Re: 2016 Season QB Thread (Moved QB Posts from Practice Thread)
I remember the hype when Phillip Sims was a true freshman and now there's Hurts and next year I figure some of the same things will be said about the Hawaii kid.
I think the one thing people have to be careful about is letting how they viewed a player previously impact how they evaluate the current situation. Of course how much does that matter in the end? Not much, but it still could lead one astray.
Some people seem to be using hyperbole in overstating how others view Hurts. I have seen some people claim Hurts will start, but I haven't seen any Heisman hype, I haven't seen any leave in three years for the NFL hype, I'm not seeing the Auburn QB last year hype. I just see people saying he could start.
I can't recall the Sims true freshman hype, I was big on his talent (so was an NFL team, they gave him a shot even though he was basically a bust in college), but I don't think there was ever even an inkling of a chance that he would start over GMac. I also spent time shooting down the notion that either Blake Barnett or David Cornwell would start as true freshman. They just weren't ready.
The thing is that physically Hurts is clearly ahead of where Phillip, Cornwell, and Barnett were as true freshman. I think this is where going to a bunch of A-Day games comes in handy. A-Day never tells you what a guy can't do (in other words you can overlook a bad performance at QB), but it sometimes tells you what a guy can do. Hurts might have looked the best I've seen any QB look at A-Day just from a raw talent standpoint. A lot of that centered around his elusiveness, but we're talking about a guy who was so hard to tackle that the defense had trouble just touching him down. He was literally dodging touches. Before that game I said he had no chance of starting, after the game? Yeah, he has a chance.
Now, how does that all sort itself out in the fall? I think from a talent standpoint Blake Barnett and Jalen Hurts have the advantage. However, they clearly are less experienced. That usually is the determining factor, but it isn't always the determining factor. True freshman AJ passed Star Jackson on the depth chart. Alec Morris was passed on the depth chart a few times by less experienced quarterbacks. So yes, the smart money is always going to be on the most experienced guy, but as your depth chart illustrates, there's more to it than that. As a redshirt freshman Phillip Sims had a shot at the starting job, Bateman and Coker respectively had shots at the starting jobs as well. If one of these younger guys proves more capable, they'll end up starting...