(Un)official SPS PSD Depth Chart Discussion. QB.

[AzzurriDawg4]

(PSD=Post Signing Day). <div>
</div><div>I figured it would be fun to go through the depth charts and have some discussion about 2012 and beyond in this horrible time between the end of the Super Bowl and Opening Day. I will try to post a position group every couple of days. Feel free to discuss offensive/defensive philosophy as it relates to the players, or anything else that might apply. Class designations will be for the 2012 season, please let me know if I made an error on those because I am basically going from memory.</div><div>
</div><div>Players in bold will be the projected starters, in my opinion.</div><div>
</div><div>QB</div><div>
</div><div>Tyler Russell - JR</div><div>Dak Prescott - rFR</div><div>Nick Schuessler - FR</div><div>
</div><div>2012 Outlook</div><div>I really like our top 2. Probably more than most. Admittedly, a lot of my optimism comes from my expectations for Prescott, and that is not meant to be an indictment of Russell. I just think Prescott is everything Mullen is looking for. My biggest problem with the QB position isnt who we have, but how we use them. I just completely disagree that rotating QBs is a good thing. It was painfully obvious last year that Mullen wasn't comfortable running the offense through Russell. Whether that can be attributed to the OL, the stage of his development, or Mullen's overall offensive philosophy is open for debate. It still makes me cringe when I think about Favre coming in or Mullen yanking Russell on his hottest drive of the game vs. Bama, etc. etc. </div><div>
</div><div>With all that said, I think we will see Prescott and Russell next year. Russell still has a little work to do with the timing and quickness of his release, which seems to be the culprit on almost all of his interceptions or incompletions, because he showed last year that he can be deadly accurate when he lets go of it at the right time. Just needs to get the safeties down, which I think is harder for him to do when he isn't getting into a rhythm. I think we will start the season with Russell as primary and Dak in some packages. Can't wait to see Dak in the spring game though - visitors at the closed under-the-lights scrimmage this year were wowed by Dak's athleticism, arm and composure. The good thing is that we have some soft early games to get it all figured out. If this staff doesnt have a grasp on who the best QB for our team is by the time we get to those last 5 games, I will be extremely disappointed. I would prefer to see at most a 90/10 % split at QB by the time we get to Bama, or better yet, by Tennessee.</div><div>
</div><div>2015 Outlook</div><div>Looks exciting with a 5th year senior leading the team in Dak Prescott. Mullen put on a nice show for Schuessler last week, but I think he is just organizational depth at this point. You have to think the staff will look to land a big time recruit next year at QB. The goal should be to at least have a blue chip true freshman in there for Dak's junior year at worst. </div>

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

(PSD=Post Signing Day). <div>
</div><div>I figured it would be fun to go through the depth charts and have some discussion about 2012 and beyond in this horrible time between the end of the Super Bowl and Opening Day. I will try to post a position group every couple of days. Feel free to discuss offensive/defensive philosophy as it relates to the players, or anything else that might apply. Class designations will be for the 2012 season, please let me know if I made an error on those because I am basically going from memory.</div><div>
</div><div>Players in bold will be the projected starters, in my opinion.</div><div>
</div><div>QB</div><div>
</div><div>Tyler Russell - JR</div><div>Dak Prescott - rFR</div><div>Nick Schuessler - FR</div><div>
</div><div>2012 Outlook</div><div>I really like our top 2. Probably more than most. Admittedly, a lot of my optimism comes from my expectations for Prescott, and that is not meant to be an indictment of Russell. I just think Prescott is everything Mullen is looking for. My biggest problem with the QB position isnt who we have, but how we use them. I just completely disagree that rotating QBs is a good thing. It was painfully obvious last year that Mullen wasn't comfortable running the offense through Russell. Whether that can be attributed to the OL, the stage of his development, or Mullen's overall offensive philosophy is open for debate. It still makes me cringe when I think about Favre coming in or Mullen yanking Russell on his hottest drive of the game vs. Bama, etc. etc. </div><div>
</div><div>With all that said, I think we will see Prescott and Russell next year. Russell still has a little work to do with the timing and quickness of his release, which seems to be the culprit on almost all of his interceptions or incompletions, because he showed last year that he can be deadly accurate when he lets go of it at the right time. Just needs to get the safeties down, which I think is harder for him to do when he isn't getting into a rhythm. I think we will start the season with Russell as primary and Dak in some packages. Can't wait to see Dak in the spring game though - visitors at the closed under-the-lights scrimmage this year were wowed by Dak's athleticism, arm and composure. The good thing is that we have some soft early games to get it all figured out. If this staff doesnt have a grasp on who the best QB for our team is by the time we get to those last 5 games, I will be extremely disappointed. I would prefer to see at most a 90/10 % split at QB by the time we get to Bama, or better yet, by Tennessee.</div><div>
</div><div>2015 Outlook</div><div>Looks exciting with a 5th year senior leading the team in Dak Prescott. Mullen put on a nice show for Schuessler last week, but I think he is just organizational depth at this point. You have to think the staff will look to land a big time recruit next year at QB. The goal should be to at least have a blue chip true freshman in there for Dak's junior year at worst. </div>

