Now, it's time for the finale -- QUARTERBACKS. As we all should know, a quarterback can make or break a team. A good one elevates the play of those around him, while the bad ones make up for others' weaknesses.
Take Tom Brady. If you put that cast of receivers last season with basically any other quarterback, the offense -- and team -- is doomed. I mean, Julian Edelman was their No. 1 receiver! Now take the Packers. With Aaron Rodgers, they're one of the best teams in the league. Then when he went down with a broken collarbone, the team collapsed and just barely snuck into the playoffs.
I know these are NFL examples, but the same principles apply at the college level as well. We can even look at ourselves. After re-watching the Miami game (check out my notes here), I wholeheartedly believe we win that game with basically any DI quarterback -- except David Watford.
Watford's play was flat out embarrassing last season. The saddest part was -- we had reason to believe that he could succeed. While he was nothing special during his true freshman season, the thought was he had matured during his redshirted second year. Now entering his third season as a redshirt sophomore, Watford was anointed by Marines as the team's best leader. The coaches were praising his zip on the ball as well as his elusiveness in the pocket.
But not all transpired as we hoped. Yes, Watford could throw the ball on a rope. But he averaged like 3-yards per attempt! When he did throw it downfield, if it wasn't sailing over a receiver's head, then it was into the hands of a defender. And don't even get me started about his legs. The only time we saw him run was after he threw a pick and he was chasing down the ball carrier.
Let's break down Watford's 2013 numbers: 208 rushing yards (2.00 yards per carry); completion percentage of 57; only 5.16 yards per completion; need I continue?
A change needed to be made. Neither the program as a whole nor Mike London in particular could again stake their reputation on the Hampton signal caller.
So as no surprise to anyone who watched a spring practice, the Jesup, Georgia southpaw Greyson Lambert was given the reins to the offense. He was the clear choice -- make no mistake about it. But it was not an easy choice. By benching Watford, London has admitted he failed, again, at the quarterback position. From Rocco to Sims and now Watford, something tumultuous has always gone wrong.
Can Lambert break the trend? London certainly hopes so. If not, London's out -- it's that simple. You can add up win totals all you want, but everyone in the athletics office wants to believe in London, and they have given and will continue to give London every opportunity to save himself. Even if we manage just four or five wins in 2014, if Lambert shows progress, I bet London stays.
No pressure, Greyson. You only have the jobs of the entire staff on your shoulders.
Quarterback likely starter: Greyson Lambert
For the sake of uniformity, I am keeping "likely starter" in the title. But Lambert is the guy. No if's, and's, or but's. Except for an unforeseen injury, No. 11 will take the first snap for the orange and blue against UCLA.
While Lambert is still very much an unknown, he at least has pedigree on his side. He was a four-star recruit by Scout -- the No. 7 QB recruit in the class of 2012. While Rivals didn't think so much of Lambert (three-stars), big schools and their scouts were still very impressed. He had offers from Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Clemson, South Carolina, and many, many more schools. Thankfully, he chose the Cavaliers.
Still, potential means nothing until it produces results. That's what Lambert will have to do in 2014.
Lambert's 2014 season was a bit of a roller coaster -- a roller coaster that in no way predicts future success or failure. He appeared in seven games -- all in mop-up duty except for Virginia Tech. But let's be honest -- even though we were down just 10 points when Lambert entered the Tech game, he had no chance to succeed. The experience was valuable, but you simply cannot take anything away-- good or bad -- from garbage time snaps.
While his play was shaky last season, there was no doubt Lambert was the best quarterback on the field in 2014 spring ball. While he did throw two interceptions in the spring game, you could still tell he was the guy. He stood strong in the pocket and showed off his poise and arm talent. My favorite play of the day was the back shoulder throw to Kyle Dockins for a touchdown. Lambert showed great touch and great accuracy -- neither of which Watford has ever displayed.
And as if there was any doubt Lambert was the man, his nod for captain sealed the coffin shut for Watford. Sophomore's rarely get elected captain. So when one does -- and it's your quarterback of all positions -- the man's gonna start. The vote puts added pressure on Lambert, but it also should give him a huge confidence boost.
In Lambert the team trusts.
Depth
First, let's start with the obvious -- David Watford.
We know all too much about the redshirt junior. His play was sporadic to say the least when he spelled Michael Rocco in 2011. We thought he would improve; he didn't.
Yes, obviously we would have liked a better result from Watford, but I want to be careful to not put too much blame on the man for our season. Ultimately, the coaching staff expected him to improve. Well, he did not. And that's okay. Not every player is going to develop -- it's a sad truth.
The coaching staff needs to know when players have reached their peak. Unless Lambert was truly terrible in practice last season, Watford should have been benched. I know the staff was being careful about flopping quarterbacks again. They wanted to show Watford that he was their guy. But at some point London has to do the best thing for the team and make a switch. You could see the hints at the end of the season -- London said Lambert would play against Virginia Tech. But it was too little to late.
Still, in terms of a back-up QB, Watford has everything you want. He's started 12 games in his career -- that's rare for a back-up at any position. Also, Watford has legs (in terms of straight-line speed, there are few that can hang with Watford). When a back-up QB can come in and pose a threat in the run game, it adds a whole other dimension to the offense that the defense isn't prepared for (see Mike Vick for the Eagles or even Tarvaris Jackson for the Vikings way back when).
So in short, I don't want Watford starting, and we all know why. Inaccurate, hesitant, etc., etc. But if Lambert goes down, Watford should be able to carry the offense for the rest of the game or however long it may take.
But for me at least, there is still a conundrum at the back-up quarterback position. Watford wasn't given sole possession of the job on the post spring depth chart. No, he's sharing it with an "or" with rising sophomore Matt Johns.
