I think Gavin Wimsatt has Heisman Potential
- Thread starter rutgersal
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RutgersAl is known as the most delusional Rutgers poster. He somehow failed to mention that Gavin was the worst QB in the Power 5 in 2023. As in last place.
Simplistic view and a short term view. He was in completion percentage. Won more games than guys with higher completion percentage so he's got something. UK coaches took a flier on him, so he has something. Adds some good depth to our QB room, adds a designated runner at QB who may threaten to make passes he's more comfortable with (obviously, his short throws were a problem). But, I don't think he'll just stay the guy he was at Rutgers last year either. It's not a bad bet. If he can't clean up a bit, he'll probably transfer down. Nothing lost. If he can, he may be a ready made starter if BVG has the kind of year that sends him to the NFL.
You can have 10 fans watch the same film of a player and still have 10 different take aways. Some of the Rutgers visitors here seem that think GW still has a fairly big upside. One thing about it, they have watched this guy a lot more than anyone from our fan base dare I say, and they certainly have no ax to grind.
It will be interesting to see what Coach Hamdan does with him but he, like they, obviously saw something there else he would not have been give a slot on the roster.
We'll see.
It will be interesting to see what Coach Hamdan does with him but he, like they, obviously saw something there else he would not have been give a slot on the roster.
We'll see.
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When will Wimsatt play. Stoops is hardly known for playing his back up. If our starter isn't hurt ,Gavin will be lucky to see the field more than 2 or 3 times this season.
That's true. But the fact that Wimsatt is transfering to UK suggests he has been given a reason to expect to compete for the job, or at least an expectation that there will be some plays in the offense for him. Since Hamdan likes to use his QB in the running game, that could answer your point. Vandagriff is a high upside passer, but probably not much of a design-style runner. OTOH, Wimsatt is a solid runner who hasn't yet shown that he can be a solid passer at this level. Competition is never a bad thing. So I think I see where this move may be going.
those guys from Rutgers are the 'diamonds in the sky' crew. make no mistake, Gav is horrible behind center. He's the shortstop with the great arm you try to make a pitcher and fail at.
He'd be better on the outside with his size and upfield abilities
we won despite Gav, he actually cost us 2 games. If not for the BIG leading rusher, a Oline that didn't give up any sacks (part of that was the staff design of the plays) and our D, it could have been a bad season. No one expected the Oline for Kongo to do as well as they did last year
all you need to do is look at his throws to see, he's under 50%, even on 5yd dunk offs!!!!
He'll be a great clipboard manager for you and a wasted roster spot imho
If Gavin’s presence elevates Vandagriffs play, then UK benefits in the end. And vice versa. Competition brings out the best in everyone.
When Will Levis transferred here from Penn State, he was not the starter, was known primarily for his running ability, had a huge arm but lacked touch and consistency on the short throws. Sound familiar?
What many of us forget sometimes is that players aren't necessarily stuck being what they are in the present, many improve and some have breakout experiences especially with a change of venue. i.e. Baker Mayfield was a walk-on at Texas Tech his only scholarship offers were Florida Atlantic, New Mexico and Rice. He's a starting QB in the NFL now, so is Will Levis who was 2nd string at PSU.
I'm in the "wait and see" camp on GW.
What many of us forget sometimes is that players aren't necessarily stuck being what they are in the present, many improve and some have breakout experiences especially with a change of venue. i.e. Baker Mayfield was a walk-on at Texas Tech his only scholarship offers were Florida Atlantic, New Mexico and Rice. He's a starting QB in the NFL now, so is Will Levis who was 2nd string at PSU.
I'm in the "wait and see" camp on GW.
Or maybe our OC is a better developer of raw talent than yours is.
Seems like Rutgers fans are split and sometimes (I'm a UK fan, so I get it) you get caught up on what a guy should have been vs what he was. But, that can be for a lot of reasons. Don't let the NIL investment jade you on a kid's potential. Maybe he'll get better coaching at UK, maybe just being closer to home will help, maybe none of it will.
Could be he doesn't ever realize potential at UK, only time will tell. I don't tend to cut bait on 19 year olds who aren't yet what I think they could be so, I'm going to grab some popcorn, watch him work and see how it goes. If he doesn't come around, he'll transfer down and I'll be glad to say another kid from my HS program got a free education (got paid for one, in fact). No loss for him or UK because UK has the spot and he'll still fill a need in the room. Not everyone goes on to the HOF, and that's fine.
All of that is true. It took some chutzpa for Wimsatt to transfer to UK and put himself in a position to compete with Vandagriff without the benefit of spring practice. Vandagriff himself has less college playing experience than Wimsatt, but I don't think there is much question which of the two has the higher ceiling and the higher floor. It's Vandagriff, by a significant margin. But stuff happens. Players get hurt. Players experience good luck or bad luck. Changes of venue affect young people too.