 

[DAWG61]

do you really not enjoy March Madness, NBA playoffs, the Masters, U.S. Open, college baseball and MLB?

 

[macpappy]

do you really not enjoy March Madness, NBA playoffs, the Masters, U.S. Open, college baseball and MLB?

<br march="march" madness="madness" is="is" the="the" sports="sports" event="event" listed="listed" above="above" i="i" ever="ever" however="however" i="i" do="do" look="look" forward="forward" to="to" this="this" time="time" of="of" year="year" for="for" 3="3" reasons="reasons" spawning="spawning" crappie="crappie" on="on" rez="rez" and="and" okatibee="okatibee" lake="lake" gobbling="gobbling" turkeys="turkeys" trot="trot" lining="lining" big="big" black="black" river="river" love="love" forgetting="forgetting" about="about" a="a" couple="couple" months="months" getting="getting" in="in" during="during" deer="deer" season="season" catch="catch" myself="myself" having="having" hurry="hurry" up="up" get="get" out="out" stand="stand" so="so" can="can" make="make" it="it" starkville="starkville" or="or" am="am" constantly="constantly" checking="checking" espn="espn" while="while" 30="30" foot="foot" high="high" my="my" man="man" climbing="climbing">

 

[majors42]

Dawgs, it looks like he said opening day. Which is MLB. And one weekend of the masters is fun, but it's just a tease

 

[macpappy]

My bad. I had typed something but don't know why it didn't show up. What i said was outside of March Madness is is good to be able to catch up on some outdoor stuff like
1. Spawing crappie
2. Gobbling turkeys
3. Big flat head catfish on the Big black river

 

[coach66]

offensive line develops as to how good we really will be. Relf, who I have the utmost respect for had a pretty bad year last year overall with a few exceptions so if this<div>pair can be consistent we will be better. Relf is not a dual threat QB and neither is Tyler but Dak appears to be a dual threat, we will see.</div>

 

[BiscuitEater]

Relf is not a dual threat QB and neither is Tyler but Dak appears to be a dual threat, we will see.

AzzurriDawg4: "My biggest problem with the QB position isnt who we have, but how we use them. I just completely disagree that rotating QBs is a good thing."


Combining the two thoughts, does Mullen use Dak like he used Tebow at Florida?


To me, it would be ideal to have both play ... Tyler as the starter (not rotating series) but having Dak come in on 3rd and 1 & inside the ~20 where he can exploit his 'dual threat' talents.


For this to work, Tyler needs to display consistency and Mullen will have to have the same level of confidence in Dak that he had in Tebow. This spring is 'huge' for Qbs, OL & RBs.


Thoughts?

 

[coach66]

supporter of the two QB system because I think getting in a rhythm is so important. In my opinion Dan sucked last year with his<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span><div>substitution pattern as you pointed out and that really is one of the keys to making the two QB system work. Playing the right guy</div><div>at the right time. I think Tyler did a good job last year and was under severe pressure most of the time. As I said if he gets more</div><div>protection this year and the receivers step up this could be a breakout year for him. The key is to play to the strengths of both QB's</div><div>without becoming predictable to the defense, I am not sure Mullen can pull that off with these two as well as he did with Tebow. It didn't</div><div>really matter with Tebow, the defense knew what was coming but they couldn't stop it.</div>

 

[57stratdawg]

[list type=decimal][*]Our offense w/ Russell will look TOTALLY different next year. You won't see much, if any, read option and we're going throw the ball 25+ times a game.
[*]We talked about running one game plan last year with 2 different QBs, but that never made sense with me. Especially when we had 2 guys with such different skill sets.
[*]I wouldn't expect the world from Prescott yet. He'll be good in time, but still has along way to go (at least that was the word a few weeks ago).
[/list]

 

[Chesusdog]

To me, it would be ideal to have both play ... Tyler as the starter (not rotating series) but having Dak come in on 3rd and 1 & inside the ~20 where he can exploit his 'dual threat' talents.

