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QB Justin Zwick (B1G Champion, National Champion)

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I don't buy the supporting one QB thing...players at this level are looking to their personal futures as well as that of the team. Guys will always have preferences on who plays based on friendships or personal assessments, but when the game is on, these guys just want to win.

Here is your $64,000 Question... "If Zwick comes out and has a dominating performance in the opener, does Smith regain the helm based on his past accomplishments or does he have to wait for his opportunity just like last year?
 
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osugrad21 said:
I don't buy the supporting one QB thing...players at this level are looking to their personal futures as well as that of the team. Guys will always have preferences on who plays based on friendships or personal assessments, but when the game is on, these guys just want to win.

Here is your $64,000 Question... "If Zwick comes out and has a dominating performance in the opener, does Smith regain the helm based on his past accomplishments or does he have to wait for his opportunity just like last year?
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If Zwick comes out in the Miami game and throws for 250 yards and 3 tds or something of that nature with NO turnovers, you can bet on who will be the starting QB.
 
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osugrad21 said:
I don't buy the supporting one QB thing...players at this level are looking to their personal futures as well as that of the team. Guys will always have preferences on who plays based on friendships or personal assessments, but when the game is on, these guys just want to win.

Here is your $64,000 Question... "If Zwick comes out and has a dominating performance in the opener, does Smith regain the helm based on his past accomplishments or does he have to wait for his opportunity just like last year?
Click to expand...
He has to wait to regain the helm. I'm pretty sure that fits with most Tressel history, plus the fact taht JT stuck with Zwick thru a lot of adversity... and only when Zwick got injured did Smith play. I think there's no more than a 5% chance Smith would regain the job if JZ is on fire against Miami.

JT loved Smith's improvement, but Zwick has done nothing wrong but struggle under tough circumstances. If Zwick builds on his Alamo Bowl game passing and is complemented by an average running game, then Smith rides the pine.

My $64000 question is what happens if Zwick is great but we cannot run the ball with a RB? Would we go back to Smith?

As for supporting one QB, I think players can adjust to a new QB, but there is also the consideration of the different playcalling on offense between Zwick/Smith as well as the fact that if Smith were the starter and got injured, the players would have to remind themselves that they won't be seeing a spiral for the rest of the game :)
 
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osugrad21 said:
I don't buy the supporting one QB thing...players at this level are looking to their personal futures as well as that of the team. Guys will always have preferences on who plays based on friendships or personal assessments, but when the game is on, these guys just want to win.

Here is your $64,000 Question... "If Zwick comes out and has a dominating performance in the opener, does Smith regain the helm based on his past accomplishments or does he have to wait for his opportunity just like last year?
Click to expand...
No.

Playing Texas at night is not the time to break in a new QB unless Zwick lays an egg against Miami.
 
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ScarletArrow said:
Playing Texas at night is not the time to break in a new QB unless Zwick lays an egg against Miami.
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Too bad we can't play UM in the 2nd game of the season. With missing 6 of their LB's and DB's (1 LB moved to DE), people might question our strength of schedule with how many yards we'd put up on them thru the air :)
 
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Are there any QB gurus here that can tell me why the ball looks like it slips out of Zwick's hand so often? He made a lot of good passes last year, so I know he has the ability to play the position. He even made some very impressive deep passes (Marshall comes to mind). However, it seemed like he was good for a couple "where-in-the-F$@#-is-that-ball-going" passes each game. It almost looked like the ball slipped out of his hand before the release point.

Does he have small hands? You know what they say about small hands......the ball slips out more, of course.
 
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I've always thought he had some smallish hands.

Dave Krieg's hands look bigger than Justins


krieg3.jpg


krieg30.jpg
 
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Hand-size isn't the issue judging by the photos. They each grip the ball differently and both have big hands. Smith lays his palm over the side of the ball and grips the ball almost in the middle. Zwick has been coached to hold the ball more from the point with probably just his ring and pinky finger over the laces and the index pretty much riding up by the point. Smith's going to have better looking passes and the ball is going to hang up sometimes which is actually helpful with his strong arm giving the receivers time to get under them.

Smith's motion and grip aren't textbook but he's explosive and they're not going to try to retool his release because he's quick but there is a good deal of wasted motion as he loops the ball down below his waist before bringing it up on the shoulder a lot (nobody has to be perfect, as Joe Montana and John Elway used to love to pat the ball and bring it down and up again, so who's going to argue with results- perfection would be more along the lines of Danny Marino and Dan Fouts and maybe even 1999 and 2000 Kurt Warner).

Zwick's arm is by no means weak as I imagine he can easily sling it a good 55 yards in the air without too much difficulty (you're usually not going to have time to throw it further than 40 yards as the most difficult pass is going to be the 12 yard out from the left hash to the right side of the field if you're right handed- right handers like to throw to the left and vice versa typically because they're stepping to the target with the left foot). It's not the positioning of his hands that's the problem the problem is his release looks almost like a golf swing with a a hitch. It's that hitch that gets him into trouble when he pauses on the back swing and that comes from probably getting conditioned that he's not getting enough time to throw the ball and I believe that by the Iowa game he had some shoulder issues (probably a boo boo on the rotator) that caused him to not come down on his follow through. With his grip you'll notice the fish hook on a good release where his index finger is pointing down to the ground and his pinky is up. He probably uses too much arm and not enough body on his bad throws and this I'm sure he's been told.

Chances are he was taught this technique for throwing by a QB coach and it's still not completely natural to him but it keeps the ball going over the shoulder and not batted down at the line a la the 6'5" Bernie who really only threw as though he were 5'11" due to his often low release. This is part of how I explain the sometimes ugly balls.

Zwick could improve by staying more compact in his motion and copying Smith's right elbow a little that Smith uses so well for leverage that also keeps his ball from sailing too much. Zwick really looked pretty good in the spring game last year where he seemed really loose and knew where every open guy was going to be and he seemed just like that again finally in the Alamo Bowl.

Edited: The College Ball is a bit fatter and shorter than the pro ball. The Pro Ball was built for throwing and the college ball almost seems built for rugby and kicking.
 
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WOW! Look at the first Zwick and first Smith pictures! It looks like Smith is holding a Nerf ball. What a huge difference.

Either way, I wouldn't know if that's the reason or not. Zwick needs to get the floaters under control.
 
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I think you guys answered my question I posted on another thread - Smith is suspended for Miami game?

Anyway, if Zwick lights up Miami, I think, in my mind, Smith and Zwick are on even ground, and will start duking it out for starter during practice. I might even support the two QB system (maybe) for a few games.

I think the problem with a two QB system is that there's no way a coach can be right. He starts one guy, who throws a touchdown, puts in the next guy, who throws an interception. We'd all be yelling, "what the flaming f#$% did you put the next guy in for?" Or, if the first guy throws the interception, the next guy throws the touchdown, and he puts the first guy back in, we'd be just as upset. If the coach picks a guy, he has a 50/50 chance of picking the right one.

With 50/50 odds, I'd pick Smith, right now.
 
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