1 of 1- DucksReign
- Banned
Offline - Registered: 12/29/2019
- Posts: 1,289
Oregon QB competition
I remember Chip Kelly once said while he was at Oregon in response to a QB competition question, "You cannot manufacture experience."
That is a perfect summary in a nutshell about the QB situation at Oregon at the moment.
Anthony Brown has thrown over 700 passes for nearly 5,000 yards in his college career. He is the only Oregon QB to take a snap in a college game. Experience matters.
Also as the article notes, there is a sense of urgency with this being his final year.
Personally I think it is his job to lose(which he could if you believe Cristobal) but for a QB with only high school game experience to overtake Brown between now and the first game... I just don't see it happening...it would require a simultaneous meteoric rise of one of the other QB's with an equally meteoric decline of Brown.
IF Brown wins the starting job and remains healthy I do think it is imperative that backups get game experiences for the following season.
- Jiffy Jeff
- Member
Offline
- From: Sherwood, OR
- Registered: 12/30/2019
- Posts: 588
Re: Oregon QB competition
I get that, but that philosophy is just a philosophy.
Helfrich blinked not once, but twice in falling prey to this line of thinking. He struck gold with VA but whiffed big time by sticking with Prukop as his starter when all the buzz from the players in fall camp was how much better Justin Herbert was playing.
Just because Brown has paid his dues and seems to be “rewarded” with the QB1 designation in Spring, I am hopeful that thinking does not carry over into fall camp. Shough last year was rewarded for his loyalty but never really found his footing and it cost the team as the season progressed. Hoping that one of the young guys can break away from the pack in the fall and force the coaches to go with the best man...
- DucksReign
- Banned
Offline
- Registered: 12/29/2019
- Posts: 1,289
Re: Oregon QB competition
Cristobal addresses those very issues in the article...his comments and those of Moorhead's are why I wrote what I did...he(Cristobal) is playing it close to the vest as expected because it is only Spring i.e. all QB's are getting equal reps; all do things well; all make mistakes and so on...but at this point Brown's experience clearly separates him from the others(if you believe the coaches)...right now...but a lot of time between now and first game.
Regardless Oregon will have its third different starting QB in 3-years and if Brown is it this year then next year it will be the fourth!
Otherwise Helfrich failed MISERABLY to recruit well and coach up high school QB recruits. So with the nationally hyped Oregon offense he had to go down a level in college football to find a QB not once but 2-years in a row in VA and Prukop??? That following a year where his QB won the Heisman???
Cristobal with maybe half the offensive glitter at best of Helfrich days, has a line of talented high school recruit QB's wanting to take the helm and yet MH couldn't even find one to wait in the shadow of Mariota.
I don't think VA was "gold"...I think he reflected a head coach who road the coattails of Chip Kelly his first 2 seasons and once his security blanket(Mariota) was gone, his incompentency was exposed.
- •
Thread Starter- OldMacManaic
- Member
Offline
- From: SWPDX
- Registered: 1/06/2020
- Posts: 497
Re: Oregon QB competition
it's not up to me, but I'll be far more comfortable come Sept w Brown at the helm when the Ducks play tOSU before 100k peeps in the Shoe. that would be quite the baptism for the younger guys.
************************************************************
there's substance to the argument that Helfrich and the UO staff failed to recruit and groom an heir to Marcus. in Helf's defense, he did recruit Mariota (and later Herbs, although that was a gimme). and develop Darron Thomas (27-3). there were sanctions limiting visits and eval days. and how many prospects were interested in being Marcus's understudy for two years?
more important, I think, is that the UO offense performed during 2015 and 2016 (when Cam Hunt wasn't killing drives w PF penalties). it was the D after Nick Aliotti retired that blew tires, not the axiomatic absence of a marquee quarterback.
2015 the secondary was greener than that pretty gal from the Bronx; Ifo, Troy Hill, and Erick Dargan having left. if 42 points by E. Wash in the opener wasn't a clue, then 300+ passing yards by Georgia State two weeks later was hard to miss. then came Utah and 62-20.
and then the UO secondary finally wore out after 105 plays and 2 OTs v Wazzu. Ducks win that game, they are P-12 North champions by virtue of W over Tree down on The Farm a month later. and meet the SC team they handled easily in Autzen for the P-12 title. and a trip to the Rose Bowl, where Tree mashed Iowa, leading 35-0 at half. (but my mind wanders, Carla Jean)
2016 was devastation of the defensive front seven: injuries, medical retirements, suspensions and dismissals. Cousin Itt Mondeaux was the only guy to start all 12 games for that unit. D could not stop the run or muster any kind of a pass rush. Ducks still won four games--gave away Buffs, Brasky, maybe Cal, and OS--hung 54 on Sparky in Autzen and stunned the Utes in Rice-E.
so . . . just too easy to put it all on Helf, or the QB situation. little lower layers here.
Last edited by OldMacManaic (4/23/2021 2:49 pm)
- DucksReign
- Banned
Offline
- Registered: 12/29/2019
- Posts: 1,289
Re: Oregon QB competition
It is easy to put it on Helf because he was the head coach and deserved to have it put on him.
I remember reading the article(see link below)in the Oregonian in disbelief at what had transpired with the program under his tenure...2016 was the grand finale.
All sorts of problems with players off the field... Helfraud hired Brady Hoke as his DC and in 30-years of coaching Hoke had never been a DC...someone who had access to practices told me under his first year as head coach all the players sprinted back to the LOS after each play just like under Chip...second year they jogged; third year they walked and fourth year they may or may not have even been at practice...2016 was the worst season in Oregon football since 1991...I am sorry but that is a little more than player injuries and graduation. Helfraud changed the ENTIRE culture of Oregon football and for the worse...to the point we still have not fully recovered.
What I find remarkable is all the excuses used to rationalize his performance.
This is what he did to Oregon football...
- •
Thread StarterTweet