QB Todd Boeckman (official thread)

[MililaniBuckeye]

I'm excited about Boekmans performance. 180+ yards, 2 TD's, no turnovers, only 4 incompletions...... in only half of a game. He underthrew a guy in the flat and missed another guy. Big deal. Great game for TB

He also missed (as in failed to see) several wide-open WRs, including the one where he eventually overthrew Hartline in the endzone on 3rd down. Against a team like YSU, it was good performance, but Todd still has some areas for improvement (he started showing flashes of "happy feet"). However, if he plays at USC like he did the second half at Washington last year, I think he'll be more than OK.

 

[Oh8ch]

Bringing in ANY young offensive weapon energizes a team. Especially with the hype Pryor had(has) his raw talent, and wanting to see that translate onto the field.

What the fans want to see and what the players want to see are often two very different things. In all the interviews I have seen with OSU players this fall I have yet to hear from a player who did not feel that Boeckman was the man. I doubt all the upperclassmen on this team who have played with Todd for four and five years would be "energized" by seeing him on the bench. That Pryor is the better athlete there can be no doubt. Nor can it be questioned that Boeckman is - and will continue to be - the more seasoned and mature leader.

There was a red zone possession toward the South end zone in the first half. On one play, Herron was wide open in the right flat (this wasn't visible on any TV shots); Boeckman was scrambling but didn't see him, and threw incomplete into the back of the end zone.

Herron was not the only one open on that play. The play was running in the opposite direction and Herron would have been difficult to see - but this is a situation where you would like to think a sixth year player would have found him - unless Herron wasn't supposed to be there.. (I am anxious to watch that particular play again this evening. In fact I will pay particular attention to all FIVE of Boeckman's incompletions.)

 

[jimotis4heisman]

He also missed (as in failed to see) several wide-open WRs, including the one where he eventually overthrew Hartline in the endzone on 3rd down. Against a team like YSU, it was good performance, but Todd still has some areas for improvement (he started showing flashes of "happy feet"). However, if he plays at USC like he did the second half at Washington last year, I think he'll be more than OK.

first of, very good post. this is how you can responsible say something without bashing or being overly negative. the tone of this post is very productive in making a point without even bordering on bashing.

also mili if youre thinking of the same play i am, watch that one again. the te was open and hartline tipped a ball that would have been a nearly perfect throw. from my spot it looked like the ball would have dropped right to the te who was open, hartline jumped and knocked the ball up in the air, something hes been known to do more than once. im not a big fan at all of wrs, knocking balls up in the air unless its hail mary, catch it or bat it down, save the poession

 

[Wingate1217]

He also missed (as in failed to see) several wide-open WRs, including the one where he eventually overthrew Hartline in the endzone on 3rd down. Against a team like YSU, it was good performance, but Todd still has some areas for improvement (he started showing flashes of "happy feet"). However, if he plays at USC like he did the second half at Washington last year, I think he'll be more than OK.

Hopefully as the old adage goes the most improvement is from the first to second game.....

 

[Buckeye_in_Cali]

It was a good game for Todd. Solid numbers, no picks, had that beauty of a strike to Robo near the end of the first half. How quickly some of us forget how often the QBs were being shuffled in and out during various series. Had to have been tough to really get a rhythm going, which is more than likely what the staff were trying to simulate with YSU as well as getting everyone reps (how are you all going to perform when rhythm is hard to establish, no comfort zone). From that standpoint, I'd say Todd played well. It was a good game from a confidence standpoint, with enough things to work on peppered in to maintain that hunger to improve. Sanchez was on the radio the other day, seems like a gracious guy. He mentioned several throws he wanted back, throws the receivers wanted back, but I can't help but think how difficult it is to self-assess after a big game like that vs. Todd who can look at the film and really take it to Ohio with the corrections. From purely a rep standpoint I'd also rather be in Todd's position being able to go to more of the playbook this Sat. vs. waiting it out for 2 weeks until the showdown in LA.

my 2 cents.
:osu:

 

[Jaxbuck]

Jeff Amey from the Ozone appears to have some of the same doubts about TB voiced by some on here.

Quarterbacks

There were two main questions about the quarterbacks going into this season. One, has Todd Boeckman progressed from last season? Would we see the decisive leader of the first half of last season, or the one that struggled through the last four games? Second, how long until we saw Terrell Pryor, and how much time will he be getting in the offense?
Neither one of these questions was definitively answered, but we got some indication of which directions the answers will probably go.
First, while Boeckman had a quietly efficient day passing the ball, there wasn?t anything I saw that said that he has gotten appreciably better in any of his weak areas from last year. His release seems painfully slow at times, and his tendency to throw his deep ball into coverage is still there (minus the very nice deep ball he threw to Brian Hartline in the first quarter). He might get away with those throws against Youngstown State and lower level Big 10 teams, but those will be more likely to be picks against the likes of USC.
I?m starting to be of the opinion that Boeckman is what he is and we shouldn?t expect much more out of him. He generally makes good decisions and usually seems in command of the team on the field. He will probably never be a superstar, but in this offense he probably never really needed to be (depending on Beanie?s health...we?ll get to that later). On a positive note, he actually did keep his eyes downfield when flushed in the pocket in this game, something he rarely did last season.

