RobHowe
Administrator
HN TV: Iowa Specialists Spring Practice
Tory Taylor, Aaron Blom, Drew Stevens from Saturday's Practice
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WATCH: All Spring Practice Live Scrimmage Reps
- Thread starter RobHowe
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After watching all the 11-on-11 QB plays by the 3 QBs as if I'd never seen any of them play in a game before, this is how I'd rank them:
1) Padilla. Seemed to have the best balance of accurate throws, pocket awareness, and ability to extend plays with his legs while keeping his eyes downfield.
2) Petras. A distant 2nd. Multiple inaccurate throws to wide-open receivers. Strong arm, but didn't connect on any long throws. Subpar pocket mobility and no natural ability to extend plays with his feet.
3) Labas. Not far behind Petras because of his mobility. Made some good throws, but has no internal clock of how much time he has to throw when in the pocket. Decent mobility and accuracy, but has a long wind-up throwing motion. Raw.
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While it could be said Petras was at a disadvantage because he had to go against the #1 defense, all 3 QBs faced considerable pocket pressure. It seemed like a good and fair test for all 3 QBs.
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If I was coach of Iowa's ball-control offense, the most concerning thing I saw on Saturday was the inaccuracy of Petras' throws. How many errant throws can a conservative offense experience and still be effective? My other thought about those throws is they were not difficult and not thrown under pressure -- throws pretty much any UNI QB or mid-major QB could regularly make.
1) Padilla. Seemed to have the best balance of accurate throws, pocket awareness, and ability to extend plays with his legs while keeping his eyes downfield.
2) Petras. A distant 2nd. Multiple inaccurate throws to wide-open receivers. Strong arm, but didn't connect on any long throws. Subpar pocket mobility and no natural ability to extend plays with his feet.
3) Labas. Not far behind Petras because of his mobility. Made some good throws, but has no internal clock of how much time he has to throw when in the pocket. Decent mobility and accuracy, but has a long wind-up throwing motion. Raw.
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While it could be said Petras was at a disadvantage because he had to go against the #1 defense, all 3 QBs faced considerable pocket pressure. It seemed like a good and fair test for all 3 QBs.
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If I was coach of Iowa's ball-control offense, the most concerning thing I saw on Saturday was the inaccuracy of Petras' throws. How many errant throws can a conservative offense experience and still be effective? My other thought about those throws is they were not difficult and not thrown under pressure -- throws pretty much any UNI QB or mid-major QB could regularly make.
Certainly an argument could be made that the 3 most important players on any recent Iowa team are the punter, FG kicker & QB. If those 3 positions are elite, you can bet the Hawks are going to have a good season.
Padilla looked pretty good. Petras had some good passes and all three of his long balls might have been complete to a receiver like Keegan who seems to have the ability to high point a ball as the throws were close to the receiver. But I think it was the 2nd pass to GWilliams to the left about 5 yards downfield was way high which was a bad throw. Later a pass to the back of the end zone was high again and the receiver was open so that was a missed TD, and then Petras and Bruce were not on the same page on one quick out.
But Petras needs to get those really high throws down as they are the kind that get intercepted.
I would always tell baseball players I coached when making a throw to a cutoff guy or a base to keep the throw down because it can be caught on a hop where a super high throw has no chance of being caught.
But Petras needs to get those really high throws down as they are the kind that get intercepted.
I would always tell baseball players I coached when making a throw to a cutoff guy or a base to keep the throw down because it can be caught on a hop where a super high throw has no chance of being caught.
And I'm guessing if the guy had been in the program for 4 years and continued to consistently overthrow the cut-off guy you would be a tad bit pissed.
I agree with you as two or three of Petras's throws were really high due to whatever, pressure around him which was hard to see with the low camera angle, some bad footwork or what. But Petras needs to keep those throws down. One was a missed TD in the back of the endzone.
Padilla looked comfortable and pretty one target. He had a lot of wobbly passes last year I thought and it was hard to tell in this video if his passes were a tighter spiral.
Yes, Petras's weakest part of his game is the inconsistency. He can throw the ball great for 2 or 3 drives then he just loses his touch for 3 to 5 throws. Those 3 high inaccurate throws in a spring controlled scrimmage did not instill confidence.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I thought he was supposed to have some mobility.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I think Petras is a nervous Nelly in the pocket with happy feet. He needs to trust the pocket and and have the game slow down for him.
