It's time to start one of the freshman quarterbacks

[chferg]

LDR is the future. He has two more years and Nuss loves him. He will be the QB until Butters is fired.

God gag me thinking that LDR is going to be a starter here.....

 

[ThreatMatrix]

We don't have a freshman that is as ready to play as Eason. And we don;t know how that experiment at Georgia is going to pan out. But if we had Eason I might start him. However Appleby looks like he could win the starting job from LDR. I assume Appleby plays next week at Vandy. Let's see how that goes.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

I'm fine with tgi Fridays or del taco... Either one seems to be completely capable of doing what we need them to and do a pretty good job of being smart with the football. We can win with either of those QBs, question is can we win with these coaches?

 

[QueenCityGator]

Let me restate that the title of this thread was about NOT starting one of our true freshman quarterbacks. Our Dear Leader, Kim Jong Ox, has once again turned Gatorchatter into North Korea, where dissenting viewpoints are not allowed.

PS - you rock Ox, I just like using the nickname :)

 

[Uncle Rob]

Put in Trask. We need to develop a QB here, just like we did with Leak back in the day. Dude went 6-3 that first year and ended with an NC. Putting transfers in there to manage a game is stupid. Georgia will have a beast in there, count on it. We better make some changes around here or we're in deep.

But for a sizable percentage on this board, if we have less than 10 wins, we should can the whole coaching staff. You can't expect them to do player development at the expense of their job.

I am not ready to quit on this season. Some players will get better, some will get hurt, we could have a total Saban/Kiffen melt down. I want my team to believe they can win each Saturday morning and then to play that way.

 

[GatorJ]

Bump

 

[Gator Fever]

I wouldn't waste Franks redshirt this season with what is likely to happen in the SECCG if we get there.

 

[Tunaboat]

LDR sucks at the position. The best thing you can say about him is that he doesn't make many mistakes. He also gets little done compared to what he should be doing as Gator QB. He has some tools to work with. We tried Appleby for one game. Why not plug him in again, or the top freshman? LDR has been in training (under his dad) for years. I don't think he will improve this year, or next, because to be really successful you have to have skill for the position to begin with.

 

[rogdochar]

Freshmen can make some win-killing mistakes -- not unlike LDR ??
Mac's not as fearless as Spurrier.

 

[Tunaboat]

They will all make some mistakes. But you can tell a basic difference by the speed of reaction, finding and hitting the open man, having the arm to get the ball down the field, and the ability to run. When I watch LDR I feel like I'm watching a game in slow motion. Nothing personal, I like the guy, but we need a real QB and we haven't got one. If we had an offense we could dominate the East and challenge the big boys in the West.

 

[TLB]

LDR will be the man the rest of this season as evidenced by nobody else taking snaps since AA did. Freshman won't be on the field this season.

Next year:
AA is gone
LDR is QB1 - despite anything anyone says about open competition, nobody will unseat him based strictly on experience in 'the system'
Trask and Franks - one will emerge as QB2 and get mop up duty, the other is looking at a clipboard career or transfer
Allen - redshirt to learn for a year, not needed so let him develop.

 

[Himey]

LDR sucks at the position. The best thing you can say about him is that he doesn't make many mistakes. He also gets little done compared to what he should be doing as Gator QB. He has some tools to work with. We tried Appleby for one game. Why not plug him in again, or the top freshman? LDR has been in training (under his dad) for years. I don't think he will improve this year, or next, because to be really successful you have to have skill for the position to begin with.

I'm not really sure you can say that LDR doesn't make many mistakes. He had 3 interceptions (easily could have been 6) against Mizzou, and then another awful interception against the Dawgs. Hard to know what the coaches are seeing from the Freshmen in practice though.

 

[BMF]

LDR will be the man the rest of this season as evidenced by nobody else taking snaps since AA did. Freshman won't be on the field this season.

Next year:
AA is gone
LDR is QB1 - despite anything anyone says about open competition, nobody will unseat him based strictly on experience in 'the system'
Trask and Franks - one will emerge as QB2 and get mop up duty, the other is looking at a clipboard career or transfer
Allen - redshirt to learn for a year, not needed so let him develop.