I know people get bent out of shape when you question Todd but whatever, I'm selling until I see him perform well @ USC.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

also mili if youre thinking of the same play i am, watch that one again. the te was open and hartline tipped a ball that would have been a nearly perfect throw. from my spot it looked like the ball would have dropped right to the te who was open, hartline jumped and knocked the ball up in the air, something hes been known to do more than once.

Yep, same play. When I watched the replay from the view from behind Boeckman, right when Boeckman started rolling right, Hartline broke wide open going across the endzone. Had Boeckman threw it immediately it was a sure TD. It seemed like it took Boeckman about 2-3 steps to decide to throw and by that time a defender was coming across from the other direction in the front part of the end zone which forced Boeckman to throw high to get the ball over him. And by that time the TE (Ballard?) was coming from opposite of Hartline in the back of the endzone, so from a distance it appeared he could have been throwing to either one.

 

[martinss01]

also mili if youre thinking of the same play i am, watch that one again. the te was open and hartline tipped a ball that would have been a nearly perfect throw.

yep, that was definitely intended for ballard who imo makes that catch. only problem is i think he makes the catch out of bounds. if you watch it again you see his hands up for the catch and his right foot comes down first about a foot out of bounds. so even if hartline doesn't attempt his best cb impression thats still going to be an incomplete pass.

what i liked about the play was that he put the ball where only his guy had a shot at it. it was either going to be a td or an incompletion. what i didn't like about it was that herron was very open. i can't say for certain because i have never really took the time to really watch his progressions. but im not certain he goes to his safety valve under the right circumstances consistently.

i heard the announcers talking about throwing the deep ball short as to not "underthrow the layup". am i the only one that really dislikes this idea? personally im of the school of thought that you put the ball where only your guy can get it. i don't ever want to put up a 50/50 ball. i just don't like those odds. maybe its just me, but id rather over throw the deep ball and have a 30% chance of completion with a 0% chance of int than underthrow and have a 50% chance of a pick.

 

[buckeyes_rock]

i heard the announcers talking about throwing the deep ball short as to not "underthrow the layup". am i the only one that really dislikes this idea? personally im of the school of thought that you put the ball where only your guy can get it. i don't ever want to put up a 50/50 ball. i just don't like those odds. maybe its just me, but id rather over throw the deep ball and have a 30% chance of completion with a 0% chance of int than underthrow and have a 50% chance of a pick.

Yeah I agree that you don't want to overthrow a guy who's wide open. I mean if Hartline has his guy burnt by 5 yards, then you certainly don't want to "miss the layup." But when the CB has tight coverage, underthrowing the ball only gives the defender a chance to make a play too. So it's probably fine against OU or YSU, but USC's DBs are great athletes and they're very capable of going up and getting it away from our WRs.

I tend to think that if the team is in clear control of the football game, then sure...go ahead and take some shots like that. But against a good team, it just doesn't seem to be a great decision. I'd tend to agree that you'd want TB to throw it where it's either our guy that gets it or nothing. Just my opinion.

 

[Magua]

You'd think that alot of Buckeye fans would come to appreciate Todd Boeckman a little more if they were to watch some other games around the country.

Anyone here watch the Vtech/ECU Game? The UT/UCLA game? South Carolina/NC State game? Pitt even. There are so many teams out there that have absolutely dreadful play at the QB position, and many of them would have very good teams if they could get decent, consistent QB play(SoCar, UT, and Vtech especially. all have solid defenses and playmakers minus QB). Might not lump UT in that category just yet as Crompton didn't really have much help from his Oline.

Anyways, just wish people would realize that even though Todd may make some mistakes here and there and miss some people here and there, we have to remember these are college athletes playing arguably the toughest position in sports with so much pressure on them to do good every single game.

 

[matcar]

You'd think that alot of Buckeye fans would come to appreciate Todd Boeckman a little more if they were to watch some other games around the country.

Anyone here watch the Vtech/ECU Game? The UT/UCLA game? South Carolina/NC State game? Pitt even. There are so many teams out there that have absolutely dreadful play at the QB position, and many of them would have very good teams if they could get decent, consistent QB play(SoCar, UT, and Vtech especially. all have solid defenses and playmakers minus QB). Might not lump UT in that category just yet as Crompton didn't really have much help from his Oline.

Anyways, just wish people would realize that even though Todd may make some mistakes here and there and miss some people here and there, we have to remember these are college athletes playing arguably the toughest position in sports with so much pressure on them to do good every single game.

We don't appreciate our QB play being compared to the likes of those of the teams mentioned above. So there's little desire for us to be appreciative of the fact that Todd played better than those mediocre players. We're trying to win the National Championship, not somehow stay in the top 25. So our expectations of Todd are greater. He can do it...he's shown he can, but he's got to do it consistently and against teams that will pressure him in the pocket and with excellent coverage. Until he does that, I can see why folks are guarded.

Personally, I thought Todd made pretty good decisions with only a few exceptions, but the real test comes in 2 weeks. He must pass that test!

