Does Rudock's Intelligence/Personality Inhibit his play?

DP5555

DP5555

Well-Known Member
This is just something I was thinking over while watching him play for Michigan last night. It's not really an angle I ever looked at while he was the QB at Iowa, but in hindsight I believe there might be something to it. I apologize in advance if this gets kinda long. I'm just rambling my thoughts.

I work in healthcare and as an Outreach Clinic Manager my job is to help run University of Iowa physician clinics (all different kinds of providers). Most Doctors have a very business like mentality. They want to know what to expect. They want to know the percentages of risk/reward. They want to dissect everything possible in order to help make the best decisions they possibly can for their patients. It's their job to overthink things. I think Jake Rudock's mentality is perfect for someone who is going to become a physician.

However, I realized last night that this mentality may play a big role in why he has struggled with consistency on the field. He is so tightly wound that he's unable to relax. It seems like he overthinks things and then makes sudden decisions out of impulse. Everything seems very sudden. Oh I'm going to dump it off! Oh **** he's open down the field I better heave it! It seems to me like he's complicating the game of football instead of letting it come to him. Nothing about his play is smooth.

I also believe his tightly wound personality can negatively impact the play of those around him. Jake is all business all the time and I honestly think the biggest favor he could do for himself would be to take a big deep breath and relax. Have a little fun, enjoy the moment, soak in the atmosphere and play ball. I think there is a lot to be said about having a QB who is more laid back. Maybe he cracks jokes in the huddle. Maybe it's just the way he shrugs off mistakes. Maybe it's the way he interacts loosely with his teammates. I don't know, but based on the sound bytes that have come out of camp it sure seems like the Hawkeye players feel more relaxed with CJ at the helm. We'll see if there's anything to this whole hypothesis of mine.
 
Do you suppose that he's trying to execute the game plan too perfect, and not take into account the what "if's"? IMO, he has seemed to play very tight, gets locked in on one guy, or he seems too predictable. I don't know, but one minute he's on the mark, the other minute he tries to force a pass into coverage that's very tight, and misses the guy screaming down the sidelines......The old adage, "Let the game come to you" comes to mind, loosen up and just play...
 
I don't think it's his intelligence. I just think he doesn't throw an accurate deep ball. Not that he can't throw it 50 yards, but he can't throw it 50 yards accurately. This limits the amount of space the defense has to cover. They can play tighter coverage, better run D, and then everything gets harder for the offense. Rinse, repeat.
 
I'm a surgeon and in surgery there is no room for sudden decisions out of impulse. You have a plan going in and you execute that plan during the procedure. No room for a pick six.
 
hawkfan340 said:
I don't think it's his intelligence. I just think he doesn't throw an accurate deep ball. Not that he can't throw it 50 yards, but he can't throw it 50 yards accurately. This limits the amount of space the defense has to cover. They can play tighter coverage, better run D, and then everything gets harder for the offense. Rinse, repeat.
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Totally agree with you. There were at least 3 deep balls that demonstrated this last night. I think we'll have a major improvement in this area with Beathard heading the offense.
 
I don't think his intelligence inhibits his play....I think his overall lack of athleticism and arm talent inhibits his play.
 
Not kidding, I had this conversation with someone just last week. As crazy as it sounds, I think he is too smart to play the position and it's because of the risk/reward factors brought up in the original post. I compare him to Alex Smith, another guy known for his intelligence and another guy that refuses to throw down field.
 
I think he is much better in the 2 minute offense because he has less time to think about things, he just plays. I noticed this a few times last year, and certainly last night. When he runs no huddle and hurries, he is generally better. With that said, he still can't throw the deep ball real well.
 
Hunz said:
I'm a surgeon and in surgery there is no room for sudden decisions out of impulse. You have a plan going in and you execute that plan during the procedure. No room for a pick six.
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Right, but he's not performing surgery. He's playing football and he's overthinking things. He's trying to make things happen and he's trying to stay under control. His demeanor is like a tightly wound cat that jumps at the slightest sign of stress. He just needs to relax and let it come to him. It seems as if he wants to take a methodical business like approach to a game where chaos is the norm. He needs to be able to react and react smoothly.

