I'm not really mad about this season anymore. Its hard to be mad when you know the end result, and that result is that we are dealing with the reality we actually have a bad team this year that isn't going to make that last ditch stretch at the end to save its bowl life. Or at least it certainly appears they don't even believe in themselves anymore and have given up as a team. Credit to a few for keeping some life, like Willis and Peoples, but as a whole, it feels like the offseason has already started, and its going to be a very long one.
With that said, the one thing that is actually truly frustrating me this year is the complete misuse of Quincy Patterson during his use in the allotted games to keep his redshirt. Namely, the inability to draw up any kind of passing game to get him going. Some are going to chalk this up to the fact he just looks terrible out there, but I strongly disagree. He isn't being given the opportunity to show what he has. And most concerning to me, this is now a trend we have with our backup QBs.
2016 - Motley with 20 pass attempts. 9 of which came in the first game, and averaged only 3 attempts in his appearances after.
2017 - Bush 11 pass attempts on the year. Coaches showed so little faith they forced Jackson to play on one leg the second half of the year. Has 1,000 passing yards on the season in 2018.
2018 - Willis had 7 attempts against W&M before taking over when Jackson got hurt. Hooker has 0 attempts, and Patterson has 5.
From this I have only 2 thoughts. 1 - our backups consistently suck at throwing the ball, and we're just doing what we can to have success. Or, and I find this more likely 2 - we are intentionally using our backups only as a running threat, and not preparing them to lead the offense as a passer. We don't give them a playbook with effective passing attacks, and only use them for a specialized wildcat formation. I mean QP is an Elite 11 QB, he's already proven himself as an elite passer by the people paid to evaluate that, and the second he steps on the field, he looks like he doesn't know what to do at VT. I don't get it at all, he not only should be better than this, but he's proven that he is better than that. So what gives here?
Its a trend at this point, and a very concerning one. Fuente is supposed to be this QB guru, and yet it seems like every year they focus all their training resources on the guy they deem to be the starter, and the others can work on handing the ball off. At this point, what happens if Willis gets hurt? Are we just going to have Hooker and Patterson out there handing the ball off for the rest of the game? Because at this point, it looks like that's all that they're being groomed to do. I can't shake the feeling that we're completely wasting a year of development on an elite recruit because of roster mismanagement by the staff. Anyone else feeling the same, or am I way off here?
Comments
The problem is that playing 2 quarterbacks is never logical. If QP comes in with the same playbook as Willis, yet Willis is currently the better QB, then why bring QP in at all? A package makes the most sense but yesterday it felt very poorly planned. The only other thing I can think of is that the coaches may be using the sideline time to coach up Willis as much as any rational defined goal from playing QP outside of maximizing the free 4 games to knock a little rust off.
The coaching-up-Willis theory is what I had been assuming with QP's first couple appearances, particularly in the UNC game, but I'm not so sure after yesterday. Willis appeared to be doing pretty well at the times Quincy came in. I was scratching my head on those situations.
QP coming in made ZERO sense during the Pitt game. Willis didn't appear to be winded or to need to be briefed on special plays. Instead we ran in a QB that made Pitt completely disregard the pass and completely disrupted the offenses flow. Willis then had to pull off 3rd and longs.
As much as I had to say it, it was BAD COACHING. I don't blame QP, I don't blame Willis.
I've felt this way about the offense all season. I don't know if its the execution or what but it doesn't feel like the first two season where we were constantly calling plays to set up plays. This year seems like someone is on the sidelines with a chance wheel, "No whammies, no whammies, anddddd alright send out QP for a run"
The QP package is "We can't run traditionally, we need a running QB so we can get that extra blocker."
So of course when he's in, we are running. It's not slight of hand. He's in the game so we can see if we can bang out 4 yards a run with relatively high probability. Looked good vs. UNC. Looked bad vs. Pitt.
Hopefully, you pop enough of those 4 yarders that they overcommit and he can throw over the top to someone wide open.
But if we are putting QP in now to run RW's package, that's stupid. He can't pass that well.
