Stephen Johnson
- Thread starter Mr Schwump
- Start date
We see why Gran went out and found him,he's not the next McNabb but he is the best we have right now
He played pretty well for a guy from a small JC in his 1st SEC game. A little slow on his decision making but that's to be expected. If he becomes more decisive when to run, throw it away or push it down the field he could be a upgrade from our previous QB's. He certainly didn't play worse than our prior QB's.
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SJ makes a lot of fundamental mistakes in the pocket, but he erases some of them with his feet. Yesterday he took a sack by drifting to his left, outside the pocket of protection. He is supposed to step forward, up into the pocket. This is easier said than done, but all successful quarterbacks must learn this. Otherwise they will cause holding penalties and take unnecessary sacks. Johnson's quickness is good. His footspeed is not superior by SEC standards, but he can outrun linebackers. (Some SEC quarterbacks can't.) SJ's arm strength is good, not great. When he sees his receiver, he gets the ball out of his hand pretty good. But like all inexperienced quarterbacks, sometimes he takes too long to find a receiver. When his mechanics are good, he is very accurate. But sometimes he drops his right hand and adds an additional movement to his motion. When he does that, he overthrows. That's what caused the interception over the middle yesterday. SJ will get better the more he plays. He gives Coach Gran a "read option" which has been effective at times, but he is still learning to execute it consistently. My biggest concern is SJ's slight build. With Barker out, Gran's only other quarterback options are Hoak and Wright, neither of whom is ready to win SEC games. So if I was Gran, I would be very careful about scheming for SJ to run the football against Alabama. Bad idea. Roll the pocket, and get rid of the football. If nobody is open, throw it away and live to run another play.
Looked pretty good, for the backup. Showed a bit more speed than I thought he had. But still looks a tad slow, given his size.
I do like that he's careful with the ball. Decision making seems good. Doesn't seem overwhelmed. I'm just concerned his size will end up with him injured. He just gets rag dolled way too often.
I do like that he's careful with the ball. Decision making seems good. Doesn't seem overwhelmed. I'm just concerned his size will end up with him injured. He just gets rag dolled way too often.
My favorite thing about him is that he doesn't make many mistakes. Yes he had one pick last night, but I like that he knows when to throw it away and stuff like that. Hes not a great passer but hes decent enough to be effective, pretty decent runner too.
Watching SJ makes me wonder the coaching staff's decision to start DB from the beginning. SJ is not great, but he is better overall than DB.
Makes you wonder how it would have affected us in prior games if he was playing before now.
Makes you wonder how it would have affected us in prior games if he was playing before now.
Playing okay, and better than I think a whole lot expected. Still doesn't have a good deep threat which will be exposed against good defensive teams. It's helped with the emergence of Benny Snell bc he's such a load.
He should be the starter until he plays himself out of it. A healthy Barker or not
He should be the starter until he plays himself out of it. A healthy Barker or not
They almost had to go with DB as the starter,but Gran went looking for someone and found Johnson because he knew they were in need of someone else and Johnson was the best he could find on short notice and still get him here.
Two solid efforts against questionable competition. Don't know how his slight frame survives 4QTRs vs Bama.
I guess my head scratcher in all of this is why do we run read option/pistol formation sets under 3 OCs...yet we constantly recruit non-running QBs (Towles/Reece Phillips were inherited, Barker is slow, Hoak isn't a runner, Mac Jones wasn't a runner before his decommit....only the 2018 verbal can run).
I personally think it makes life better for Boom/Snell to have a QB that keeps the DE from crashing down so fast as you have a legit QB run option.
I personally think it makes life better for Boom/Snell to have a QB that keeps the DE from crashing down so fast as you have a legit QB run option.
For a QB to be in his first year in the system, I think he's doing very well. He should only get better with experience at this level.
Agreed. Its amazing how well he is playing considering Barker has had the majority of the snaps with the first team. Alabama will make him look bad, so I hope he gets another chance after next week.
He has stepped in and gotten two victories for us, which is all we can ask for at this point. Reports indicated he would be a good runner, but I've also been impressed with his accuracy on short to mid-range throws. He seems to have good intangibles and leadership. The team has played with good effort when he is in the game.
I think he is doing great all things considered.
