Jake Rudock > Beathard > Sokol on 4/14/13

SamsonHawk515

SamsonHawk515

Well-Known Member
While attending Iowa's practice on 4/14 my main focus was the QB battle taking place in Iowa City. As the day began it was hard to evaluate who was greater than whom, but as the day developed two QBs stood out and one looked nervous and off his game.

Rudock looked the most comfortable as the practice progressed and was able to fit some of his throws into tight spots. Once he was able to develop a rhythm he looked extremely comfortable in the offense and made throws the other QBs were unable to complete.

Beathard looked like he has a bright future and certainly has a strong arm he made a couple of nice throws around the goal line.

Sokol looked amiss today he bobbled a snap and was unable to complete throws he should have made.
With this being said, a strong wind wreaked havoc on the deep ball today with only one throw over 25 yards falling into the hands of an Iowa WR. This was a throw from Rudock to Tevaun Smith who, along with Shumphert and McCarron saw most of the first team reps.

Martin-Manley was returning punts at the beginning of the practice, but saw little action in 7 on 7 and full team practice. This was a bit concerning and made me question if he might be a bit dinged up. Jordan Cotton also saw limited action on the day, but when on the field made some of the most memorable catches of the day. CJ looked like a monster and was much more involved in the Offense it looked as if specific plays were run directly to him.

One thing I took away from the practice was each QB ran with all three teams. This has to be difficult for a QB to develop timing with WRs because you never know who you will be throwing too. Overall, Iowa looked as if they are ready to shake off one of the most disappointing seasons in Hawkeye history. If not, the seat only gets hotter for Kirk and crew in IC.

Samson Out.
 
Watching the drills in the beginning I was liking beathard but I thought he had a hard time finding receivers live. For me I would have him third but this was a pretty short sample size. For the other two I couldn't really distinguish. I think all three are young and I would keep things fairly simple for them this year.
 
Opinions do vary.... My thoughts were different than yours. I thought Sokol looked the better. He seemed like the one playing with more experience, and he does have significantly more experience than the others. He has quicker feet and a release that is good and fast. He also threw a deep ball better than the others. At least his balls were thrown more in stride, while receivers had to wait for the ball from the other QBs. But wind was definitely a factor today.

Ruddock started off slow, having several bad throws in a row. But did look to calm down.

CJBeth has potential. Not writing him off at all.

There is one glaring problem for these 3, the receivers still have this problem when the ball hits them in the hands - they cannot catch it. That said, CJFed looked good, Duzey has potential (surprised he jumped Hamilton). Our TEs, if they can block, will be huge.... McCarron was the only somewhat bright spot for the WRs, and they say the freshman has had a good spring so far... We need one or two of the newbie recruits to step it up this summer/fall. Hopefully the JUCO fella can catch(and run the correct route), too.

I thought all 3 QBs looked ok. Which is good, as none of them looked bad. But nobody is taking the #1 spot anytime soon. This will be decided in the fall.

One thing I will add that I noticed, and that I very much liked, all the QBs were looking off the receivers. Whether that was checking off or finding a secondary receiver, they all did that during the multiple-set passing drills. Very happy to see that being taught by coach Davis... I am so desperate for a QB that can check off, it is driving me nuts. It has been years since Drew Tate ran the show, and he was the last Hawkeye QB to be able to do that...
 
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I'm excited to watch the QB play this coming fall. I'm confident that our QB play can't be any worse than last year. It's also been a while since we didn't know what to expect at all from the QB position. I do hope that Ferentz will give all three a legitimate shot if one doesn't stand out going into the season. I was really high on Rudock when we recruited him so I hope he can be successful and surprise us this season.
 
I think I would probably lean towards Sokol....but I would not feel comfortable making that decision based on just today and most others prob wouldn't either. No one really stands out too much at this point
 
WRs will certainly be a question mark this year as nobody at practice today seemed to really stand out.

As Hawktech stated, McCarron aka mini Wes Welker looked comfortable in the slot and had nice separation at times.

The edge is a concern I didn't see a lot of separation when Iowa's number one corners were matched up against the number one WRs.

I think this is the reason Iowa has a boat load of WRs coming to town in their most recent recruiting class.
 
HawkeyeMHA said:
I think I would probably lean towards Sokol....but I would not feel comfortable making that decision based on just today and most others prob wouldn't either. No one really stands out too much at this point
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and i thought brethrd looked the best. its going to be a battle between breathered and sokol
 
I think Rudock will end up being the starter coming out of fall camp unless somebody really separates themselves from the rest. KF won't turn into Paul Rhoads and pull the trigger every time the wind blows, however, i do think if Rudock struggles for long stretches they will go with someone else.
 
trj said:
I think Rudock will end up being the starter coming out of fall camp unless somebody really separates themselves from the rest. KF won't turn into Paul Rhoads and pull the trigger every time the wind blows, however, i do think if Rudock struggles for long stretches they will go with someone else.
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That's my opinion as well, Rudock was first up in most of the drills followed by Sokol and then Beathard.

Unless one of the three clearly separates from the pack conservative Kirk likely goes with the guy who has been on campus the longest.
 
With no one standing above the rest I look for the upper classman to get the job and no one else to get a snap all year long barring injury.
 
I think the fact that so many people see one qb standing out a little bit more than another is a good indication that they are all pretty close right now.
 
This will take some time to sort out I think and just because one may start the first game, don't think that it will be final
 
I think at this point in their careers that are all very average, not necessarily due to talent and skill but age and experience more so. I kind of like Sokol because he does have the juco experience. I think you have them play within the system and keep it simple. I don't think any of them are mannings at this point so realize that and adapt for that as much as possible.
 
How will this play out is what I want to know. It seems to me that no matter witch one starts out the year #1 inevitably they will struggle. So question is will Coach have a quick hook with having 2 other qbs that don't seem to be far behind. And I'm saying this regardless of witch ever order you jumble up the 3 of em. Or will he give him the Jake C treatment and play him what ended up being way too long before giving Stanzi the reigns? I hope it doesn't come to anything close to that. It's just shaping up that history possibly could repeat itself curious how coach might handle it.
 
I was there for the practice in WDM and I haven't seen what most others have been saying apart from a quick check of Twitter last night.

Overall none of them did anything that separated themselves, but I would say Rudock > Sokol > Beatherd.

In the early passing drills I thought Rudock looked the "best", but none of them looked poor.
The one thing I did notice was that I was able to tell who was throwing without seeing the number on the jersey. Sokol is all arm, he does a poor job of using his lower body when throwing. Sokol also drops his elbow a lot and sidearms some of his passes, which could be a problem if we are throwing a lot of short routes with D-line and LBs in close proximity. Beathard may have a strong arm but his release is noticeably slower than the other two. Rudock was hands down better in the live drills and the practice in going through his progressions. Beathard really struggled with this part.
 
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