Maggard lettin fans have it over Johnson
- Thread starter ulismyman
- Start date
I am OK with this... this kid has WON 3 DANG GAMES by not screwing up too bad. He is like a true Frosh QB out there in SEC - he has been exactly what he is supposed to be .....A backup who wins "winnable games" but our fan base is acting like our dang politicians - EITHER OR and no middle ground - too much hatred and vitrol by our fan base reflects horribly on BBN
Who exactly is ripping this kid? I know and talk to a lot of UK fans and most see him for what he is...a JUCO transfer/backup QB. Nobody is expecting him to set the world on fire and he has been more than serviceable to this point. Hell, he has been one of the best QB's at UK to step on the field since Stoops arrived. He is a more effective overall leader than anything Towles or Barker showed in their time at the helm. He has a long way to go in order to be a quality SEC QB but he brings a dimension to our offense that makes it tough to defend with the quality backs we already have. He's all we have right now and I am damn glad to have him.
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It's not so much a knock on SJ himself. I am just critical that in year 4 we didn't have another serviceable QB on the roster besides Barker BEFORE we signed SJ. Johnson is doing the best he can, and we have won the games we should have. It may have been out of everyone's control, but for so many guys to bounce seems odd.
All I know is that the transfer from Cinn that followed Gran and Hen here must not be good. Our coaches thought the best option was to not use a QB over giving him snaps in the second half - ouch
All I know is that the transfer from Cinn that followed Gran and Hen here must not be good. Our coaches thought the best option was to not use a QB over giving him snaps in the second half - ouch
two QB transfers after the same season would put any program in somewhat of a bind.
The transfer from Cincy was a walkon at Cincy, he just moved over to us when the coaches did. He will never be a factor unless things get dire.
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Ulis is, so he starts a thread about Maggard ripping fans over SJ......
Were you on the board on Saturday?
Texas A&M says this is nonsense.
Folks around the program need to chill TF out with ripping the fans. Christ.
He is playing "ok" and doing what is asked. Vandy dropped 3 picks in the first half alone which could have change the entire game had any of those been caught.
Maggard needs to hush in general.
Maggard needs to hush in general.
While I can see your point, this board was 1000% toxic Saturday night. The unfortunate truth is that there's just a portion of the fan base that won't be happy until Stoops/MB are gone, even if we go 9-3. Sad, but true.
It's a message board. 85% of every message board in America is toxic.
Texas A&M had a transfer come in that was able to start, we didn't. Big difference.
What country did he move from? Perhaps we need to look into more international recruiting?
:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Don't disagree with the concept but 9-3 is a stretch as far as Stoops goes. A lot of ppl would eat crow and cautiously get back on board for next year which is reasonable. But I don't think anyone can blame people for being tired of Mitch. He's very condescending towards the fan base and has continually made poor hiring decisions based on whether he likes a candidate or not in both primary sports leading to passing up on the better candidate.
I hope Stoops works out but Leach and Petrino were both better, realistic hires at the time. If you have an issue with the legality issues Petrino out his former employer in then that is fine. But Leach was the no brainer. His "scandal" came out as being completely unfounded. He's just not MB's type of guy.
Well, Towles and Phillips transferred which put us in the position we're in now as far as depth goes. You can't have 8 Qbs on the roster. Had they stayed Johnson would have never been needed to play. Those 2 aren't great, but probably would fit into the "serviceable" category you mentioned. Those 2 leaving hurt. There might be other reasons why they left, but I suspect it was because they saw that Barker was going to be the starter and they wanted to go somewhere that would allow them to get some PT. We can place some blame on the staff for not being able to keep them, but I don't think it was ever the intention of the staff to only have 1 trusted QB.
So UMM are we supposed to forget your monumentally stupid threads about benching Johnson in favor of Hoak?
The issues with SJ are more of the mechanical variety not of the talent variety. Talent wise, he isn't Tim Coach but he has a good enough arm to win a lot of games and adds the extra dimension of his running ability.
What I think the coaches need to do is give him more RPO opportunities and move the pocket for him. His height restricts his view so he isn't a good pocket passer. If they can design some plays that work more to his strength and teach him to look off safeties (not telegraph passes) he can do the job. But as pointed out by several of us already, he is almost like a true freshmen in a sense, as he has never played at this level before, so he has a good upside IMO.
The critics of SJ seem to ignore the 55 yards of rushing he had in 10 carries, including one crucial first down he got by stretching the ball out, which had it failed could have changed the course of the game.
What I think the coaches need to do is give him more RPO opportunities and move the pocket for him. His height restricts his view so he isn't a good pocket passer. If they can design some plays that work more to his strength and teach him to look off safeties (not telegraph passes) he can do the job. But as pointed out by several of us already, he is almost like a true freshmen in a sense, as he has never played at this level before, so he has a good upside IMO.
The critics of SJ seem to ignore the 55 yards of rushing he had in 10 carries, including one crucial first down he got by stretching the ball out, which had it failed could have changed the course of the game.
I don't see 6-2 as much of a height restriction. That's decent, not great. I agree his good running offsets the passing deficiencies some.
These two weeks off will help him immensely. He just needs to get back to playing pitch and catch. His confidence took a hit. But I like the job he is doing and the poise he shows.
Steve Johnson is 3-1. Notre Dame is 2-4. Wonder what their fan base is saying and how did they get in the shape they are in?
Said in another thread SJ is 3-1. That one loss is to Bama in Tuscaloosa.
Just as important as the fact that he has a winning record as a starter is the fact that the team has found an identity with him, and they seem to be clicking together. Run heavy with a very good backfield, and supplement that with some qb run game.
SJ is no doubt very raw, but he is also very new not only to UK, but to big time P5 football. He is learning every game.
Kind of like Matt Roark vs UT. This bizzarro situation is oddly working. We need to roll with it.
If SJ has only 15 pass attempts a game with 7-8 completions, so be it.
Right now we have a run heavy offense with capable and productive runners at qb and rb(s). I wouldn't mind to see some power I and option. I think we have the personnel for it. Once in a while hit Conrad on some play action and roll SJ out on some waggle/bootlegs which he is more suited and comfortable with because it gets him out of the pocket with the option to run.
Just as important as the fact that he has a winning record as a starter is the fact that the team has found an identity with him, and they seem to be clicking together. Run heavy with a very good backfield, and supplement that with some qb run game.
SJ is no doubt very raw, but he is also very new not only to UK, but to big time P5 football. He is learning every game.
Kind of like Matt Roark vs UT. This bizzarro situation is oddly working. We need to roll with it.
If SJ has only 15 pass attempts a game with 7-8 completions, so be it.
Right now we have a run heavy offense with capable and productive runners at qb and rb(s). I wouldn't mind to see some power I and option. I think we have the personnel for it. Once in a while hit Conrad on some play action and roll SJ out on some waggle/bootlegs which he is more suited and comfortable with because it gets him out of the pocket with the option to run.
Johnson made some very nice throws in the NMSU game. Yes the competition was inferior, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Johnson's accuracy. He was on the money with several of his throws. So, while not a top QB, I think he does have the ability to fill in for us until Barker is able to play or until someone better shows up. He didn't have much chance in the Alabama game. But against Vandy, while he was pressured some, most of the time the OL gave him time to make throws. He just made awful throws, and after the pick-6 it got into his head. My point is that I think a big part of his problem now is mental and tensing up in passing situations. That caused many of his passes later in the game to be underthrown. But if his confidence could be restored and he is given a pass package with some relatively safe throws, as long as the running game doesn't completely shut down, he should be able to do just enough to keep the chains moving.
Never said we would go 9-3. I was using that as an excuse for some of the vocal minority who seem to be able to do nothing more than ***** and complain.
Other than one or two idiots who posted "SJ sucks", where is the hate?
I think we are all aware that his running has saved multiple drives the past few games.
Not sure why his throwing was so awful this past game but it was bad and open to discussion.
99% of the discussion is the worry that we could lose the next two winnable games without a passing threat resulting in no bowl game.
The very few that attack the kid himself are not even worthy of mention and those types of posts should be deleted.
He is what he is, a juco backup who was passed over at Grambling, not highly recruited out of juco, thrown into the SEC fire.
He has had some costly fumbles and terrible throws.
He has also made some very decent throws, managed the offense, made some good decisions on the read option, fought hard for yards and won games.
Mods should delete posts that attack the player instead of performance, otherwise game play should be available for open discussion.
I think we are all aware that his running has saved multiple drives the past few games.
Not sure why his throwing was so awful this past game but it was bad and open to discussion.
99% of the discussion is the worry that we could lose the next two winnable games without a passing threat resulting in no bowl game.
The very few that attack the kid himself are not even worthy of mention and those types of posts should be deleted.
He is what he is, a juco backup who was passed over at Grambling, not highly recruited out of juco, thrown into the SEC fire.
He has had some costly fumbles and terrible throws.
He has also made some very decent throws, managed the offense, made some good decisions on the read option, fought hard for yards and won games.
Mods should delete posts that attack the player instead of performance, otherwise game play should be available for open discussion.
If Phillips wanted serious PT he picked the wrong school. Thru 5 Montana games he's played in 2 completing 5 of 8 passes for 35 yards. While Montana is a nice lower division program, doubt a guy who can't play there can be of help to a SEC school.
Right the A&M transfer was the starting QB a couple of years ago when the Sooners pummeled Bama in the Sugar Bowl. He has plenty of Big time experience !!
yea that's his roster height, but Stoops said in his post game that he as 6-1, honestly he just doesn't even look that tall to me.
That's what we strive for, criticism is acceptable content, personal attacks on players and coaches are not, and violators will receive warnings.
Not questioning whether 85% is accurate or not, just curious as to why you think that's so?
Stephen Johnson needs a lot of work. Keep in mind, that Drew Barker got the majority of reps in the preseason. I think Johnson has played possibly the best two defenses he'll see the rest of the year in Bama and Vandy. Yes, he needs a lot of work on his passing game. I think the next two weeks are crucial to helping Johnson find his groove. The best thing to do will be to allow Johnson to hit the screen game to get him comfortable as well as Conrad over the middle or on the out route. Johnson has a nice arm, and once he finds his groove, I honestly think his upside is tremendous. Keep in mind folks, he's new to this level and Drew is on his 3rd year of playing SEC ball.
With that perspecitve Johnson is fine. He's 3-1 and keeping opposing defenses honest by his legs. He's giving us a chance and that's all I can ask
With that perspecitve Johnson is fine. He's 3-1 and keeping opposing defenses honest by his legs. He's giving us a chance and that's all I can ask
You do realize that 9, 8, heck even 6 or 7 would shut most people up.
Winning cures all ills and Stoops isn't getting it done. These 5 win seasons are for the birds because it keeps the program in limbo with half the fans saying get rid of him and the other half saying give him more time.
When the right coach is hired, it will be obvious by the results on the field and the bitching will stop, until then it is what it is. Try to have a little thicker skin.
I never once said that people shouldn't be upset. I was just pointing out that this board is insufferable at times and some of it simply comes down to a few certain posters will not be happy until Stoops and MB are gone. Until then EVERYTHING is negative, no matter what.
People were saying the same thing about Morgan Newton his first year as a starter.