Why not use Hooker instead of potentially burning QP's redshirt?
According to the coaches (which makes sense) if Hooker gets injured in a limited package and then Willis gets injured we're only left with QP.
.... So burn the redshirt because there is a chance Hooker might get hurt and then we'd have to burn the shirt?
Edit:
I
didn'tdid say it made sense. I'm just relaying what Fuente said after the BC game.They are using QP instead of Hendon because they don't want Hendon to get injured in a limited package.
You would think they would be more concerned about QP getting injured in a limited (and ill-timed) set.
People keep acting like it's a given we're going to burn his redshirt.
You forget to mention that Willis is the backup and has done a decent job slinging the rock.
Sure, once Jackson was injured and he took over
Which means he was prepared as a backup. I'm not sure what you're expecting from QP and the staff. He's a true freshman. Reading college defenses is much harder than high school. Most people on here had wished that TT had gotten a redshirt year and he was a 5 star recruit. With regard to HH, maybe he just doesn't get it and some qbs don't. It happens all across college football.
Was he really, though? That 4th quarter after Jackson got hurt saw us outscored 28-7. Our offense stagnated while ODU crushed us. We needed to keep attacking and we failed.
Willis has been pretty good the rest of the year, but that first game against ODU was rough.
Nobody was good that game.
Willis came in with about 12:40 left in the 4th Q, game tied 28-28. VT punted in his first series.
ODU: 5 plays, 67 yards, TD. 35-28.
VT: Willis leads 7 play, 75 yard TD drive. Tie game 35-35.
ODU: 8 plays, 75 yards, TD. 42-35.
VT: Willis leads 44 yard drive that stalls on ODU 21.
ODU: 6 plays, 79 yards, TD. 49-35.
VT: Willis gets the ball back, down 14 with 1:34 left. Drives 50 yards and clock runs out.
JJ in 3 quarters: 8/16, 151, 2 TD, 1 INT
Willis in 1 quarter: 9/18, 131, 1 TD
Keep attacking? What's the guy supposed to do?
Good topic.
Im very concerned with the QB position. Our offense has been so underwhelming from every position group it would be difficult for any QB to succeed. No run game, no pass protection, wrs dropping passes, wrs not blocking, bad snaps, head scratching play calls. I feel bad for JJ and Willis because neither has been given a good chance to succeed.
Willis is struggling with the reads. He throws a good deep fade but has been very inconsistent throwing the slant, deep post, and out route. JJ wasn't very good with reads last year either plus he lacked the speed to even force the D to respect the keeper and he couldn't stretch the field with his arm. We know nothing about Hooker other than the coaches trust him even less. I don't buy what the coaches are saying about not risking injury to the backup. If Hooker gets hurt, then Willis plays out the rest of the way. To burn QPs redshirt, Willis and Hooker will have both had to suffer injuries. It matters not what order they get hurt in.
Others have began saying this, but I won't be convinced QP is going to save VT until I actually see QP play well. Being an Elite 11 QB does not guarantee he will be a good college QB. Go look at the past classes of Elite 11 QBs. Lots of them didn't have success in college. Seems like a great kid and great ambassador for VT but let's not put the carriage in front of the horse. Even if he lives up to they hype, he can't erase the multitude of errors also occurring on offense.
All of our offense coaches need to find some answers this offseason. QP isn't going to solve this.
Agree with what you say on erasing the errors. My impression was that Fuente was brought in to implement an effective scheme, where all the pieces worked together to create an effective offense. Expecting QP to come in and suddenly cure/offset scheme or execution errors is basically the staff admitting we have a Stiney offense played mostly out of the shotgun that still relies on a dynamic QB to be the equalizer. That's scary to me.
To who? The fans? When it comes to the coaches, I'm certain QP has been given the opportunity to show what he has in practice.
QP was known to have accuracy issues coming out of high school and it was apparent that he wasn't someone who was going to come in ready to play college football on day 1. He's going to need a few years to progress to the point where he can take on the starting role. You know, like most high school QB's. He isn't Tua, or Trevor Lawrence, or Justin Fields. I'm sure he's going to be a solid QB for us, but not this season and probably not next season. Let's just put the brakes on the hype and let him improve on his own time instead of begging for him to be thrown into the fire before he's ready.