Now to most this may seem silly. Johns has only actually taken snaps at QB in one game -- VMI. And he didn't even attempt a pass. So why would you want him over Watford as Lambert's back-up? For me, it's because he played better in spring practices. It's that simple.
The former three star product clearly outperformed Watford in the practices I attended. At least to me, it wasn't even close. It was clear that Watford has more arm strength and "intangibles" (put whatever weight you want on those), but Johns moved the offense better than Watford. Johns did nothing special -- he mostly was hitting check-down guys (although he had a nice ball that sailed 50 or so yards on a deep touchdown to Darius Jennings in one practice). But Johns just had better pocket presence; he stands upright and keeps his eyes downfield. Watford has always seemed to keep moving backwards in the pocket, affecting his accuracy and confidence.
So the question becomes this: do you want your back-up QB to be the athletic guy with way more experience, or do you want him to be the guy that's a more polished passer? Personally, I'll take the latter. If Johns would throw a good ball here and there but seemed rattled in the pocket, then I would take Watford all day. But Johns just had a certain calmness -- perhaps even more so than Lambert.
Ultimately, I see Watford winning the No. 2 job for one simple reason -- he's from Hampton, Va, the same area where London recruits so heavily. Johns is from Pennsylvania, so London has fewer connections to maintain. It sounds artificial, but I would be shocked if Watford isn't the No. 2 guy. Even though Johns outperformed him in spring ball.
Fourth on the post-spring depth chart is redshirt freshman Brendan Marshall. The former three star prospect adds good depth at the position, but he has yet to show much at practice. To be honest, I don't even remember noticing him in one practice I attended. And I'm 99% sure he didn't even take a snap in the spring game.
I read this piece on Streaking the Lawn the other day endorsing Marshall's status as a future potential starter. Basically the article says do not overlook the Maryland product. But while Marshall does have ideal size (6'6"; 230 pounds) and a winning pedigree at Our Lady of Good Counsel (as the article pointed out), I just don't ever see Marshall taking meaningful snaps.
When you break it down by year, it just seems very, very unlikely. Lambert is only a sophomore, so if he succeeds, we have a three-year starter. If he doesn't, Johns is a sophomore as well, and he's better thought of than Marshall -- and deservedly so. So once Lambert and Johns are gone, Marshall is a senior. But then we have highly touted Corwin "Turtle" Cutler who will have had three years to develop. And don't forget about Nick Johns, our class of 2015 QB recruit.
Sorry Brendan, but I have a tough time buying Streaking the Lawn's endorsement.
So that takes us to Corwin Cuter aka Turtle. Cutler was a huge get for us -- he was a four-star recruit by ESPN and the No. 21 QB in the class of 2013. Scout gave him three stars.
Cutler was supposed to enroll last season, but a devastating knee injury that involved tears to his ACL, PLC, LCL, and meniscus in his left knee forced him to change his plans. He played last season at Fork Union and now is supposedly full go about two years after the catastrophic injury.
There has been a lot of hype surrounding the Virginia Beach native for quite some time, but I want to be quick to curtail the optimism that Cutler is a program saving type of player. Yes, he was a big recruit from a local area. But other than that, why are we drinking the Kool-Aid? Cutler has yet to play a collegiate snap. And he's yet to play a snap of truly meaningful football since his knee injury.
I'm not bashing the kid -- he could turnout to be pretty damn good. But let's calm down for at least a year or two. Turtle will redshirt 2014 (at least he better... I'm talking to you Mike London). If Lambert plays well, then Cutler might not even compete for the starting gig until 2017 -- Turtle's junior season.
So if Lambert struggles, perhaps there's another open competition at QB next season in which Cutler will participate. But if Lambert shows decent progress, we might be waiting another two years for our taste of Turtle.
So with that, we have five scholarship quarterbacks. Walk-on QB's Joe Spaziani (Fr.) and Andrew Mackay (RS Fr.) are on the roster, but unless a situation like what happened at Maryland a few years back goes down (all scholarship QB's were lost for the season to injury so a converted linebacker moved bacl to QB), these guys will never play.
Conclusion
Mike London is going on his fifth season in Charlottesville. So this year will mark the fifth season that our quarterback situation is still a question mark. This cannot be the case if you want to win games.
Remember last season when Mike London and offensive coordinator/QB coach Steve Fairchild went all in on David Watford early in summer camp? They were trying to settle the QB issue once and for all. I liked the idea of picking a guy early, but they chose the wrong guy.
At least that's what London hopes. If he just chose the wrong guy, then Lambert might be able to come in and not only take us to a bowl game, but also probably save London's head coaching career (if London fails in 2014, would anyone ever hire him again as a head coach?).
But of course, nothing's that simple. What if there is no guy on the roster that can lead our team? What if we simply don't have "the guy"? Or should I say: What if London never recruited "the guy"?
It's the question we're all wondering. After all, it will decide whether we muddle in the lower tier of the college football ranks or whether we can go bowling.
And all this falls on Greyson Lambert. We don't have the star power on offense where a running back or receiver can flat out burn a defense -- at least not yet (maybe Smoke in a year?). So if the offense -- and hence the team -- is going to succeed, it's because Lambert plays like an upper tier ACC quarterback.
Is this a lot to ask of a sophomore? Yes. Too much? We simply won't know until probably late October. The schedule isn't doing him any favors, but if anyone can handle the heat, it's Lambert. He's a captain. He has some game experience. He has all the physical tools.
It's really just a matter of whether or not it all comes together. And Mike London's guess is as good as mine on this one.
In Greyson we trust... At lest for 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment