SEC Quarterback Fear Factor
- Thread starter wildcatman26
- Start date
JMO, but I think a "scary" QB is a guy who can basically "beat you by himself". IOW, a QB that can lift an otherwise ordinary team to a higher level. By this standard, I would "exclude" QBs at the perennial SEC power programs on UKs schedule (AL, GA, FL and TN) from the scary QB discussion as those teams are pretty damn scary regardless of QB play. In recent years TN has been a shadow of the TN program that earned that "scary" distinction but now seems on the verge of re-establihing themselves.
So that leaves us with SC (Fear Factor 2), Vandy (F/F 3), MSU (F/F 3) and Mizzou (F/F 2.5). These are pedestrian teams. Is there a QB on their rosters that could make any of these teams "scary"?
My biggest argument here would be Drew Lock at Mizzou. Despite relatively meager statistics as Mauk's replacement, what times I saw Lock play I thought he had all the right stuff to be a much better than average QB. Maggard's write up about Lock suggests the same but yet he rates him only a F/F 2.5. He played as a t-FR last season on a turmoil laden team and posted numbers better than Vandy's Shurmur who was rated a F/F of 3.
It would have been interesting to see Maggard's thought about Barker in the same scariness context. My guess is that he would have been a F/F 3 especially with what should be a good group of receivers. I look at SC, Vandy and MSU as "average teams with average QBs" and, right now, really see no reason why the Cats cannot win those games at home. Mizzou is in the same category but that one is on the road and, IMO, with the "scariest" QB of those 4 teams.
I think this QB discussion supports the notion that a 6 win season is very doable for the Cats. JMO.
Peace
So that leaves us with SC (Fear Factor 2), Vandy (F/F 3), MSU (F/F 3) and Mizzou (F/F 2.5). These are pedestrian teams. Is there a QB on their rosters that could make any of these teams "scary"?
My biggest argument here would be Drew Lock at Mizzou. Despite relatively meager statistics as Mauk's replacement, what times I saw Lock play I thought he had all the right stuff to be a much better than average QB. Maggard's write up about Lock suggests the same but yet he rates him only a F/F 2.5. He played as a t-FR last season on a turmoil laden team and posted numbers better than Vandy's Shurmur who was rated a F/F of 3.
It would have been interesting to see Maggard's thought about Barker in the same scariness context. My guess is that he would have been a F/F 3 especially with what should be a good group of receivers. I look at SC, Vandy and MSU as "average teams with average QBs" and, right now, really see no reason why the Cats cannot win those games at home. Mizzou is in the same category but that one is on the road and, IMO, with the "scariest" QB of those 4 teams.
I think this QB discussion supports the notion that a 6 win season is very doable for the Cats. JMO.
Peace
I think a scary QB is one that requires you to alter you normal defensive alignment and game plan for. Of those that have been mentioned only Josh Dobbs stands out as a guy you really have to think about spying or doing other things to stop him.
Hate to say it but those Vols are going to be pretty tough this year IMO.
Hate to say it but those Vols are going to be pretty tough this year IMO.
I agree and really hate to say it, but think you are right about the Vols, as long as Dobbs is healthy. He goes down in first 3 games they may not make it to a bowl. Safe to say he is probably number 2 qb in the conference only behind Kelly at OM.
Dobbs is a very ordinary passer. Best bet to beat them may be to force him to throw. They're pimping their RB for Heisman so they'll look to run first.
Good post, I was wishing through the whole thing that he would throw Barker into the comparison.
A big problem with TU is not only can their QB run but which RB are they pushing for the Heisman, they have two that had five star ratings.
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I think that is a fair statement. I attended all of our home games in November and I watched the Vandy game on TV. Also saw our spring game. At this point, Drew Barker does not fall under the scary quarterback category. But Barker has the size and physical tools to develop into that kind of a quarterback. Football is a team sport, and our offensive line must improve for this to happen.
Based on that, we made Lamar Jackson look pretty damn scary for about 30 minutes last November. He did require us to alter our normal defensive alignment but we refused.
Agree on the team sport, 100%.
What is going to make Barker scary this year is an improved OL, an improved WR corp, an improved RB corp, and an improved TE group. Oh, did I forget coaching? I don't think anyone but a UL fan would say that all those things aren't very possible------and the whole is often bigger than the sum of its parts, ie one group improving helps the other groups.
Of course he is going to have to do his part also, and that means he has to improve.
I think all the pieces are there for major improvement, but then no one should expect us to go from very bad to very good overnight, and we have a very tough schedule.
What you are saying might make sense, so long as our offensive line improves. You evidently take that as a given. I don't. But I hope you are right. I attended our spring game. Since you live out west, I figure you didn't. I still have some concerns. The interior has never been the problem. Toth, Meyers, GAA, and Haynes are solid SEC players. In pass protection, our tackles are the reason our quarterbacks take more hits than any other SEC quarterbacks. At this point, Cole Mosier is our best tackle. That's a great credit to Mosier's work habits, but it also presents a concern. Mosier's best position is probably left guard. Mosier does not have the footwork of an SEC left tackle. He is playing tackle because Tate Leavitt showed up out of shape. But Leavitt has more upside as an edge blocker. The way I see it, we need a lot more from our tackles than I saw in the spring game. If we don't get it, then 1 of your key assumptions will not prove out. But if our tackles play well, that would make a huge difference for this team and especially for Barker.