I realize in surgery you have to be able to react in stressful situations as well so maybe your specific specialty isn't an ideal analogy. I'm not sure what Jake's interests are in medicine.
 
hawkfan340 said:
I don't think it's his intelligence. I just think he doesn't throw an accurate deep ball. Not that he can't throw it 50 yards, but he can't throw it 50 yards accurately. This limits the amount of space the defense has to cover. They can play tighter coverage, better run D, and then everything gets harder for the offense. Rinse, repeat.
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I don't disagree. He can't throw it accurately during a game. However, I distinctly remember last year when the B10 Network crew was in Iowa City for their camp visit they said Jake Rudock threw the best deep ball out of any other QB in the B10. Which tells me he's capable of it. He's just not capable of it under the bright lights. That's where I believe his mind is getting the best of him.
 
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I get what you're saying. I'd say its not about intellect. But rather, more about an optimal mix of rational and intuitive cognition. I don't sense he is especially emotional or spontaneous. That intuitive instinctual sense of the game can help at QB. It does not replace intelligence but rather enhances performance for a smart guy like Jake.

and of course, this is rank speculation from 1,000 miles away from someone who has never met the young man.
 
NCHawker said:
I get what you're saying. I'd say its not about intellect. But rather, more about an optimal mix of rational and intuitive cognition. I don't sense he is especially emotional or spontaneous. That intuitive instinctual sense of the game can help at QB. It does not replace intelligence but rather enhances performance for a smart guy like Jake.

and of course, this is rank speculation from 1,000 miles away from someone who has never met the young man.
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Right, and my intention was never to suggest that Jake is "too intelligent" to be a QB. I don't think that's the case at all. Obviously intelligence is a valuable asset for any player on the football field. I guess I just wonder if Jake's intelligence combined with his personality is causing him to overthink things on the football field instead of just letting the game come to him. The mind is an incredibly powerful tool and there is absolutely something to be said about over-analyzing situations that really don't require that much complexity.
 
We saw the same thing from Utah's D that Iowa saw with Rudock for 2 years. DB's, safetys crowding the box and jumping the short throws and daring him to throw deep. Makes life pretty difficult until you prove you can take the cap off a defense consistently. He cant do it and other teams know it.
 
It does both, i.e. it helps him succeed at certain times and hurts him at other times. I would say he has done reasonably well to "think" his way through his play on the field but that can never substitute for raw talent. The best players don't consciously think about what they are doing once the ball is snapped, they just play and the very best players can do it in a way that allows them to stay relaxed so that their body can respond.

Body mechanics (muscle memory) can be improved by coaching and training but innate talent and physical ability cannot be acquired by studying a manual or playbook. In my view, Jake's play is usually "forced", he does not have the natural "flow" that the best players exhibit. It's not unlike the baseball pitcher that steers his pitches where he wants them to go - he is consciously trying to throw the ball and as a result he is unable to fully release the pitch. If you are constantly thinking of mechanics and what needs to be done to throw that pitch, you likely won't do it very well.
 
I'll take Terry Bradshaw any day over the really smart guy with a mediocre arm. He had enough intelligence to grasp the game plan and audible when necessary. Bradshaw could throw a frozen rope across the field on a 15 yard out and the DB, no matter how well he reacted, never had a chance to defend it. He could also throw deep with the best of them. Montana is the only one who people say had an average arm, but his anticipation and ability to get the ball out quickly to where the guy was going to be was uncanny. He was also one of the most accurate passers ever...ever notice how his receivers never broke stride on the slants and crossing patterns. Crazy...and his arm was underrated...imo.

Rudock reminds me of neither of those two types of QBs.
 
DP5555 said:
This is just something I was thinking over while watching him play for Michigan last night. It's not really an angle I ever looked at while he was the QB at Iowa, but in hindsight I believe there might be something to it. I apologize in advance if this gets kinda long. I'm just rambling my thoughts.

I work in healthcare and as an Outreach Clinic Manager my job is to help run University of Iowa physician clinics (all different kinds of providers). Most Doctors have a very business like mentality. They want to know what to expect. They want to know the percentages of risk/reward. They want to dissect everything possible in order to help make the best decisions they possibly can for their patients. It's their job to overthink things. I think Jake Rudock's mentality is perfect for someone who is going to become a physician.

However, I realized last night that this mentality may play a big role in why he has struggled with consistency on the field. He is so tightly wound that he's unable to relax. It seems like he overthinks things and then makes sudden decisions out of impulse. Everything seems very sudden. Oh I'm going to dump it off! Oh **** he's open down the field I better heave it! It seems to me like he's complicating the game of football instead of letting it come to him. Nothing about his play is smooth.