You're probably right w/ this assessment. However, once fall camp rolls around I suspect they'll know which RFR is the clear #2 and he'll battle for the starting position...and if LDR sh*ts the bed early, I suspect we'll see the #2...or the #2 could win the job before the Michigan game. Either way, I think LDR's days are numbered as the starter heading into next season. No reason to waste a redshirt at this point.

 

[G8RATL]

I also think we are stuck with Luke Dia Rio for the rest of the season. As long as we keep winning, no changes will be made; even if we are winning in spite of poor QB performance.

Next year, we better have an open competition. It's already pretty clear, LDR doesn't have the vision or arm strength to be a top tier QB. We can't keep settling for the less bad QB.

 

[GatorInKnox]

We're 6-1 with a 2 game cushion in the East. I wouldn't exactly start experimenting right now.

 

[rogdochar]

Gotta be a real surpassing by LDR's competitors for Mac to rebuff an NFL HC's boy.
We will be stuck with the Luke-warm arm of Del Rio until he graduates. So it is all about
making, forcing LDR to improve to "big-boy" status.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

We're 6-1 with a 2 game cushion in the East. I wouldn't exactly start experimenting right now.

You do realize this thread was started back in September right? J bumped it yesterday. I was one of the ones saying back then we need to start one of the freshman, however, we didn't do that.

At this point in the season I am against starting one of the freshman. If we were going to we should have done it early against lesser opponents while playing mostly at home to ease them in. Its suicide to do so now. Our toughest slate of the season is now upon us and they're almost all road games. We are 6-1 and regardless of how we have looked, it wont get any better by giving a true freshman his start on the road against SEC west competition. Ark is somewhat enigmatic but they are at home and they are capable of big time performances, like it or not. And it doesn't get any easier after next Saturday. I wouldn't even say scar at home is now a gimme. They have a kid playing qb who is capable of beating decent teams and just did so.

We should have put in franks or trask earlier this year but we didn't. That ship has now sailed. We are going to live or die with rio whether we like it or not. I'll also be surprised if he isn't the guy next year as well.

 

[LighthouseGator]

Barring another 3+pick outing, I don't see LDR losing the starting job this year. What would be the point of bringing in AA? He's not a difference maker and LDR takes care of the ball, Mizzou notwithstanding, and doesn't take unnecessary sacks. Trask/Franks are too young at this point (though Presby would have been good to get one of them some reps). So we ride or die with LDR.

As for next year, the Michigan opener puts a lot of pressure on the staff to lock in a starter early and, more importantly, the right one. I just hope they give Franks and Trask legitimate looks and choose the best QB without politics and seniority getting in the way. Like LDR this year, they will have had one year in the system, so that cannot be the excuse next year.

I am not ready to declare that Del Rio has hit his ceiling yet (wrong thread, I know). It's not like he's played a ton of live-bullet football. The arm is not improving with more experience, but the decision making can. Either way, we will know exactly what he is by the end of the season. If there is little to no improvement, Mac should be starting Franks or Trask in Arlington.

 

[jmskjrgator]

Unfortunately we are stuck with Luke Diarrhea. If you remember how badly we wanted him back in the lineup speaks volumes. The truth is our defense is the reason we are winning. It will mainly be gone next year. We better come up with a 'better than average' QB. I'm nervous every time he throws the ball. On almost every pass play the ball is thrown to the area where the intended receiver can catch the ball and it cannot be intercepted by the defensive players. He often throws the ball to the wrong area. The last thought a QB should have before throwing the ball is throwing to the proper area. It appears he does not process this well. And, if he hasn't learned this at this point, he probably will never learn it. Franks has a very strong arm but throws the ball in the wrong area also. I watched him in high school. Looks like our best hope will be with Allen.

 

[soflagator]

We're 6-1 with a 2 game cushion in the East. I wouldn't exactly start experimenting right now.

Agree. The last thing we need to do right now is to get cute and let Kentucky get back in this thing.