State of college QBs

[zarakotas5]

I'm curious about how you think. I just read a post about stud QBs for next year, and I don't see it. The studs last year were JaMarcus Russel and Brady Quinn, and I don't see that, either. Before that was was Vince Young and Matt Leinart. Young is an intriguing prospect and Leinart looks like a good technician prospect, but nothing that is truly exciting.

Have I been spoiled by recent history or am I not alone in thinking that this is far from the glory days of future NFLers?

 

[BB_dynasty]

Brady Quinn will be a great NFL player, and Russel will bust. The Raiders pure lack of avoiding the hype around him proves why they finished last, and will finish last again. Leinart appears to have good technical ability, and could be really good if he could have a good OL. And if you think about it, there are only 32 starting QBs, and only a few of them are elite QBs (i.e. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees) who are all different ages, they are not that many coming out of one draft class.

 

[zippo59]

I am skeptical on Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russel, but I think this was one of the deepest QB drafts not because of the top end talent but the abundance of "second tier" quarterbacks. Drew Stanton, Kevin Kolb, John Beck, and Trent Edwards.

Next year is supposed to be deep because of the top end QB talent like Brian Brohm, Chad Henne, Colt Brennan, and John David Booty (not all will be seniors but for the sake of this I'll just say they'll come out.) The one I've watched the most is Booty, and it's gotten to the poiunt where you pretty much expect the USC quarterback to put up great numbers. But I don't know enough about these players to make a judgement. I'll try to watch them more once the season starts.

As for last year I think Leinart is going to be a very good NFL QB. I don't know enough about Cutler to say either way, and while Young "just wins" he needs to gain more passing ability if he is going to survive in this league.

But you can never really tell how a college QB will fair in the NFL. Players that look like stars--Drew Henson, Ryan Leaf, Joey Harrington, Andre Ware--can fall flat on their faces. So I think there is always a sense of skepticism when you see college QBs putting up crazy numbers.

 

[bunzoburns]

Matt Ryan, Boston College

 

[drpatriot]

As a Henne watcher, he has struck me as pretty good but not great. He has shown that he can perform under pressure and I feel like poor coaching, not his own personal performance, has caused losses in bowl games because that same coaching has caused losses in bowl games before Henne and will cause bowl game losses after Henne. Lloyd Carr is the Marty Schottenheimer of the NCAA and neither Drew Brees nor Philip Rivers was going to change it, no matter how good of quarterbacks they both are.

He has a strong and relatively accurate arm. His tenacity is also something that has struck me. He isn't a speedy quarterback but has a good presence in the pocket. I don't know how much upside he has, but his leadership, arm and pocket presence make him a good candidate as a starting QB in the NFL.

Maybe Michigan Dave will disagree. I'm interested to hear what he has to say about Henne.

 

[PonyExpress]

Matt Ryan is very intriguing. He has excellent size, a great arm, the ball comes out of his hands with a great rotation, he's extremely tough, his teammates like him. He is prone to bouts of inaccuracy, but his receivers have been sub-par. I really like this kid. He's got a ****y arrogance, the kind that is more charismatic than irritating.

John David Booty is being overlooked by everyone. I really like him. The game comes easy to him. He is my Heisman trophy favorite. USC is going to steamroll with all their returning seniors. This could be the best USC eam since the Oklahoma massacre.

I need to see more of the Louisville Qb.

The kid from Texas looked pretty good until KState and A&M just about broke him in half. One sleeper is the true soph from KState. He reminds me a bit of Jason Campbell. A guy I can't stand is the new Florida QB/RB.

I am holding out some hope for the Penn State QB, the one Lemarr Woodley nearly decapitated last year. He's got some fire, a good arm, but is just too erratic. This will be his second year and he may improve. He has a bit too much Rex Grossman in him.

The Rutgers Qb closed the season very strong. He became a strength instead of a liability. Rutgers looks ready to explode this season and I am eager to watch that story unfold.

