Slimm's 2015 Quarterbacks (Underclassman)

[Pachyderm_Wave]

1. Jameis Winston / Florida St. / 6'4", 227

(Everybody knows about Jameis Winston now that he's a national champion, became only the second freshman ever to win the Heisman Trophy (Johnny Manziel), and unfortunately for being in the news off the field. However, a lot of football coaches knew this kid was going to be a good one a long time ago.

I know we wanted this hometown kid badly at Alabama, but Winston never considered going to an SEC school because of baseball. I was actually able to break down his film at Hueytown on Hudl.com in preparation for the 5-A State Playoffs in 2011. Hueytown was about to face Vigor, with the winner advancing to the state championship game to play us (Hartselle). Vigor defeated Winston and Hueytown, and we went on to defeat Vigor 13-3 in the state championship and complete an unblemished 15-0 season.

What I noticed about Winston that stood out perhaps even beyond the physical gifts that made him a 5-Star recruit, were his advanced on the field intangibles for a high school Senior. These kind of intangibles are the type that only come from studying the finer details of playing the position as a young child. These intangibles are exactly what allowed him to accomplish all that he did as a freshman on the football field for Florida St. There were moments in that national title game against Auburn where Winston looked overwhelmed and unsettled for the first time....ever. He'd never seen anything like that before in the ACC. Yet again, those same intangibles allowed him to settle back in and seize control of the football game... and lead his team to a clutch game winning touchdown drive with it all on the line. Bottom line is that Jameis Winston is a splendid two sport athlete that should be ready to be the #1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.)



2. Brett Hundley / UCLA / 6'3", 222

3. Marcus Mariota / Oregon / 6'4", 215

4. Connor Cook / Michigan St. / 6'4", 218

5. Nate Sudfeld / Indiana / 6'5", 230

6. Cody Kessler / USC / 6'1", 215

7. Matt Johnson / Bowling Green / 6'0", 215

8. Joe Licata / Buffalo / 6'2", 227






The following are athletes possibly, or in most cases likely to make a position switch at the next level:

1. Trevone Boykin / TCU / 6'2", 215

2. Dak Prescott / Mississippi St. / 6'3", 230

3. Taysom Hill / BYU / 6'2", 221

4. Vernon Adams / Eastern Washington / 5'11", 190

5. Everett Golson / Notre Dame / 6'0", 190

 

[futurescout]

Isn't Jameis staying for at least another year? Interested on your take of Hundley over Mariota.. albeit not a big fan of either of them.

 

[RobertHorry]

How is Cody Kessler on your list?

I went to USC for grad school for 2 years and was there during Kessler's time. I'm interested in hearing your opinion. He is not an NFL QB at all in my opinion.

 

[mrbunglez]

I'll be watching Marcus Mariota intently this year. Nohomo.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

How is Cody Kessler on your list?

I went to USC for grad school for 2 years and was there during Kessler's time. I'm interested in hearing your opinion. He is not an NFL QB at all in my opinion.

I don't think he's an NFL quarterback in the sense that he's a high draft pick, or even a serious candidate to come out early. He's an NFL quarterback in the same sense that John David Booty was coming out of USC. Kessler won't come out early. He'll stay for his Senior season and be a 5th-7th round pick in the 2016 Draft.

I make these more for me than anything else. I'll bet high that he gets a shot at the NFL in exactly the manner I just explained. He can play a little bit... and still has 2 full seasons ahead of him to improve and get better.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

Isn't Jameis staying for at least another year? Interested on your take of Hundley over Mariota.. albeit not a big fan of either of them.

I doubt Winston stays for another year once the #1 overall pick talk heats up. There's no reason for him to stay another year. He's already won a Heisman Trophy and a national title.

I suppose I'd be interested in hearing someone's take of Mariota over Hundley. Hundley is a more accurate passer. Period.

 

[futurescout]

I doubt Winston stays for another year once the #1 overall pick talk heats up. There's no reason for him to stay another year. He's already won a Heisman Trophy and a national title.

I suppose I'd be interested in hearing someone's take of Mariota over Hundley. Hundley is a more accurate passer. Period.

Decision making. Don't think there is a huge difference between the two. But Mariota takes good care of the football.

---------- Post added at 02:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 AM ----------

Connor Cook is an interesting name on the list. Got a lot better as the season went on. They should make a serious run for the big 10 again this year.

 

[ckparrothead]

Decision making. Don't think there is a huge difference between the two. But Mariota takes good care of the football.

From an interception standpoint perhaps Mariota takes care of the football but from a fumbling standpoint he doesn't. Seems like every time I sit down to watch Mariota play, he's fumbling the ball twice in the game. Two sack-fumbles in the Texas game. Two sack-fumbles in the Washington State game. Two sack-fumbles in the Stanford game. Two fumbles in the UCLA game although to be fair one was just a bad snap that he failed to corral, but the other was a sack-fumble by Anthony Barr. Fumbled in the first half against Arizona in the loss. Fumbled on a 3 yard loss against Oregon State.

