Mark Gronowski talks about disappointing first start,













HawkeyeFever said:
Well spoken, took accountability, and gave his teammates credit. I am going to write this one off as first game jitters.
I think we will see a marked improvement in the passing game against the Clones.
More tight end involvement and a focus on stopping the run (ISU always stacks the box) will help.
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It occurs to me that if our QB had this kind of performance against a power 5 team, I would be very concerned. However, since he played a team that was the level of his previous experience, when he was incredibly successful, I can simply chalk this poor performance up to a couple of variables. He was nervous as a whore in church. He had not played in a game environment like Kinnick. He hasn't played a game, period, in about a year. He is coming off surgery. He and his receivers have not worked together when the bullets are flying. Mark is no dummy. He is a proven product who could have opted for the nfl draft. I feel bad for him, but to put him in the Cade Mc. basket would be really, really stupid. I am anxious to see the next couple of games.

We have an outstanding QB coach/O coordinator. He will fix a lot of the issues this week.
 




HuckFinn said:
It occurs to me that if our QB had this kind of performance against a power 5 team, I would be very concerned. However, since he played a team that was the level of his previous experience, when he was incredibly successful, I can simply chalk this poor performance up to a couple of variables. He was nervous as a whore in church. He had not played in a game environment like Kinnick. He hasn't played a game, period, in about a year. He is coming off surgery. He and his receivers have not worked together when the bullets are flying. Mark is no dummy. He is a proven product who could have opted for the nfl draft. I feel bad for him, but to put him in the Cade Mc. basket would be really, really stupid. I am anxious to see the next couple of games.

We have an outstanding QB coach/O coordinator. He will fix a lot of the issues this week.
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Damn, he was rather nervous
 




The what if of this season to me may end up being what if Iowa just kept Brenden Sullivan instead? It woulda been yr 2 for him under Lester he wouldn't have had the first game/big game jitters Mark evidently had. He's no less athletic probably more so then Mark. Sullivan went to Tulane and got beat out by a pretty good QB for that job so he left to go be a backup pretty much.

Yes this is week 1 everything is one big over reaction but man... Mark looked bad. That underthrown ball intended for Phillips in the endzone was as bad of a throw as you'll ever see a D1 qb make. So the coaches lost confidence and turtled up. They just decided to run it damn near most of the time what'd they have a 3-1 run to pass ratio or some shit? We all know that's not sustainable. Yeah we can beat Albany doing that but can we beat ISU on the road doing that? And if that's how you're gonna play why pay a transfer QB a million bucks to just hand off all the time?

So I don't know. This isn't ideal and coaches had to have left that game less then relieved. The saving grace is the Oline looks fantastic. Better then advertised. RBs as well even though they are down 1 they all seem legit. WRs we just don't know yet cause how could we?
 


Albany ran a ton of Cover 3. I imagine even when we wanted to throw, it made it tough. We ran for 300+ yards and it was basically there all day. I sense Iowa once we woke up and took the lead was more about probing and running specific plays with different personnel.

Yes, Mark didn't look great. He missed some throws badly. The one to Washington Jr. and the other he missed to a wide open receiver in the end zone were bad. However, I cannot see a quarterback that has 50 wins (FCS or not) continuing to play so poorly.

I thought he looked good on the RPO and called runs he had. I imagine IF he continues to struggle, Hank will transition to QB1. I have concern but I am not losing my mind over one game.

I'm more concerned about our defense. Iowa State seems to be running on all cylinders. Our first half against Albany was not flattering specifically pass defense. I did think they made some good adjustments in the 2nd half. Guess we will see Saturday.
 


thedukeofearl said:
Damn, he was rather nervous
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This is really weird considering he was a multi-year starter and reward winner at SDSU, winning championships even, and had played at Kininick before when SDSU played in Iowa City, and he had beaten Albany before in the FCS playoffs.

Yet he was obviously nervous.
 


I think we can give the kid a pass, but he does need to work through those jitters and deliver the ball better.