To me, the key here is that Hamdan wants a QB who can run the football. Not to mention that UK only had two scholarship QBs for 2024 prior to Wimsatt. A few running designs were put in the offense for Vandagriff in the spring, but it has always been curious to me why Hamdan would want to use very many designed runs for a QB who doesn't run much and really needs to stay healthy. Hamdan will have to adjust to the personnel on hand. But with Wimsatt, designed QB runs make more sense. So maybe Wimsatt gets a couple of series every week. Otherwise I still can't understand why he is even here, because he is facing a situation where he might not get onto the field at all.
Pretty spot on but I think BVG may be more of a runner than you. I'm seeing him as Levis 1.0, maybe 1.5 more than Levis 2.0 (if that lingo makes any sense). May depend on Bush--run and risk or don't. Of course, as an OC, I'm sure you'd be giddy just to see him slide rather than put a shoulder down like a linebacker, as Levis 1.0 did. I loved it, but I get that he got injured from it too. Was freaking crack to most of us UK football fans but not part of a great strategy for 12 games.
Grumpy, our resident GA fan and frequent visitor to this site, described BVG as a top of the line HS runner in addition to his passing skills. Guess, as you said, just depends on how much danger Bush wishes to put him in.
Running has never been in Vandagriff's repertroire. After all, he is a junior, not a freshman. Anyone can run the football. Some do it better. Vandagriff is not fast and not quick. He is a pocket passer. Hamdan likes to run his QB, but a good OC adjusts to his personnel. I hope we don't see Vandagriff running much.
That's not a very good description of BV. At UGA about all he ever did was turn around and hand the ball off, not a very good way to showcase your skills. In HS he rushed for over 1000 yards as a soph and was a starting WR as a frosh. He didn't run much as a Jr or Sr because he didn't need to run the ball. He isn't a 4.4 guy but has the ability to be a good running QB if that is what he is asked to do.
BV is a very good runner. His combination of passing and running is the dual threat that we want. One of our coaches basically said that Wimsatt will be used to 'take some hits off BV to keep him more healthy all season.' So it sounds like that Wimsatt will probably be used mostly for possible QB running plays here and there to save BV some. And with another year left for GW he can work on learning the offense this season and possibly be a more dual threat his last season. Thankfully Allen is here as a solid backup passer if something happened to BV.
I didn’t start the thread, but the OP does mimic my typically overstated optimism and hyperbole!!
Hence, I expect Gavin Wimsatt to finish second to Brock Vandergriff in the Heisman vote!
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When all is said and done, BV didn't transfer to UK to be the backup or even be in a competition. But those assurances left town with the ex OC. If he isn't the starter don't expect him to stick around and be the backup. He transferred to get on the field, AU offered a bigger NIL deal but no promises of being the guy. But after the year the Rutgers kid had who really thinks there is a competition brewing?
There’s no competition whatsoever, we’ll ride BV like a rented mule. Allen and Wimsatt were brought in to be serviceable back-ups in case BV goes down to injury and a combination of both could maybe somewhat salvage the season to some extent. The best case scenario would be Vandagrif is all that’s advertised, stays two years, and bridges the gap between Boley (though I’m not sold on KY QBs) or Saunders is capable starting as a RSfr.
There is always competition. By its basic nature, football is a competitive sport. Moreover, Coach Stoops is a believer in positional competition, which is how former WO Dylan Ray worked himself into the OL playing rotation and Ty Bryant and Nasir Addison have made the playing rotation in our secondary. I believe competition will soon land Brian Robinson in our DE playing rotation because of talent and motor, but we will see.
But you hit the nail on the head. If all goes well, Vandagriff will stay healthy, get better with starting experience, and control the starting QB job in 2024 and 2025. Not because he was brought in to be above competition, but because he has the highest performance ceiling as a passing QB on our roster.
Wimsatt is a former B10 starter. He would not have transfered to UK with an understanding that he would ride the bench and work the headphones for two years barring an injury to Vandagriff. He is coming here to compete, although his efficiency in the passing game will require a makeover. And he is coming because he believes in Coach Hamdan.
Coach Hamdan has hung onto Vandagriff and Saunders, and recruited Ward, Wimsatt, and Allen in a 4 month period. The man can recruit and explain an offensive philosophy, and that's good for us.
Inevitably, there will be competition among Ward, Saunders, and Boley if all three stick around. My early assessment is that Saunders faced the toughest level of hs competition and accomplished the most against it, but any of the three could prevail depending on pace of development in Coach Hamdan's offense. It's about competition.
I believe this take to be accurate. Gavin is going to come in, compete, and give it his best shot.
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