PFF ranked all 130 starting qbs for the 2020 season. Hendon Hooker came in at #35 -
"Hooker played reasonably well during his time as the Virginia Tech starter. He produced a 76.6 passing grade from Week 6 on, tied for 38th in the FBS over that span, and he also limited uncatchable throws downfield. Hooker routinely made great throws outside the numbers and was actually fifth in college football in his time as the starter in passing grade on such throws. However, we need to see him make more throws over the middle of the field."
Sam Howell at #4 is some pretty high praise... and SEC freshman of the year Bo Nix at #95 made me do a double take. They aren't high on him at all.
https://www.pff.com/news/college-football-quarterback-rankings-all-130-fbs-starters
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I'm dubious of some of the metrics they value in regards to PFF's QB ratings. There is also no adjustment for level of competition.
However, I don't disagree with Howell being high rated and Bo Nix being low rated as passers. Bo Nix is more "playmaker" than QB at this point in his development. Howell is a good ways ahead of him in terms of development as a passer.
I am convinced Nix isn't good. I believe he completed 48% of his passes against P5 competition. As to the rankings, hard to see Plumlee from Ole Miss, who is essentially a RB, and Chase Brice ahead of Hooker.
Also interesting to note that the ACC has 9 of the top 40 QBs on this list. In another thread awhile back people talked about the worsening QB play in the ACC but it seems it might be back on the way up.
This goes back to my point for having no way to adjust their metrics for competition. Nix faced a LOT of top 25 defenses last season (I'll pull the exact numbers after lunch.) Most ACC QB's did not. Even Trevor Lawrence took a huge dip when his level of competition increased. He completed only 51% of his passes against Ohio State and LSU for ~7 YPA.
Edit: Per SP+ Bo Nix faced the 1st (Georgia), 3rd (Alabama), 7th (Florida), 8th (Oregon), 20th (LSU), 23rd (Texas A&M) ranked defenses with one falling just outside the top 25 in Minnesota (26th).
So he faced four top 10 defenses and SIX top 25 units as a true frosh.
edit: forgot LSU, bolded for changes.
Nix had a very good season for a feshman in the sec, he wasnt playing a chump schools like us or unc. He is decent college QB, maybe not a pro, but he will win games over the next 3 years.
Me reading this comment:
SEC Chris has entered the chat 😜
That's a nice bump up, I think they had Tech's QBs last year around 68 or so
I for one choose to reject their QB evaluation methodology, but take their CB methodology as gospel.
Yikes. I knew JJ had a rough year, but didn't realize it was that bad (almost dead last). Hate to see that for him.
Those Scottie Montgomery coached offenses will get after ya
Talk about a guy living vicariously through David Cutcliffe's reputation
Bo Pix
I really don't understand what people see in Kenny Pickett this year. This isn't the first time I've seen him hyped up this offseason and he's been nothing but mediocre on his best day for 3 years.
Maybe people just want the hot new Pitt QB commodity after Peterman rewrote the record books in the league.
Speaking of this, it's remarkable how quickly Matt Canada's career fell off after that season. He was really really hot there for a second.
He's apparently a pain in the ass to deal with. Dude has never stayed in the same role for more than 3 seasons.
I thought Pickett was going to be legit after he had success against us as a freshman in 2017 (when our defense was fairly stout) but the guy hasn't improved at all it seems. I can't see any reason to think he's going to take a big step forward at this point.
There's a name for not progressing after your freshman season: Alex Van Pelt syndrome
I'm pretty sure Reggie Ball owns that distinction.
Why did they include conferences not playing this fall?
So maybe DD knew about all of this, and thats why he decided to go to Auburn? Felt he could see the field sooner rather than later?
That's not why.
My assumption was because it's A) Auburn, B)Probably was easier and less concern on academics.
But if Bo Nix really is a struggle, then maybe he can break into playing time sooner.
Read between the line$
Really should only rank the QBs that are playing, just saying
PFF on Jamie Newman: "There might not be a more underrated player in college football than Newman"
Also PFF on Jamie Newman: Ranked 3rd out of 130
He was extremely impressive last year every time that I watched him play. I watched the Wake's opening game against Utah St. and was blown away by Newman in that game. He had Surratt most of the year to make him look good. I would say that Newman was definitely one of the most underrated players last year. This year, I think he may still be considered underrated, but word is out on him, so I'm not so sure he is the MOST underrated.
Well yeah, if you think someone is underrated, you're obviously going to rate them highly...
They are saying that other outlets/analysts/fanbases are underrating Newman
Is the Michael Brewer's brother? If so, good for him!
It most certainly is.
He had a great year two years ago, I believe he was a bit injured last season.
The rankings for the ACC qb's are as follow:
1. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson
4. Sam Howell, UNC
11. D'Eriq King, Miami
17. Ian Book, ND
22. Micale Cunningham, Louisville
28. Chase Brice, Duke
33. Kenny Pickett, Pitt
35. Hendon Hooker, VT
37. Sam Hartman, Wake
61. Phil Jurkovec, BC
75. Brennan Armstrong, UVA
79. James Blackman, FSU
92. Devin Leary, NC State
99. Tommy Devito, Syracuse
126. James Graham, GT
I think Hooker being rated as the 8th best qb in the ACC is laughable, hope he uses it as motivation.