Even if he never gets any better, he is still much better than anything we have had since Stanley. At least this kid can use his legs and make plays. And, he is a big boy. I am still optimistic for the year. The line and running game were a beast. Gron doesn't have to be great, just good enough in the passing game.
 


Hawkfnntn said:
The what if of this season to me may end up being what if Iowa just kept Brenden Sullivan instead? It woulda been yr 2 for him under Lester he wouldn't have had the first game/big game jitters Mark evidently had. He's no less athletic probably more so then Mark. Sullivan went to Tulane and got beat out by a pretty good QB for that job so he left to go be a backup pretty much.

Yes this is week 1 everything is one big over reaction but man... Mark looked bad. That underthrown ball intended for Phillips in the endzone was as bad of a throw as you'll ever see a D1 qb make. So the coaches lost confidence and turtled up. They just decided to run it damn near most of the time what'd they have a 3-1 run to pass ratio or some shit? We all know that's not sustainable. Yeah we can beat Albany doing that but can we beat ISU on the road doing that? And if that's how you're gonna play why pay a transfer QB a million bucks to just hand off all the time?

So I don't know. This isn't ideal and coaches had to have left that game less then relieved. The saving grace is the Oline looks fantastic. Better then advertised. RBs as well even though they are down 1 they all seem legit. WRs we just don't know yet cause how could we?
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Sully showed us his ceiling. It was relatively low. He was never going to be anything but average, if that. What we saw from MG Saturday was his floor. I still think that he has a lot of upside to his game.

Even if he doesn't get materially better as a passer, Sully wasn't any better through the air. Both are guys are good runners, but Gron is a tank and Sully could not stay healthy.

Its early, but I still think that Lester and KF made the right choice on who to get and start. Just gotta coach this kid up!!
 


NorthKCHawk said:
Sully showed us his ceiling. It was relatively low. He was never going to be anything but average, if that. What we saw from MG Saturday was his floor. I still think that he has a lot of upside to his game.

Even if he doesn't get materially better as a passer, Sully wasn't any better through the air. Both are guys are good runners, but Gron is a tank and Sully could not stay healthy.

Its early, but I still think that Lester and KF made the right choice on who to get and start. Just gotta coach this kid up!!
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Agreed. He runs well and aggressively. Doesn't go down. BUT has more physical build to run that way in contrast to Sully. I think we will see marked improvement each week. I mean, if what we saw was his floor, I guess the sky is the limit. And as previously mentioned, still better than most of the QB's we have seen of late.
 






After watching a lot of FB this weekend, I've concluded that MG will be a big improvment but some of these mobile athletic QBs are amazing. He's not like the QBs from UM, MSU, FSU, etc.

I imagined him getitng up last saturday AM, with out much sleep, pounding energy drinks, filled with excitment, watching games on TV, more energy drinks, gets to the stadium and can't think clearly, the mind just does not see what it needs to see (fight/flight/blind rage), tunnel vision.

What surprised me is playing FB on saturday is not new to him and there are bigger games on the schedule than that game. Much bigger games. So that part of it does not make sense. It only makes sense in the cotext of hypled up influnced by subjstances.
 


NCHawker said:
After watching a lot of FB this weekend, I've concluded that MG will be a big improvment but some of these mobile athletic QBs are amazing. He's not like the QBs from UM, MSU, FSU, etc.

I imagined him getitng up last saturday AM, with out much sleep, pounding energy drinks, filled with excitment, watching games on TV, more energy drinks, gets to the stadium and can't think clearly, the mind just does not see what it needs to see (fight/flight/blind rage), tunnel vision.

What surprised me is playing FB on saturday is not new to him and there are bigger games on the schedule than that game. Much bigger games. So that part of it does not make sense. It only makes sense in the cotext of hypled up influnced by subjstances.
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The kickoff time probably did not help. An 11 am kick would have given him less time in his head.

He has already played more football than most college players ever will, albeit at a lower level. He wasn't under particular pressure by the D, he just yipped a few throws. That is fixable. He didn't forget how to throw a spiral since he hoisted the FCS trophy last year. Lester will coach him up and instill confidence.
 


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