Henne? There's something missing there. IMO it's a lack of field vision. Henne doesn't have that 6th sense in the pocket. Great Qbs seem to be thinking faster than everyone else on the field, and seeing more clearly. With Henne, your always yelling at him because something is developing on TV that he seems oblivious to, or that he reacts too slowly to.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I like Brohm a lot. I think he throws an extrmely accurate ball. I question the arm strength a little bit, but overall he has a chance to be a very good NFL starter.
I lot of people think he is a system QB, like Kolb was at Houston, but I think he is more than that.

The one QB in all of college football that I can't wait to see this fall is Stafford of Georgia. If he continues to develop along the same path as he did last year, he could be an outstanding QB by the end of his junior year. Of course he is going to have his work cut out for him this year because 6 of the top 10 OL guys at Georgia this year are redshirt or true freshmen.

THe QB at Kentucky has a chance to put up some truly awesome stats this year and unlike the Hawaii QB, he'll be doing it in the SEC.

PS: Look for Arkansas to line McFadden up at QB abd JOnes at RB a lot more this season. It should give defenses fits.

 

[Michigan Dave]

As a Henne watcher, he has struck me as pretty good but not great. He has shown that he can perform under pressure and I feel like poor coaching, not his own personal performance, has caused losses in bowl games because that same coaching has caused losses in bowl games before Henne and will cause bowl game losses after Henne. Lloyd Carr is the Marty Schottenheimer of the NCAA and neither Drew Brees nor Philip Rivers was going to change it, no matter how good of quarterbacks they both are.

He has a strong and relatively accurate arm. His tenacity is also something that has struck me. He isn't a speedy quarterback but has a good presence in the pocket. I don't know how much upside he has, but his leadership, arm and pocket presence make him a good candidate as a starting QB in the NFL.

Maybe Michigan Dave will disagree. I'm interested to hear what he has to say about Henne.

Henne is the best Michigan QB I've seen aside from #10 (which, given my bias toward #10, says something). I think this will be a HUGE year for him. He's saddled by the fact that he's gone against Troy Smith (the best player ever in the M-OSU game) for the past 3 years, and the "hasnt' beaten OSU" moniker is following him around. Henne is the most pro-ready QB I've ever seen. He has amazing tangible assets- a laser for an arm, the ability to hit a good deep ball, he can see the entire field and make every throw an offense can require, and he is deceptively fast (4.6) for a pocket passer. He also has excellent pocket presence, and manages the offense very well. His performances in the big games has been terriffic, too. He hasn't choked at all despite having to start as a true freshman. Here are his numbers in the OSU games:

2006- 21/35 60% 2 TD 0 INT
2005- 25/36 69% 1 TD 0 INT
2004- 27/54 50% 2 TD 2 INT

TOTAL:
73/125 58% 5 TD 2 INT

Not bad at all considering the quality of defense he was going up against in those games. He also went toe-to-toe with Vince Young in the 05 Rose Bowl as a true freshman.

Henne is vastly underrated as a leader, too, because he is a quiet, unassuming guy who doesn't long for the spotlight. Mike Hart may be the mouthy, trash-talking voice of the team, but it is Henne's team. He's pulled some pretty gritty comebacks out- 2004 as a true freshman he led a comeback from 17 down against MSU with 7 minutes left and pulled out a triple OT victory, and in 2005 he led the final drive with 53 seconds left that culminated with the TD to Manningham with no time left on the clock to beat Penn State.

Our offense right now is the ideal tool for making a QB NFL-ready, and Henne picked it up quicker than any QB, ever. His ability to recognize defenses at the line, and adjust his reads and progressions accordingly is better than probably every other college QB except for possibly Booty. I really see him having a lights-out year this year, winning a couple of awards, and seeing his high stock become even higher as the year progresses. I see Henne as a better NFL-ready QB than Brian Brohm right now, though I think both have bright futures ahead of them.