I ant think of any other Elite 11 quarterbacks that have ever been used in strictly a Wildcat package their freshman year
Tim Tebow
I guess that counts
Eh...
He was still 22/33 with 5 passing touchdowns in 2006. So I wouldn't say he was used solely in the running game and that's probably why it worked.
QP is, at best, Nick Fitzgerald.
There has been a lot of clamoring for QP, but I'm not so sure we are ready for it. That Miss St offense is fun when it going well, but when it's not, it's like a wagon with square wheels.
Motley was kind of a recruiting miss. Mike O'Cain recruited him, which is kind of weird... His high school program ran the Wing T or something similar. That is a MAJOR jump to anything other than the Triple Option (or Spread Option as PJ calls it). He may have been a pretty good QB at GT (from which he had an offer).
I'm gonna just say that the qp plays in the red zone were ridiculously stupid. That was clear. But step back. To even imagine that that is even close to one the most concerning issues for our team is comical. Our defense is a wet paper bag soaked in hydrocloric acid. Rotting to bits of dust. So yeah. Qp management has been strange/ bad. Whatever you want to call it. But nowhere near the top of the list of concerns.
While I agree that the mismanagement of QP's redshirt is frustrating, I'll focus on the larger issue you discussed:
I think you're missing some context here:
Honestly, this doesn't concern me much. I'm curious what percent of programs have a second string QB who knows the whole playbook.
Let's not forget that QP enrolled in the fall as well. He didn't have spring to get ready or compete.
While I agree it is head scratching at times the plays they draw up for QP, especially yesterday as everyone and their mom knew what was coming and we needed to score and were in the red zone. Seemed like we just wasted a couple plays. But I think the bigger plan is to get him experience. Any experience. If we were up by 34 then shire let him come in and run a few series, but we weren't.
I think they are at a point where they want to get him used to college game speed and so they are getting him game experience when they can. We'll see how it all shakes out in the spring but people expecting QP to come in and dominate after only enrolling in the fall are mistaken.
Give him his due. Depending on how spring goes he'll be back up next year with the expectation to start the next or he'll win the starting job and start next year.
I think we're giving game speed reps to QP that he would have gotten during bowl prep/game (and may yet still get). He may not be ready to run the whole offense but he needs to see the field.
They know he's the future and they know this team may not make a bowl.
I don't get the QP run game use, if that's all our backup is going to do. Hooker is an explosive athlete whose been through 2 springs and a fall practice. I really hope we don't lose him because I think he's a big time talent.
I get the QP hype, but he is not the most 'twitchy' athlete at qb and has accuracy issues at this point. I'd like to know what the coaches are thinking in terms of whose really #2 behind Willis
2 springs and a fall practice, but has he even attempted a pass in a game? Maybe he's not progressing as planned. One press conference I recall Fuente saying Corn asked for QP to come in, there's probably a reason for that
Job security.
right on right on...I'd rather bring on Hooker and run the bootleg maybe like he did against W&M...have a feeling hooker is going to transfer if things are going this way. Fuente blamed him for the bad snap which was on Hoyt.
If you watch in slow motion it was bad but not as bad as it looked at full speed. It was headed right for Hooker's face and Hooker deflected it over his his own head. I took some screenshots and drew a circle around the ball and traced its path. You can see it sharply changes trajectory when it hits his hands.
via GIPHY
Further - it looks as if there has been an increased weight on the QB being able to run the ball. Willis was our leading rusher vs. Pitt. and they have typically been a leading rusher.
Here's QB rushing data for Fuente's teams since his time as Co-OC at TCU. Not sure what to make of it.
Wow. I did not see this coming.
The number 1 rusher on this VT squad isn't getting nearly enough carries. I'm as much or more concerned about our RB use.
As you should be.
What sucks most for me is that we have two and maybe three games left and he has only one left......and nobody knows anymore about his ability than they did before he wasted three games.