Hard to understand why Brice and Pickett are ranked where they are. Also interesting to see Devito so low considering he was a media darling last off-season. His play on the field was lousy but it just goes to show that these types of rankings often end up being quite wrong.
Technically 7th best since Ian Book isn't actually in the ACC. I don't know about Brice or Pickett but otherwise I think it's relatively fair. So, at best, I think hooker at 5th best in the league. Frankly numbers 4-9 or so are probably fairly close and it's a toss-up anyway. Not sure if this season will happen but if it does VT and Hooker need special seasons to prove that they're any better than where they are currently rated.
This is my line of thinking. I would have Hooker 4th/5th at best. He is a good fit in our offense, and we saw how much he was able to open up the run game with his legs and proper reads last season when things were going well, but we need him to take some steps forward as a passer to make our offense even more unpredictable and dynamic. I think he has a lot of talent and room to progress and I'm excited to see if that potential will be realized.
Agreed! He's got plenty of potential. I think with good coaching he could be a special player.
Hooker will move up this list as the "season" progresses. (Yes, if it progresses)
Also, (if this season progresses) ND will love the result and could join the ACC. This season shows the fallacy of the independent in today's NCAA. Something to watch.
I like that we have a solid returning starter in Hooker and I believe he can make strides, but heard that Burmeister stole the show in the first scrimmage. Anyone hearing anything out of camp about him?
While we're at it, if anyone has updates on the rbs feel free to share
Or, you know, any news at all
We need to know if there is adequate turkey bacon for the team!
This is what I've gleaned:
Herbert looks really good. Clear RB1. King opted out then opted back in. Much thicker this year while keeping speed. Holston looks best he's ever looked. That's top 3. Lee could redshirt. If Blackshear is eligible, he's one of our five best offensive players and will be on the field all the time.
BB outplayed HH in scrimmage. Is HH a gamer? BB much better runner than you think. Guy who makes least mistakes may win. Both have their proponents. QP3 still third but progressing.
Anybody else?
Considering all indications for years were that Fuente didn't trust Hooker at all until he basically got forced into playing him against Miami last year, I don't really trust Fuente's opinion of Hooker based on another guy maybe looking better in practice.
Well I'm sure Fuente intentionally plays worse players since his job isn't dependent on winning or anything.
Also who even said this was Fuente's opinion?
Exactly - why play the best player and nobody said this was Fuente's opinion. Last year they didn't trust Hooker initially as he practiced well at times, but made too many mistakes on practice - ie mishandling snaps. Not exactly a bad conclusion. They were pleasantly surprised that those mistakes went down in games versus an increase due to speed and pressure, but the coaches deserve credit for scheming to his strengths. Hendon deserves credit for being a gamer in that pressure makes him play better than he practices (not a bad thing).
I have heard the same thing and although it's early there is a high probability of a QB controversy. Hendon is definitely a gamer which makes him harder to measure and without crowd energy does that impact him? Maybe?
BB outplayed him in the scrimmage and is the better athlete. Hendon is probably still the guy based on experience and he does look improved in the passing game.
I have heard the conclusion is not more about whether HH is improved/starting, but that they have legit options at QB. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
I was giggity over Hooker and the offense after UNC, Miami and our midseason run. But for whatever reason, we just turned it off against UVA and Kentucky. Our play calling and offensive bite was really lacking. I hope we get to see midseason Hooker, and get that bite back.
If a recall Kentucky was one of the better defenses they faced last year and we put up more points than most of their opponents did.
We scored more points on Kentucky than anyone. That's including teams like Georgia, Florida, and Louisville. All of whom finished ahead of us in scoring offense.
I really think if we get Hooker for a full season, look out.
Yeah we scored 30+ on both teams. I know we all hate uva but they had a legit defense last year like kentucky
Agreed. A bad drop (not Henson's fault) and some mistakes on D are the differences in those games. If you rewatch those games the offense played pretty well against quality D.
Missing Farley was a big impact on D in both games.
While I agree the overall offensive numbers in those games weren't bad, the UVA game in particular was mostly a great third quarter, with a lot of squandered opportunities in the other three. I believe the defense forced 6 or 7 straight stops at one point and we didn't find the endzone until the last or 2nd to last stop. A better first half against UVA in particular may have kept us from having to play back and forth down the stretch, when the dropback passing game ultimately faltered. When you rewatch the Kentucky game we had similar issues on dropback passing downs. I do think ultimately the defense faltered in both contests, but the real noticeable difference from games 5-11 and the last two (sans the odd Notre Dame game with QP) was a disconnect between the offense and defense playing off each other as cohesive units. During UVA and Kentucky it was spurts from each that rarely lined up with the other units' success. The dropback passing game and Hooker showing a little more consistency and ability to utilize more varied route combos could be the big step forward this offense needs.
On it's own 35 seems reasonable, but putting Brice and Pickett ahead of Hooker is just perplexing. As someone said earlier, Pickett has yet to have a game where he's anything other than average. Pitt seems to be getting some mild hype this year and it doesn't make any sense. Hopefully we shut them out again. And Brice has done nothing but mop-up duty against severely overmatched opponents. He may well be what Duke needs, but he hasn't shown any of the upside of Hooker. Overall their rankings seem solid, but looking at who is rated above him, I think Hooker has the talent and team to put up a top 10 QB in the country kind of season.