Certainly, several posters labeled Beau Allen as a 'noodle arm' and I've seen a few label Sheron the same way. While both may, in fact, have less than average arm strength, I have a different take on things.
1. Levis has an extraordinarily strong arm. If anyone thinks he's 'average' or even 'above average' in arm strength they are completely wrong. He has a cannon. As good as Tim Couch was, he did not possess the arm strength that Levis has.
2. There are NFL QBs in the HOF who did not at any time in their career possess a big arm: Montana, Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton, Peyton Manning, Len Dawson, Dan Fouts, Ken Stabler, to name a few. You do NOT have to have a cannon to be a good QB. There are many QBs who did have great throwing arms that weren't worth a crap, too.
3. If the offensive system we run requires arm strength like Levis' to be effective, we are running the wrong system and we will only once in a blue moon find the 'right' guy to run the offense if that's the case.
4. Mainly because it was never allowed to show itself on Saturday, I didn't see enough of Sheron's arm strength to make any sort of value judgment on its relative strength. By all accounts, Hogan has a big arm and he's, what, 4th string? Even if Sheron's arm is below average, we should be able to scheme around it. Manziel didn't have a big arm and he did fine in college. Bernie Kosar. Dusty Bonner set all kinds of records and he definitely didn't have a big arm. You don't have to be able to throw a ball through a brick wall to be a solid QB in college (or the NFL, for that matter). Of course, there is a minimum requirement but I find it hard to believe that UK would offer a scholarship to a QB if he didn't possess even some minimum level of arm strength. I mean, that is a huge part of the job requirement - to be able to throw the ball effectively.
Sheron may never be a starter for UK. Or Hogan, for that matter. But, if we believe that we can duplicate Levis' arm in the portal, I think we'll be badly disappointed. I thought on a handful of throws, Sheron showed more than adequate arm strength to get the job done - TD to Dingle, out pattern to Brown that was dropped, a couple of rollout throws that he put into a fairly tight window, etc. The problem Saturday night was more about Sheron's inexperience, poor technique at times trying to avoid the rush, extremely conservative playcalling, not having 8-10 short pass plays that he's run 1000 times so that they're automatic, etc. His arm strength was not the cause of the poor play of the offense Saturday, imo.
So, 'noodle arm', deserved or not, is irrelevant, imo. Can we devise a scheme to maximize every QB's strengths or not? That is the question.
1. Levis has an extraordinarily strong arm. If anyone thinks he's 'average' or even 'above average' in arm strength they are completely wrong. He has a cannon. As good as Tim Couch was, he did not possess the arm strength that Levis has.
2. There are NFL QBs in the HOF who did not at any time in their career possess a big arm: Montana, Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton, Peyton Manning, Len Dawson, Dan Fouts, Ken Stabler, to name a few. You do NOT have to have a cannon to be a good QB. There are many QBs who did have great throwing arms that weren't worth a crap, too.
3. If the offensive system we run requires arm strength like Levis' to be effective, we are running the wrong system and we will only once in a blue moon find the 'right' guy to run the offense if that's the case.
4. Mainly because it was never allowed to show itself on Saturday, I didn't see enough of Sheron's arm strength to make any sort of value judgment on its relative strength. By all accounts, Hogan has a big arm and he's, what, 4th string? Even if Sheron's arm is below average, we should be able to scheme around it. Manziel didn't have a big arm and he did fine in college. Bernie Kosar. Dusty Bonner set all kinds of records and he definitely didn't have a big arm. You don't have to be able to throw a ball through a brick wall to be a solid QB in college (or the NFL, for that matter). Of course, there is a minimum requirement but I find it hard to believe that UK would offer a scholarship to a QB if he didn't possess even some minimum level of arm strength. I mean, that is a huge part of the job requirement - to be able to throw the ball effectively.
Sheron may never be a starter for UK. Or Hogan, for that matter. But, if we believe that we can duplicate Levis' arm in the portal, I think we'll be badly disappointed. I thought on a handful of throws, Sheron showed more than adequate arm strength to get the job done - TD to Dingle, out pattern to Brown that was dropped, a couple of rollout throws that he put into a fairly tight window, etc. The problem Saturday night was more about Sheron's inexperience, poor technique at times trying to avoid the rush, extremely conservative playcalling, not having 8-10 short pass plays that he's run 1000 times so that they're automatic, etc. His arm strength was not the cause of the poor play of the offense Saturday, imo.
So, 'noodle arm', deserved or not, is irrelevant, imo. Can we devise a scheme to maximize every QB's strengths or not? That is the question.