 

[Onebuckfan]

We don't appreciate our QB play being compared to the likes of those of the teams mentioned above. So there's little desire for us to be appreciative of the fact that Todd played better than those mediocre players. We're trying to win the National Championship, not somehow stay in the top 25. So our expectations of Todd are greater. He can do it...he's shown he can, but he's got to do it consistently and against teams that will pressure him in the pocket and with excellent coverage. Until he does that, I can see why folks are guarded.

Personally, I thought Todd made pretty good decisions with only a few exceptions, but the real test comes in 2 weeks. He must pass that test!

You nailed it!!

 

[ScarletNGry]

Yeah I agree that you don't want to overthrow a guy who's wide open. I mean if Hartline has his guy burnt by 5 yards, then you certainly don't want to "miss the layup." But when the CB has tight coverage, underthrowing the ball only gives the defender a chance to make a play too. So it's probably fine against OU or YSU, but USC's DBs are great athletes and they're very capable of going up and getting it away from our WRs.

There is also the school of thought that the underthrown deep ball favors the more athletic WR. That is a classic pass play when the corner has one on one coverage deep and is in the WR hip pocket to throw the ball a bit short and let your athletic WR adjust to the ball while the corner has their back to the ball. Often times this will result in a pass interference call against the defense.

I agree with most that I like to see the QB put a lot of air under the ball and let the WR go get it. Those are the ones that when the WR get to the ball they often streak down the sideline for the nice TD.

I hope everyone else realizes that some of the interceptions that Todd threw last year were not 100% his fault. Yes he made some bad decisions and threw some bad balls but I cannot tell you how many times our WR did not help him out. That could be they did not get any separation, or simply did not come back for the ball. We have to expect our bigger WR to be more agressive and do a better job going to get the ball. Some of those interceptions Todd threw were just a matter of the CB making a better play on the ball than our WR did. I put some of the blame on those to the WR for not finishing a play.

Any WR coach will tell you that a WR also needs to become a DB on a bad throw and do whatever it takes to knock it down. I don't think we saw that last year with new WR and a new QB.

 

[Dryden]

An abbreviated history of OSU's QB-play the past 12 years:

Let's see ...

When Stanley Jackson was playing we needed Joe Germaine's decision making and his arm, unless, of course, Joe Germaine was playing, in which case we were certainly better off with Stanley Jackson's vision and mobility. Oh well. No biggie. It's not like that shuffle didn't cost us any national championships or anything.

1998 came and went. Germaine's year. Capped by stomping Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl [who, completely off topic, were obviously not performing up to expectations under RC Slocum. Good for them they canned his ass in 2002, their program's really gotten over the hump since then].

So it was with great anticipation we turned the page and closed that chapter of OSU history, knowing Bellisari would be 'the guy,' and the only guy, in 1999.

In late August 1999, Cooper, as expected, nipped the thing in the bud and named, uh ... Austin Moherman the starter for the Kick-Off Classic against Miami. It was Moherman's team, for a quarter, until Coop sent Bellisari out there for the second. Bellisari, it was reported, was very popular amongst his teammates, and thats got to account for something. Besides, it was a close QB competition all off-season long, and Bellisari had received more reps as Germaine's backup the year before anyway.

Well, that didn't work out so well, so it would eventually be Moherman's team, until he played, at which point it became evident that Bellisari was the guy for the job all along.

Oh well, at least we didn't have to deal with that crap for like, three whole seasons or anything, because it went out the window for good when (1) Jim Tressel took over, ending the ridiculous parade of QB controversies under Cooper, and (2) Craig Krenzel beat Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2001. Now Krenzel was clearly the guy, until the next game, when he stunk up the joint and had to be relieved by Bellisari to save face in another bowl loss to South Carolina. Bellisari was a team captain, after all.

All water under the bridge though. It was Craig Krenzel's job now, until he had the audacity to play poorly in early 2003. Clearly, we'd won the national title in spite of Craig Krenzel, not because of him, so his injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise since the offense would really take off under the guidance of Scott McMullen. That was a good idea, until Bowling Green gave us a scare, at which point we couldn't get Krenzel back fast enough. Then Krenzel threw those picks against Michigan, in which case we needed McMullen. No wait, shit -- I meant Krenzel. Who the hell was that pass intended for, Craig? Put McMullen in there!

Whew! Thank God all the alternating QB nonsense finally ended after 2003! 'Cause it was Justin Zwick time! Or Zee-Wick, according to the DC of NC State. Oh, and how about Troy Smith rocking the boat complaining about playing opportunities and his use in the offense coming out of spring camp? Holy crap, the nerve of that kid! But I guess he's kind of right to say something about it too, because the coaches were morons, giving him the no-scramble order in the Spring game; making him wear the no-contact jersey; forcing him to become a pure passer and not a scrambler! How the hell was Troy Smith ever going to win a Heisman when the coaches were shoe-horning him into being a pass first QB? The whole thing was just unworkable. Absurd!

At least 2004 finally turned out to be the QB-controversy free year, and the nonsense of OSU fans booing their own QBs finally stopped with the Spring Game in 2005 ...

 

[generaladm]

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