looked like a safe bet at the time. I sense that the pressure to find game breakers is such that many coaches take a chance based on the premiss that they can they can rein the troublemakers in. Then there's Jimbo and his tight ship program, a modern day Boystown where the troubled kids learn how to turn their street smarts into playing time.

If I recall, and feel free to correct me, but didn't Tress take in a number if kids with checkered pasts for that very reason? To bring them in, rein them in and allow them to mature into top caliber football players, and at the very least productive citizens

 

[Jaxbuck]

Son of a preacher - must have looked like a safe bet at the time. I sense that the pressure to find game breakers is such that many coaches take a chance based on the premiss that they can they can rein the troublemakers in. Then there's Jimbo and his tight ship program, a modern day Boystown where the troubled kids learn how to turn their street smarts into playing time.

If I recall, and feel free to correct me, but didn't Tress take in a number if kids with checkered pasts for that very reason? To bring them in, rein them in and allow them to mature into top caliber football players, and at the very least productive citizens

Probably more of a recruiting discussion but to be sure there is always a balancing act.

My point was directed more at the assertion of something somehow being done by the SEC that left a bad taste in Urb's mouth. The only SEC thing at play there was having a member institution like Auburn who would take a guy that was kicked out of another school for cheating on tests and stealing laptops.

but lets not get off track here.....

I think Jones is your starter to open fall camp and then it gets fun from there. Regardless, in Urban I trust.

 

[Woody1968]

Well to be fair, the best way to avoid the Cam Newton scenario is to not recruit Cam Newtons.

Instead just Recruit good players who aren't thieves.

Son of a preacher - must have looked like a safe bet at the time. I sense that the pressure to find game breakers is such that many coaches take a chance based on the premiss that they can they can rein the troublemakers in. Then there's Jimbo and his tight ship program, a modern day Boystown where the troubled kids learn how to turn their street smarts into playing time.

If I recall, and feel free to correct me, but didn't Tress take in a number if kids with checkered pasts for that very reason? To bring them in, rein them in and allow them to mature into top caliber football players, and at the very least productive citizens

It's always a calculated risk that you take. Plus there's always the chance that a kid may have shown questionable conduct before, but that information was not made available to the college coach. Keep in mind that most coaches at the HS level are educators first, and when kids get to college and the freedom that comes with it, they don't always have the one-on-one mentorships that they did in HS, where they were the star.

 

[cincibuck]

Probably more of a recruiting discussion but to be sure there is always a balancing act.

My point was directed more at the assertion of something somehow being done by the SEC that left a bad taste in Urb's mouth. The only SEC thing at play there was having a member institution like Auburn who would take a guy that was kicked out of another school for cheating on tests and stealing laptops.

but lets not get off track here.....

I think Jones is your starter to open fall camp and then it gets fun from there. Regardless, in Urban I trust.

Yep and on that track... ugggg, wouldn't want to be in Urban's shoes this fall. Based on my observations I'd call Braxton the best athlete and the most experienced, but he's yet to try and throw a pass in almost 6 months has he? If this were Tressel making the call I'd bet on Braxton IF he can throw. Tress seemed to me to always follow seniority rights until proven wrong. It's hard to ignore what Barret did last season. Not looking at records I'm guessing that he made fewer errors than Braxton and certainly had a better arm. There's also the chance that he may not be 100% when spring practice comes around. So how do you not play Cardale, who will probably get the bulk of the snaps in the spring, who comes in with so little playing time and is excellent in the three most important games of the year?

At the same time I can't see guys as competitive as JT and Brax willingly ride the pine... oh my. And what about Collier? What's that old curse, "May you live in interesting times."

 

[kujirakira]

Probably more of a recruiting discussion but to be sure there is always a balancing act.

My point was directed more at the assertion of something somehow being done by the SEC that left a bad taste in Urb's mouth. The only SEC thing at play there was having a member institution like Auburn who would take a guy that was kicked out of another school for cheating on tests and stealing laptops.

but lets not get off track here.....

I think Jones is your starter to open fall camp and then it gets fun from there. Regardless, in Urban I trust.

I think there could potentially be more to it than just that too... I don't like Florida fan base much, but both Florida and Georgia try to keep things on the up and up imo. Kids will do stupid stuff, but those programs aren't afraid to kick them off the team... where they quickly find their way onto Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, etc.
I don't think you'd find either those schools having a team vote on whether to let an infraction slide. Or their local PDs covering up crimes. Or claiming thousands of signatures aren't indicative of anything - Georgia wasn't afraid to suspend Gurley. And for that, they have my respect.

 

[Buckeneye]

I think there could potentially be more to it than just that too... I don't like Florida fan base much, but both Florida and Georgia try to keep things on the up and up imo. Kids will do stupid stuff, but those programs aren't afraid to kick them off the team... where they quickly find their way onto Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, etc.
I don't think you'd find either those schools having a team vote on whether to let an infraction slide. Or their local PDs covering up crimes. Or claiming thousands of signatures aren't indicative of anything - Georgia wasn't afraid to suspend Gurley. And for that, they have my respect.

Of all the coaches in the SEC, Richt comes across as a pretty classy guy. You don't really hear much bad out of the Georgia program and when you do, it usually involves a suspension or discipline.

 

[shiloh]

As a recent poster to BP just started watching the 2014 Spring Game video and Meyer was a prophet. This has probably been talked about the past (8) months, but Meyer said that Braxton not playing, this was before he was injured again, was probably a blessing in disguise as it gave him a chance to give both JT and CJ valuable playing time and a chance for the coaches to evaluate their talent.

Blessing in disguise indeed! ~ We need to go recruit a quarterback 'cause having (3) Heisman Trophy candidate qb's is never enough.

 

[TDunk]

Cardale will be the only healthy QB for the Spring game. He gets a leg up on everyone else. Braxton is a huge question mark with the shoulder. JT is the perfect blend between the two. I would hate to make the final decision, but I would say it is Cardale's to lose. JT will surely be pushing him though.

So a breakdown.

Athletic ability: Braxton (not even close)
Arm strength: Cardale (Again not close)
Leadership: Have to go JT
Read option: JT
Speed: Braxton
Accuracy: JT
Mechanics: Cardale or JT.
Intelligence: JT (game wise)
Release: Cardale or JT (I'm no expert though)
Height/Weight: Cardale.
Vision: JT (based off read/option and not down field reads. But he did seem to make the correct throws)

I expect Cardale to be the starter. But I would not be surprised to see JT pass him.

 

[MaxBuck]

My view is that Cardale may have the inside track for 2015, but JT will at worst be not far behind. Braxton has little chance for meaningful time behind center IMO, and if Torrance Gibson really wants to play collegiate QB he probably ought to go to Auburn rather than tOSU.

 

[Coqui]

Cardale will be the only healthy QB for the Spring game. He gets a leg up on everyone else. Braxton is a huge question mark with the shoulder. JT is the perfect blend between the two. I would hate to make the final decision, but I would say it is Cardale's to lose. JT will surely be pushing him though.

So a breakdown.

Athletic ability: Braxton (not even close)
Arm strength: Cardale (Again not close)
Leadership: Have to go JT
Read option: JT
Speed: Braxton
Accuracy: JT
Mechanics: Cardale or JT.
Intelligence: JT (game wise)
Release: Cardale or JT (I'm no expert though)
Height/Weight: Cardale.
Vision: JT (based off read/option and not down field reads. But he did seem to make the correct throws)

I expect Cardale to be the starter. But I would not be surprised to see JT pass him.

4th and 1 Cardale