That's what we tried with Relf last year, but it backfired and a cold QB came in for a hot one. I think we screwed ourselves damn near every time we did that.

 

[therightway]

I agree that it is tough for a throwing QB to come in and get one series. Most of the time they would run the ball on first down. 2nd down take a shot down the field and then put him in a 3rd and long. It is a lot easier to come off the bench as a running QB. The "nerves" factor do not come in play as much if you come into the game pumped up and run the ball. I hope that we use Dak a great deal at the start of the season. This will at the least make the other teams prepare for two styles of play. With what Mullen did with Relf, I is hard to imagine what he could do with a athletic QB that already has good throwing skills.

 

[kired]

BiscuitEater[/b]]To me, it would be ideal to have both play ... Tyler as the starter (not rotating series) but having Dak come in on 3rd and 1 & inside the ~20 where he can exploit his 'dual threat' talents.

For this to work, Tyler needs to display consistency and Mullen will have to have the same level of confidence in Dak that he had in Tebow. This spring is 'huge' for Qbs, OL & RBs.

I don't think Dan's confidence has as much to do with it as Dak actually getting the job done on 3rd & short or goalline situations. I'm sure Dan's going to givehim the oppurtunity -- the question is can Dakperform?

Let'snot fool ourselves into thinkingMullencan make just any athletic QB into Tebow 2.0. Tebow was a beast. His rushing statsasSOPH, JR, and SR were all better than Relf in 2010. He's even doingit in the NFL. He may be the best dual threat QB Mullen or Meyer ever coach.

I have a lot of hope for Dak and believe he can be greatafter 4 years under Mullen. But I'mjust not buying into all the hype (that he'll overtake Russell as starter,he'll bea better short yardage runner than Relf, etc).I believe Russell taking the next step in his development and staying healthyis a lot more important for 2012 than any performance we'll see fromDak .

 

[maroonmania]

you stated "It was painfully obvious last year that Mullen wasn't comfortable running the offense through Russell."

Well it seems like Mullen is going to have to start getting comfortable because now not only does Mullen have Russell as the heir apparent starter he has ended up signing a QB, Schuessler, who is much more a Russell-type QB than a Relf or a Prescott. That's why I was a little surprised that we went that direction. I realize that once Liggins turned us down that we didn't have a lot of other options and desparately needed a 3rd QB on the roster but I really thought Mullen would stick more with the dual threat type guys going forward. Russell was a guy that was already committed when Mullen got here but now he is bringing in another guy who is more of a pocket passer, and though he has decent speed, is just not going to be built to take the pounding that a running QB gets in this league.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

And the Masters, etc., but this is still the slowest part of the year.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

nm

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

I have a hard time believing we will see wholesale changes in the offense. <div>
</div><div>Regarding Point #3, what I have heard is that Prescott is light years ahead of where both Russell and Relf were at this stage in their development.</div>

 

[alabamadog]

Prescott could come in for 3rd and 1, or when we have the ball inside the five yard line. Preferably Russell will play well enough that Mullen will want him in every play and not use two quarterbacks, but I doubt anyone expects Prescott to not see some meaningful playing time this year.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

I just haven't seen any indication that he will. He has said a lot about tailoring his offense to his talent, but then we see Favre hit the field last year when we knew at least by the 4th game that Russell was going to have to take a lot of snaps?<div>
</div><div>I don't the signing of Schuessler has anything to do with the direction of our offense going forward. Like I said, barring some outstanding development, he is there for depth. I thjnk what Mullen really wants is a guy like RGIII that can run and throw and I believe he is hoping Prescott is that guy (of course I am not saying Prescott is the next RGIII, but he is the closest we have to that on the roster.</div>

 

[maroonmania]

but you would hope even a player brought in for depth would fit in with the style of offense that you truly want to run.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

He has just failed to prove it at State so far. At least, we clicked a lot better when Relf was playing behind a solid OL. Even when Russell was looking really good, Mullen showed flashes of going against the grain, calling crazy option pass plays when we get in the redzone, running the speed option with Russell and rarely doing so with Relf, bringing in Favre or Relf when Russell had the offense moving, etc. <div>
</div><div>I am sure he hopes that Schuessler develops into an Alex Smith type player. </div>

 

[Todd4State]

The best thing about the two QB system is it stops a lot of the bitching from fans in the stands about why their favorite "real deal" isn't playing after the guy starting throws an incompletion.

Other than that, I would prefer that we stay with the one QB.

