Really good article CBS Sports re: evaluating QBs for NFL draft

[gamecockcat]

NFL Draft: How teams struggle to evaluate, find QB prospects who become stars quickly; why it happens so often

How and why do NFL teams miss on the quarterback position in the draft?

www.cbssports.com

I think there are points in the article that translate to CFB, also, regarding recruiting and transfer evaluation. We have not had much luck with HS QBs under Stoops. Some have been misevaluated. Some have not developed any further. Some were in the wrong system here. For a program like ours who will almost never land the 'can't miss, 5-star, immediate stud QB', we have to evaluate better. Quite frankly, we've done a pretty poor job of that.

Pretty interesting read. No solutions, unfortunately.

 

[Soupbean]

True it is a tough task. But if I'm an NFL GM or a College head coach I'd start by instantly putting the ABILITY TO MAKE DECISIONS quickly and the THE ABILITY TO MAKE PLAYS when the called plays dont go as planned way above how far they can throw it and how fast they can run. 90% of a QBs game action come under the first two compared to the last two.

 

[gamecockcat]

True it is a tough task. But if I'm an NFL GM or a College head coach I'd start by instantly putting the ABILITY TO MAKE DECISIONS quickly and the THE ABILITY TO MAKE PLAYS when the called plays dont go as planned way above how far they can throw it and how fast they can run. 90% of a QBs game action come under the first two compared to the last two.

Agreed. But, there's still the issue of who the competition is, what the scheme is (one read and run, RPO, etc.). But, judging purely on physical traits has proven over and over to be a losing proposition. Being able to process information very quickly and make the proper decisions is much of what's expected at the NFL level. Throwing the ball 70 yards downfield is impressive but completely irrelevant if the open man is 8 yards out in the flat.

 

[truebluewildcat]

NFL recently has made it harder than it is.

“Oh it’s soooooo hard….” They all cry after taking guys who are projects, smaller, injury proned, not very accurate, don’t have multiple seasons of starting experience, or all of the above.

Then on top of that they’ll throw him to the wolves year one.

I know there’s exceptions/unicorns, but generally speaking the successful QBs who anchor franchises and make playoffs have a lot of the same boxes checked.

Slightly harder to recruit/evaluate high school because there is no filter, great proving ground like P4/upper D1. Also simple biology. Kids are growing, developing mentally, physically, and emotionally still.

However CMS has been historically miserable at evaluating, recruiting, developing, and coaching QBs.

Find a a big F’ing kid with a big F’ing arm and let him loose. See Couch, J-Lo, Woodson…

You don’t have to get the most highly rated, decorated, 5 star QB from big time football arenas in California, Texas, Florida…

Get a big MFer who can throw the ball forward and an OC who can draw up a passing game plan.

 

[bluecoon1]

Hard to evaluate between the ears of HS kids even if they’re studs against other HS competition, being able to read the field and process what you see in three seconds separates the elite QBs from the good ones. Another caveat is a system QB can put up big numbers in college but it doesn’t always pan out when they try to get into the league.

I think we have some capable guys but it’s up to the OC to put those guys in a position to be successful, Hamdan can’t keep relying on a post that takes four seconds to develop when our line can’t give the QB three. JMO but if we don’t see some slants and quick hitters or just something to get the ball to our playmakers in the open field then I can’t see anyone exceeding here. I know this is a NFL thread but just needed to vent.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

Hard to evaluate between the ears of HS kids even if they’re studs against other HS competition, being able to read the field and process what you see in three seconds separates the elite QBs from the good ones. Another caveat is a system QB can put up big numbers in college but it doesn’t always pan out when they try to get into the league.

I think we have some capable guys but it’s up to the OC to put those guys in a position to be successful, Hamdan can’t keep relying on a post that takes four seconds to develop when our line can’t give the QB three. JMO but if we don’t see some slants and quick hitters or just something to get the ball to our playmakers in the open field then I can’t see anyone exceeding here. I know this is a NFL thread but just needed to vent.

I think the HS competition is a big factor. Kids from small schools usually don't see many P4 kids on the other side and might be one of the bigger kids on the field. I think that really hurt Vandagriff. I just think kids from larger programs get better coaching and face better competition and are more ready to play than kids from smaller programs. Maybe that's not fair and certainly there exceptions.