Ferentz Still Committed To QB Competition
- Thread starter SheagleHawk
- Start date
ForeverHawk
Well-Known Member
If Rudock is the front runner, that just makes it more ridiculous that he did not take a snap in game action last year???
This is not a good post.
deanvogs
Well-Known Member
How so? If he can't beat out 2 guys that have only been in the program for a year, how in the world do you think he was ready for snaps last year? You might have a point if he were heads and shoulders better than Sokol and CJ, but he isn't.
ForeverHawk
Well-Known Member
How so??? According to the article, he has beaten them out to this point. It did say he has a slight advantage. Sokol and Beathard were not going to play last year because they were both redshirting. So, the only option at backup last year was Rudock. Now, we can sit here and believe that he wasn't ready, an excuse that I never really bought in to. The fact that he did not get a few snaps last year was and still is ridiculous. Wasn't Iowa the only D1 school to only play one quarterback? You can't tell me there weren't times last year where giving Rudock a shot may have been warranted? Plus it would have given him experience going into this season. And I remember reading articles from a while back where Podolak was raving about Rudock prior to last year. Unless he digressed beyond belief, something was amiss last season. If you know something that the rest of us don't, other than how it played out last season, please share?
Here is a snippet from that article:
"In those summer exposures, I saw a freshman quarterback who looked like he’d spent most of his life in quarterback camps. His footwork on his drops was solid, how he instantly got the ball back by his ear hole on his drops was text book and his release point was consistent.
His ‘mechanics’ looked to be second best on the team, and he appeared to be a mini version of James Vandenberg. That led me to hypothesize that Derby would see all these things and more every day in practice and after Rudock asserted himself this coming spring, Derby would make the move to linebacker. It just happened sooner than I thought it would.
When I shared my ‘analysis’ and thoughts with Ed Podolak on ‘Soundoff’ last night, he agreed with me. He said Rudock’s mechanics at this stage of the game are very advanced and after having witnessed many practices this summer, he had come to the conclusion that Derby (or anyone) would have a hard time holding off Rudock for the backup spot next year.
If you are AJ Derby and you believe you are not going to be the backup your third year in the program and instead will be behind someone who is a year younger than you? It’s time to make the move.
Podolak said Rudock has ‘a live arm’ and the ball just explodes on his release. He said Rudock needs to get stronger (as did James Vandenberg when he arrived at Iowa) but that it’s clear to see the talent he possesses. I got the feeling that Podolak was holding back a bit on his praise, not wanting to place too high of expectations on the youngster.
However, it’s likely that Rudock is the most advanced and polished quarterback prospect that Iowa has landed during the Kirk Ferentz era. That doesn’t guarantee an All Big Ten future, and I am not going to go down that road again. Yet, you can tell the kid has talent and if he stays healthy, he’ll have every chance to be a three-year starter at Iowa after Vandenberg’s career is done in 2012."
Hawknick
Banned
People make too big of a deal about last years snaps. The only game where I would have like to hqve seen more backups in to get experience would have been the Minnesota game in the 4th quarter. The starters stayed in to play small ball there was no point to that. The other wins were too close. I would not have stuck a backup qb in on some of those big 10 games and ask him to engineer a comeback. That is a lot to ask of a freshman vs one of the top nfl qb prospects last year.
I don't think anyone would have asked Ruddock to lead a comeback in any of the games, it was more so just to protect Vandenburg. When you have a guy that valuable, one of the top NFL prospects in the nation, you don't want him out there in mop up time facing the possibility of a fluke injury which could end his season. You need to protect your best guys.
SheagleHawk
Well-Known Member
And just to get someone else who will likely be in the program another 3 years some valuable game time experience. I don't care if he came in and completely tanked. At least get the guy some game reps. No one could've engineered a come back against PSU, but someone else should've absolutely seen some reps when we were down 5385-0 in the 4th quarter.
