The Odds: Stanzi Better in 2010

I also think having both DJK and McNutt on the field(fingers crossed) for an entire year will be huge. Yeah losing Moeki hurts but doesn't Reisner have pretty good hands as well? If Davis develops like he should they could be pretty darn good in the pass attack if he has time to throw it.
 
I think Jon is spot on ... especially the competition factor. JV proved he is a viable option for the Hawks, and will push Stanzi. Stanzi is an experienced QB with quite an upside.
 
I think that because of legit competition Rick will improve. I think that with having another offseason Rick will improve. I think that the odds of having another INT to pass attempt ratio like this year is statistically improbable.

I don't want to come off as too critical because I can see where you are going with that summary, but just to offer a counter-point for consideration...

Weren't the same elements in play going into 2008 with Jake? We didn't know Stanzi would push him like we know VB potentially can, but it happened. Another off-season looked to be promising for him to grow more. Odds were he was going to improve...in theory. Jake was tagged with that "intangible it" on more than one occasion.

I guess in my mind it's less of an "odds are" scenario and more of a "can he grow" scenario...can he grow into some more mature aspects of the game (looking off defenders, pump-faking, pocket presence, stop throwing into coverage as much). Can he better understand the offense and how to read defenses. Can he learn how to better take care of the football.

All of which remains to be seen in 2010. I'd probably be looking retrospectively at how he grew from game one of 2009 to the bowl game and where he didn't grow and analyzing those things going into next year.
 
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Jake hadn't shown a consisent ability to get past the skip pass. Rick has shown all of the elements and skills of a first team all big ten qb. He just needs to be consistent. Jake never showed that

and egami, you don't have to preface posts by saying things like 'i am not trying to be hyper critical'. You are who you are; don't hide from it ;-)
 
I don't want to come off as too critical because I can see where you are going with that summary, but just to offer a counter-point for consideration...

Weren't the same elements in play going into 2008 with Jake? We didn't know Stanzi would push him like we know VB potentially can, but it happened. Another off-season looked to be promising for him to grow more. Odds were he was going to improve...in theory. Jake was tagged with that "intangible it" on more than one occasion.

I guess in my mind it's less of an "odds are" scenario and more of a "can he grow" scenario...can he grow into some more mature aspects of the game (looking off defenders, pump-faking, pocket presence, stop throwing into coverage as much). Can he better understand the offense and how to read defenses. Can he learn how to better take care of the football.

All of which remains to be seen in 2010. I'd probably be looking retrospectively at how he grew from game one of 2009 to the bowl game and where he didn't grow and analyzing those things going into next year.

Can he win games? YES. That much we know. Jake, not so much. If he limits the mistakes next year, which I think he will, we start laying the wood to teams instead of eeking by them like this year.
 
Interesting. The intent of my "Vandenberg moves in..." post was to make the point that the coaches won't hesitate to go to Vandenberg if they believe he gives them the best chance to win. Odds are certainly in Ricky's favor and he'll likely lead us to a very exciting year, but if he struggles...
 
Almost all of the ints were on the same play. If Stanzi learns improves that read/throw in the off-season or the coaching staff makes some adjustments his stats will go up.
 
Jake hadn't shown a consisent ability to get past the skip pass. Rick has shown all of the elements and skills of a first team all big ten qb. He just needs to be consistent. Jake never showed that

Yeah...but, that isn't what was being said going into that season which is the point.
 
Yeah...but, that isn't what was being said going into that season which is the point.


You're right, but that's just what everyone was SAYING about Jake, with nothing to really back it up. Good or bad Ricky, he has proven to be a winner. That is a fact, not just conjecture. He IS a proven commodity. I think that is the biggest difference between these two situations.

Personally, I'd be just fine if Ricky played next year the way he played this year. Yeah, the Rick 6's were very painful, but the guy WINS.
 
I believe the fact that Stanzi was very sharp to start the game is evidence that he will be much better next year. He had the one bad throw which was intercepted for 6 but he recovered nicely from that. Also I would kind of hope Mr. O'Keefe gets a little less predictable with his playcalling next year. They should be able to open the playbook a little more with Stanzi at the helm next year.
 
You're right, but that's just what everyone was SAYING about Jake, with nothing to really back it up. Good or bad Ricky, he has proven to be a winner. That is a fact, not just conjecture. He IS a proven commodity. I think that is the biggest difference between these two situations.

Personally, I'd be just fine if Ricky played next year the way he played this year. Yeah, the Rick 6's were very painful, but the guy WINS.

Absolutely, he has won, I am not arguing the fact that he has won. But even that alone isn't a substantive argument for him to have success next year. See 2006 Chicago Bears and how that QB situation turned out in 2007.
 
Assuming the new offensive linemen develop, I don't think Stanzi or Iowa have ceilings next year!
 
You're gonna get sick of this: Stanzi will get better when he has better receivers to throw to. When the runners get better. When the offense doesn't depend as much on him.
 
I think there are two things that are constant about Iowa fans...there will always be a large contingent calling for KOK's job...and as soon as things head South those same fans will call for the backup quarterback.

Brad Banks only played one year and never experienced what it's like to be judged by Iowa fans after losing some games that "he shouldn't have lost". After Banks I watched from the stands as fans called for Tate > Chandler which led to Christiansen > Tate which led to Manson > Christiansen which led to Stanzi > Christiansen...I hope that we go undefeated next year but if things go South I really don't want to have to listen to JVB > Stanzi. Stanzi has earned the right to be the starting qb for this team...and if a couple of games go the wrong way...well sometimes that just happens and it doesn't mean we need to change the quarterback and fire the offensive coordinator.

That being said...I think JVB can be better than Stanzi once he gets his chance (if he gets the nod over Weinke who I don't know much about). Two things that have stuck out to me with regard to Stanzi:

1.) He can put touch on his passes like nobody's business.
2.) The Rick 6's are as much a product of his lacking arm strength in the fastball department as anything. (IMO his arm is more like Alfonso Soriano's than Carlos Zambrano's)

JVB has shown that he has the ability to throw the fastball and I think that it's much easier to develop touch than fastball strength...but the ability to put touch on the ball is far more important than fastball strength (see Jake Christiansen).

Ultimately...I think that Stanzi's lack of fastball strength on out routes kills his pro chances. The hash marks are even closer to the middle on pro fields meaning that you need an ever better fastball to throw those out routes and I don't think that you can hide that as a pro quarterback.
 
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