I actually wanted to get some opinions on Mariota because I understand that he's very productive and he's got great speed, quick release, quick enough feet and he throws a nice ball although the accuracy is off sometimes...but from where I'm sitting whenever I sit down and watch the tape I'm almost tempted to call him a faster version of Blaine Gabbert when it comes to his pocket and pressure tendencies. There's form there, the product of coaching and practice, but not substance.

Gabbert used to run from ghosts a lot and I thought maybe that wouldn't necessarily be an indictment of his pocket sense, that perhaps it's just the internal clock thing or perhaps the way he was coached in that offense. That didn't end up being right. I see some of the same with Mariota and when you put it together with his constant fumbling (especially relative to the amount of real pressure in the pocket he faced at Oregon which is to say NOT MUCH), it's kind of scary.

 

[WVDolphan]

The top 3 on your list there are all soon to be draft busts.

Cook is a good player.

 

[Fin Thirteen]

The top 3 on your list there are all soon to be draft busts.

Cook is a good player.

Ditto on Cook. He's the kind of player I'd say Bill Lazor would love to coach up. Kid has a lot of the tools to make it at the pro level. Processes the field quicker than most, which is big.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

On the field, Winston needs to clean up his footwork and shorten that windup a bit to quicken his release. He wont be able to do that as long as he's playing baseball and pitching for FSU.

He has a bit of a windup which is consistent with QB's who play baseball. They'll help him shorten that release and make it a hair quicker once he gets to the NFL. His instincts, football IQ, playmaking ability, and rare physical talent are all special. A lot of people don't understand how special.

Brett Hundley is going to have to go to the NFL just to get out of taking a beating every week. That offensive line is as bad as a QB can be asked to play behind. Just awful.

He was sacked 87 times over his freshman and sophomore seasons. More than any other QB. They picked up right where they left off in the first game of the year against Virginia last week. He was sacked 5 times. The transfer from Miami, Malcolm Bunche, looked terrible.

All the sacks have affected Hundley too. He's feeling phantom pressure now.

 

[Tannenbombs]

I know he isn't draft eligible until 2016, but I just thought I would comment about Christian Hackenberg.

His play speed has been very impressive for the last 2 games (UCF 2014, Wisconsin 2013). Unlike many young quarterbacks, he works through his progressions very quickly and doesn't get caught on a read waiting to break open. His footwork is OUTSTANDING, very light feet, rhythm, is balanced at the top of his drops, transfers his weight from front to back, and steps into his throws. As mechanically sound in both the upper and lower body as you will find a college QB. Then there is the arm. I would say he has A+ arm talent. Great arm strength (which leads to his biggest weakness that I will address in a moment), accuracy to all 3 levels (love his deep ball), and has a very quick, compact, snappy release. Has a rare understanding of ball placement for a QB with his lack of experience. Notably his ball placement on flanker smoke screens, he sets up his WRs for a lot of YAC. Against UCF really like where he located that seam throw to Jesse James where he looked off the post safety(free safety, or middle of the field safety) and placed it right where James could hang on after the big hit. Also I liked the location he put on a stick route to James where James was unable to come up with it. He is meticulous with his ability to sell play action fakes that look identical to his hand offs, which is no surprise given his very high effectiveness using play action. His athleticism is also underrated. No one will mistake him for Cam Newton or RGIII, but he can escape pressure, and does so without dropping his eye level, and has the mobility to throw on the run on boots, and sprint outs. He shows a high level of touch, timing, anticipation, and will throw receivers open. I would say his biggest weakness is that of many gunslingers with great arm strength. He trusts his arm a bit too much. I think he is still learning what windows to test, what he can get away with and what will be intercepted. For example, the 2nd INT against UCF he has to know that he is losing velocity throwing on the move not being able to step into the throw and tests a very tight window. Overall I would say his decision making is good, especially for a young QB, he just needs to learn when to gun it in a tight window, and when to toss it out of bounds. I think that will happen in time. All in all I think he has the potential to be the best Quarterback in the NFL one day. If he doesn't become an Elite starter, or at the very least a top 10 NFL starter I don't know what one looks like.

 

[Tannenbombs]

[video=youtube;S7TyoFNHlMU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7TyoFNHlMU[/video]


[video=youtube;V-1lP-2Hc4E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-1lP-2Hc4E[/video]

 

[finsfanjay13]

I don't remember if it was here or somewhere else, but someone predicted that before Hackenberg even stepped foot on campus at Penn State that he was going to be something special ... and that person wasn't a Penn State fan.

 

[ckparrothead]

Well, not to take anything away from anyone but I believe he was the #1 quarterback recruit in the nation, so...

I saw him participate in the Elite 11 coverage of their week of practices and competition. He looked pretty good and you could see off his high school tape why he was so highly rated. Initially watching the Penn State footage from a year ago I wasn't that impressed because I saw a lot of missed throws, but then I looked closer and noted the ball placement on the throws he was hitting, and the misses started to make sense for other extraneous reasons. He looks good.