Here's what scares me. Bama has had tons of trouble with the read option and mobile QBs in general in the past. I hope Gran doesn't scheme for this this week thinking he can run SJ 20 times and try to steal a cheap one. Ole dude won't survive that. I'm sure they're in the mindset to keep him healthy at all costs but if they go in there and try to run SJ then I really hope Hoak is farther along than anyone expects. We're probably gonna need him.
Thank God Gran and Hinshaw got Johnson here. I admit I was skeptical about his ability and that he was nothing more than a practice player. Hate to think where we would be without him. Kudos to Gran/Hinshaw for all they have done here.
I liked his play overall. Good on the roll out, good with his feet, good thrower when he keeps his motion right, seems to know the offense well and what it's trying to do strategy wise. Good read option choices.
On the negative side he holds the ball WAY too long. He's got to get a count in his head on when to get rid of the ball or tuck it and run. He held it for an hour while I screamed "get rid of it!!" At the tv right before a sack. He way way outside the pocket, he could have just thrown it away!
Also, if he isn't mechanically sound he throw it high. We got lucky that INT was called back.
Overall, he seems to give us more than what Barker gives us, though we haven't seen too much of Barker. Just running the offense confidently helps a lot. Barker never seemed comfortable.
EDIT: my grammar and spelling is bad but I'm on mobile so meh
On the negative side he holds the ball WAY too long. He's got to get a count in his head on when to get rid of the ball or tuck it and run. He held it for an hour while I screamed "get rid of it!!" At the tv right before a sack. He way way outside the pocket, he could have just thrown it away!
Also, if he isn't mechanically sound he throw it high. We got lucky that INT was called back.
Overall, he seems to give us more than what Barker gives us, though we haven't seen too much of Barker. Just running the offense confidently helps a lot. Barker never seemed comfortable.
EDIT: my grammar and spelling is bad but I'm on mobile so meh
He's a good game manager. He knows his role and doesn't over extend it. He can work on cutting up the field instead of trying to break out to the sidelines for some runs. Also needs to know when to just throw it away when the sack is coming, but he's been great and I've loved it. Much props to Johnson. Much props to the newly found offense. Much props to Gran/Hinshaw. I'm very pleased with our Offense if you couldn't tell, lol.
I think the kid did some pretty good all things considered. I think he will learn to throw away the ball, or get it out quicker in the future. I'm also hoping he develops a six sense about his blind side, considering Toth gets beat so much. The kid will learn. The only thing that worries me is his arm strength, which could lead to a lot of picks.
No disrespect intended, but I'm not sure he will ever be a SEC caliber QB, but I do like him and glad we have him.
I think he has great composure for a young kid from a junior college. He will undoubtedly improve as his time in the SEC goes on. I'm wondering if CMS will keep starting him once DB comes back. I think if he continues to play well you leave him as the starter.
We're lucky we found him. Generally shows very good poise, makes the basic throws with consistency, has decent straight line speed but not a lot of wiggle to make guys miss...isn't afraid of the big stage. He's kind of a skinny dude and I worry about his ball security when the big guys start taking shots at him. Bottom line, he's 2-0 as a starter (about to be 2-1), and I just hope we can keep him healthy through the UA game.
He managed the game and distributed the ball to our play makers which is exactly what they needed him to do. The only criticism I have of Johnson is he needs to be more aware of the pass rush and learn to get rid of the ball before he takes a hit.
He's adequate. Not a game changer but has played solidly for the most part. I wish we'd run more timing and slant patterns so he doesn't have to hold the ball so long. In short yardage situations, thought we ran way too many long patterns with no safety valve. Not sure why we tried to go down the field so much instead of just picking up the first down. Think there were some plays that Barker makes last night that SJ didn't and vice versa. He's been a solid player so far. Can't say that I think he's The Guy yet.
I thought he played pretty well in a must-win game. Like many have said, I think he will learn and grow from his first SEC game. I really like his ability to thrown on the run. Many quarterbacks simply cannot do this with accuracy. I like the potential for read-option roll-out plays with him in the game. He seems to provide a flow and pace to our offense that we didn't seem to have with Barker. His overthrow was a poor throw and he's human, but he needs to learn from that interception. Also, I hope he can be a quick learner about how to avoid sacks. All things considered, I think he's doing a very nice job and I'm really happy to have him, hoping he can stay healthy. His two big runs on the go-ahead drive were a sign of leadership and the ability to make a play when it's needed. They were game-winning types of plays, I thought. and more than just "game manager" plays.
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