The only question I have about Tyler is his durability. That's why we should have gotten a JUCO QB that could fill in just in case instead of Schuessler. I would take a two star guy even that maybe doesn't have the strongest arm in the world, but wants can make reads and not turn the ball over a whole lot.

 

[Coach34]

I have a hard time believing we will see wholesale changes in the offense. <div>
</div><div>Regarding Point #3, what I have heard is that Prescott is light years ahead of where both Russell and Relf were at this stage in their development.</div>

Mullen is not going to throw the football 25+ times a ballgame. Hell, Tebow only averaged 22 or so passes per game and he had 5 future NFL WR's/TE's to throw to- you think we are going to put it in the air 25-30 times with Arceto Clark and Chris Smith????? <div>
</div><div>I know all about his quote that he will tailor the offense to players- but if you look at what he has been around- Alex Smith averaged 12 carries/game at QB. He had a dropback QB his 1st year at Fla- that was a Sr- but he made damn sure Tebow played as a true Freshman. Tebow was really good, but he played because he was very mobile- and thats what Mullen/Meyer want on offense.</div><div>
</div><div>I think your going to see a tremendous amount of progress from Prescott this Spring. He is no longer getting sporadic 4th QB/Redshirt reps- he is going to be getting every rep that Tyler is. And that will be huge. Now that he has been in college a year- his growth as a QB will really start to show.</div><div>
</div><div>As a former history teacher and lifelong believer that the past is the best predictor of future behavior- I firmly believe we are for the most part going to run the exact same offense. But having Russell/Prescott will allow our passing game to be a little more intricate than it could be with Relf getting the majority of snaps.</div><div>
</div><div>Mullen wants a mobile QB running his offense. Tyler is the bridge from Relf to whenever Prescott is ready to take over. It doesnt mean I dont like Tyler- it's just the way I see the situation.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div>

 

[GloryDawg]

I thought he used a multi QB system where he grades them out during the week and the one with the best grade is the starter. I think this year he really only has two QB if he red shirts the GA guy. But if he turns out to be better I think Mullen will play him. I think Mullen wants to red shirt his qb's but when you only have three I guess some times it doesn't work out that way.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Threw the door wide open with that one.....

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

nm

 

[Mutt the Hoople.buhoops]

However, I believe Russell needs to work on his footwork....he stands there like a statue in the pocket and doesn't check all sides of the field like a good QB does. Also, he needs to develop that 6th sense that the pocket is collapsing...he needs to know that he only has about 3 seconds to get the ball away.

 

[patdog]

Mullen is not going to throw the football 25+ times a ballgame.

He threw it 349 times in 13 games this season, or 27 times per ballgame. I think we'll be at about 30-32 times per game next fall.

 

[hulkbuster]

Let's not forget Tyler kind of fell into Mullen's lap. He was ACTUALLY a Croom recruit. But he was a "take the best player available" type of signee. Mullen knew he didn't fit the system, but signed him because it made a statement to the people in our state that he could sign the best player in the state. You people said Schush was a "pocket passer"? Um, not really. He's actually more like Dylan. He has run the option a good bit. Wasn't really COMPLETELY sold on him enitially, but after seeing a good bit of film on him, he actually fits OUR offensive philosophy BETTER than Tyler did when we signed him or kid of even now (based on skill set). Tyler WILL look better this year because he has FAR better weapons to throw to Vs last year. With Carr coming back, Johnson @ TE, Jameon @ a possible slot WR & now w/ Morrow now too. I see jim puting up very good numbers & I didn't even mention Chris Smith or Ceto as potential weapons. But I see Prescott being THE guy everybody (fans) want in the game.

 

[57stratdawg]

I think Dak will get some drives a game, but I don't see him splitting snaps with TR. I just don't think Dak will be ready this fall.

I think we'll see TR throwing the ball 20 to 25 times a game next year.

 

[Coach34]

Mullen is not going to throw the football 25+ times a ballgame.

He threw it 349 times in 13 games this season, or 27 times per ballgame. I think we'll be at about 30-32 times per game next fall.

 

[Chesusdog]

I think we will throw more this year, but not drastically more. I expect us to be much more potent offensively despite losing Ballard. The RB stable is full of talented if untested guys and the OL should be vastly improved.

Russell will be better next year and, for the first time, will get the majority of the snaps. I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised by the efficiency of our offense next year. With Lewis, Clark, the Johnsons, and Morrow, the passing game should flourish.

Woolish? Damn right. But I have faith in Mullen and firmly believe that years of frustration with that part of our offense may finally be over.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

I think the OL will be about the same. But lets save it for the OL discussion.