HawkPrdatr40
Well-Known Member
Let's get real here bud, it wasn't about engineering a comeback, it was getting him some game experience.. Nothing wrong with getting a QB some reps, it happens all season long at other college programs. Last season was brutal to watch and there is no coach past of present in College Football that would have had JVB take all the all the snaps from center except for KF and IMO it is still comical to me that it happened..
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whammer33024
Well-Known Member
you say this...but say he had come in and completely tanked. JVB graduates and you hear rudock is our new starter. you're telling me you wouldn't be complaining about how bad rudock looked when he came in and the talent on our roster is awful and KF is the worst coach in the world if this is all the talent he can get at qb? pretty easy to say you don't care now that it hasn't happened.
and just because you don't care if he comes in and tanks doesn't mean rudock doesn't care if he comes in and tanks. no point in blowing his confidence completely in a game where we were completely manhandled in every phase of the game
BigD
Well-Known Member
It's all water under the bridge at this point. It's always good for players to get real game experience. The only possible gain I can imagine from not playing a backup is the amount of eligible time that would still be available in the event of an injury. With all the rules in college football I'm not sure that is even a legitimate concern, but it's the only one I can think of that makes any reasonable sense. The only other possibility I can think of would not be a nice thing to say about KF and I am not going to pretend I can read his mind and what motives he may have had. I am hoping for the best this upcoming season as KF is due for one of those years where results far exceed expectations.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
IMO the amount of snaps a backup takes is meaningless if they're just taking snaps to run out a clock. While I was one that last year wanted to see a backup QB take the field I'm over it. I wanted to see the backup come in to give JVB a break, not to prove that they were the better QB, or to start a QB controversy. We're putting such an emphasis on how no other QB took snaps, but the fact is if Rudock comes in last year in mop up time to do nothing more than run hand off after hand off, as we've seen our backups do in the past, what good does it do.
I've seen backup QB's at Iowa come in to finish off games in the past it did nothing to make me feel good about them other than knowing the fact that they knew how to hand a ball off or take a knee. Sure I would have liked to have seen Rudock make an appearance last year, but the fact is nothing he would have done would have made me feel better/worse about the upcoming season.
I've seen backup QB's at Iowa come in to finish off games in the past it did nothing to make me feel good about them other than knowing the fact that they knew how to hand a ball off or take a knee. Sure I would have liked to have seen Rudock make an appearance last year, but the fact is nothing he would have done would have made me feel better/worse about the upcoming season.
Hawknick
Banned
James Vandenberg quarterbacked the biggest comeback in Iowa football history I would much rather have had him in on those games. I will still stick with the reps should have happened in the MN game not one of the others. In that game the lead was big enough to play back ups not in the other games. Even though he had not played his best during some of those games he still gave the team the best chance to comeback. This year the team needs to be more agressive, get bigger leads more often so that back ups can get some experience.
BLKNGOLD48
Well-Known Member
Exactly, Iowa was the only team in D1 that only 1 QB got all the snaps. Think about that for a minute.
BLKNGOLD48
Well-Known Member
What mop up duty do you speak of from last year? So getting Rudock snaps last year wouldn't have helped him this year, game experience cannot be replicated in spring games or fall practices. I don't understand this thinking at all.
Eda
Well-Known Member
I don't think you guys understand why no other QB took a snap. KirFer said it was because JVB gave us the best chance to win.
Whether you want to believe it, whether Ruddock didn't have a firm grasp of the offense, whether nobody wanted to hurt anyone's confidence is all secondary, IMO.
If you asking for Ruddock to come in and take snaps to get some game time experience for the future, then you have sorely disserviced every senior on that team that has shed blood, sweat, and tears for the program. You would also have given a giant F U salute to everyone else who was out there trying to compete in ALL the ball games.
And you would've done so, for what? So the backup can get a wintsy bit of experience that likely won't translate into much the NEXT season, because it was all mop up duty, anyways. The ball game was well over.
Please stop beating the dead horse stat about Iowa being the only school that one guy took all the snaps. It is wore out.
OUTofTOWNHAWK
Well-Known Member
HawkeyeMHA
Well-Known Member
Geez now we have to talk about last years qb snaps again. I'm going to stroke out I think