I also believe his tightly wound personality can negatively impact the play of those around him. Jake is all business all the time and I honestly think the biggest favor he could do for himself would be to take a big deep breath and relax. Have a little fun, enjoy the moment, soak in the atmosphere and play ball. I think there is a lot to be said about having a QB who is more laid back. Maybe he cracks jokes in the huddle. Maybe it's just the way he shrugs off mistakes. Maybe it's the way he interacts loosely with his teammates. I don't know, but based on the sound bytes that have come out of camp it sure seems like the Hawkeye players feel more relaxed with CJ at the helm. We'll see if there's anything to this whole hypothesis of mine.
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Watching Rudock last night, it's obvious that the offenses he's now been in (Iowa and Michigan) aren't suited to what he does best. The times when he has looked the most comfortable at Iowa and Michigan (against good competition) are in the no-huddle situations where he is in the shotgun every play and can make a quick plant and throw. The comeback against Wisconsin was by far Rudock ever played against a good opponent while at Iowa, and when Michigan finally went no-huddle in the 2-minute drill Rudock looked much more comfortable. Having him hand off out of the shotgun and then beat the opponent with big plays via the play-action pass is just not something he is all that good at. The lack of accuracy with the deep ball and the lack of arm strength when pressured makes him a bad fit in Iowa's offense lastyear and in Michigan's offense this year.
 
No.

His arm is weak and it leads to a lack of confidence in a pro-set offense. Riddick really needs to be running a spread out of the gun as mentioned above. He sucks at the dropback-and-chuck-it.

Andrew Luck is smarter than hell and he doesn't suffer the same issues.
 
Bohawk said:
Not kidding, I had this conversation with someone just last week. As crazy as it sounds, I think he is too smart to play the position and it's because of the risk/reward factors brought up in the original post. I compare him to Alex Smith, another guy known for his intelligence and another guy that refuses to throw down field.
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So, Bohawk, you need to be smart to do so much of what a QB needs to do, but don't be too smart or you won't be good at it? You need to be smart to see things quickly and to process what you see and then to make a decision and to execute it quickly and soundly. But don't be TOO smart or it will get in your way.

Anyone that is as smart as you guys are saying is also smart enough to take into account what you are saying is their weakness and then they would be able to figure out how to compensate for the shortcoming of being too smart for the job.

I think you guys that are hypothesizing that he is too smart are thinking too much. It isn't that difficult. Let me show you.

He doesn't have an accurate deep arm, like the poster in this thread mentions. It isn't that hard to see that and it has nothing to do with smarts. He doesn't throw that well on the run. At least he didn't last night. Smarts has nothing to do with that. Additionally, he is not currently a doctor, so he hasn't been trained to think like one. So, comparing his thought processes to that of a doctor and trying to explain away his shortcomings by saying he thinks too much like a doctor seems like a stretch to me.

Sometime people are not as good as we would like them to be for physical reasons, like not having a strong and accurate arm and not being good at throwing on the run, etc. Trying to say someone is too smart for something seems kind of silly to me. Like I said, if they were as smart as you are saying they would figure out a way to make sure being too smart didn't get in the way of them doing their job effectively.

Bohawk, I know you played QB at a juco and I never played high school football. But I also don't think that automatically makes what you are saying correct and I am not saying that you think it makes you automatically correct, either. It is a theory. I just don't think it is a good one in this instance. Bob Griese was known for being a smart guy. all the good QBs at Northwestern over the last ten years and the long line of QBs at Stanford seem to do pretty well at things that make QBs good.

Anyway, that is my two cents.
 
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Intelligence has nothing to do with his inability to make plays consistently.
It may be his personality.
For sure, a weak arm.
 
I think it's more his personality than his intelligence, as far as mental problems go. He can hit things within 15-20 yards, but outside of that, he's less than accurate. He knows this, and is very risk averse. So when looking at whether to try for the 30 or 40 yarder versus the 5 yard checkdown, he far more often chooses the checkdown.

In fact, thinking about it, it's the combination of all three things. He's smart enough to know his limitations, risk-averse enough to avoid situations where he's taking chances, and doesn't have the accuracy on the long balls to make up for it.

New theory: It's all three of these attributes that prevent him from success. Mediocre arm/accuracy on long balls, risk-aversion, intelligence.
 
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