VIDEO Colombi to Keaton
- Thread starter BleedsGreen33
- Start date
On metro news talk show today Huff said camp was going well, that he learned from last seasons experiences. He also said Facncher is pushing Colombi. Said Colombi would likely get the nod due to his maturity and experience,. Said both had done good things and had good camp so far.
We need Keaton to take the next step in his development... All the tools are there, quick feet, elite straight line speed, leaping ability, etc. If he can be a solid #2 to Gammage that would be a good sign for the offense's big play ability. Also need a slot receiver to separate from the pack -- Ahmed, Harrison, Scarcelle, etc.
If Facncher is pushing Colombi now , then you have to wonder why in the world Huff was playing Zban at #2 and him at #3 last season. Playing him in those games as the #2 would be invaluable IMO.
He has a ton of talent and was picked as a player to watch by several publications last year. Talik's issue is that he just can't stay healthy. I don't think he's played a complete season since he's been here. He started out strong against NAVY and then by the middle of the season he's sidelined.
My guess would be Zban looked better in practice at the time, and had more experience within the program. jmo.
You can't pay any attention to those quotes. I was thinking about this the other night. Listen to every game broadcast and the anecdotes about QBs that the commentators have from the coaches. Most of the time you're watching the game and wondering where do they get that. This dude isn't that great. You'll never hear a coach give an honest opinion on a player. It's always going to be coach speak. Fancher is "pushing" Colombi just means he's having a good camp, but given the pub that Marshall has given Colombi since his transfer was complete there's no doubt who the #1 is.
As far as Zban goes he never really looked all that bad until the final two games of the season. He looked decent against NAVY and looked good in garage time when Doc let him play. So much so some of the geniuses on here were clamoring for him to supplant Grant as the starter.
While I don't think Zban was all that good the staff did that boy a great disservice in how they used him throughout the season. He had 4 or 4.5 quarters worth of playing time against North Texas and Charlotte and the staff elected not to allow him to throw. Instead Huff decided to do the exact thing he vowed in his introductory press conference that he would never do. Sit on the ball. That we would be the most hated team in CFB because we would be trying to score from start to finish. Like how we played against NAVY. They were letting Luke air it out in that game. Fast forward to the last two games of the season and Luke looked like a deer in the headlights. He started to look a little settled in the second half of the championship game, but it was too late. One does wonder how different that game goes if Gammage holds on to that throw over the middle.
Still. Luke throws 3 times @Navy, 8 times vs NCC, and 3 times vs FIU. How do you expect anyone to be settle enough to get thrust into saving the season if you didn't allow them any meaningful reps to gain rapport with the offense.
If he did in fact suck as bad as he looked against WKU then why on earth was he #2? I mean you had Fancher out there throwing hail marys with 17 seconds to go against FIU.
Just a complete mismanagement by the staff.
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Funny, everyone wants practice information or tid bits. When it's out there, it's taken all sorts of ways. In essence, a no win situation. lol!
I lost most of my interest in preseason coverage years ago. I have stated this already. It's nothing but fluff and article fillers. Outside of the proven players on the team most preseason heroes hardly ever show out in the season.
You ever have a coach come out and say his QB is really struggling with certain coverages? No. You usually get the coach speak quotes. "He's a hard worker", "The players really rally around him", "he's really taken the steps necessary", etc.
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This is why Im all for the coaches not talking about players in the preseason. It all coach-speak, sunshine and rainbows... It would be kind of cool to get an unbiased, objective report on who is playing well and who isn't (I know this will shock some folks, but not everyone is doing amazing). But that isn't going to happen.
"Fancher is pushing Colombi" is no different than hearing "Andy was really shooting the ball well today."
If Fancher gets the QB job next year as a sophomore, one or more of the 3 frosh will likely move on.
Oh that's a given no matter who wins the job. There is no way that Harrison, Zamora, and Pennington will all be here past 2023. I bet we lose one by the end of this season. It's just the nature of the position and now with the portal it's going to be amplified.
Not to mention each season more QBs will be brought in so that room gets even more competitive. My money is on Harrison or Zamora leaving first with my guy saying Harrison. I would assume with Cole being Chad's son and his initial interest being low he'll likely stick it out longer than the other two.
Huff may go back to the portal in 23, if the right kid is out there.
In other portal news - The Doege kid that transferred to WKU from WVU, is in the portal again. If he catches on somewhere, he'll be at his 4th school in 6 years? WOW!
But how many times did #2 play any meaningful minutes last year?
I would LOVE it if a coach were honest and said things like:
"These are the laziest sons of b****es I've ever coached. Dumb too. We are going to lose and lose BIG. No, not if I can't field a team and we have to forfeit. Excuse me, I have to take these guys around back and put them down pretty brutally before they have a chance to ruin my coaching reputation. I'd rather go to prison and quite possibly hell before I field THIS team."
Well, it was PAINFULLY obvious that NO ONE trusted Zban to throw the ball. Sure, he might look good in practice, but that isn't game time. It just isn't. But they didn't trust him for a good reason. He couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a bass fiddle. Once he went in, we were done. Fancher should have gotten a decent shot in mop up time.
BTW, did not see it anywhere(maybe it has been but did not see it), ESPN is reporting Grant Wells has been announced as the starter for VT
Evidently VT didn't read the Marshall boards.
Yeah they actually watched him play, which I’m convinced 75% of the people around here didn’t do given the crap he took.
i hope he throws for 5,000 yards.
I will never understand how this fan base never rallied behind him. Here's a kid from just down the road that grew up a Marshall fan and part of this fan base wanted him gone. Just mind blowing.
i think most would say the growing up a MU fan was a little over blown....i'm sure he had been to some games but they didn't rock much green until he played here.
I think a portion of our fanbase fell into the trap of not being able to separate the kid from the outcome on the field... Wells isn't a bad kid, quite the contrary. Being disappointed in his, or the team's, play should not have gotten as personal as it did, on here or in real life.
It makes me think of something Colin Cowherd said when a fanbase went too far on a certain player a few years ago... "Like sports, don't love sports... In life you should love your family, your kids, your career, your church, etc -- and like sports. If you get to a point where you are so invested in the outcome of a game, or a season, that it affects your mental state then you are too invested. Take a step back. Enjoy the games, root for the team, like being there or tuning in... Love your family, love what's really important, and like sports."
One things for sure, if he has a good year and cuts down on the TO's, it all points to one issue - Cramsey.
BIg arm and can run better than people give him credit for...hope he's AA at VPI! Wish him best!
either that or he matured. I mean, I'm pretty sure I've heard that experience is valuable at that position. I was o.k. with Wells, but he did make some head scratching decisions and poor throws, a lot of impressive throws too..
I think that's already been solved because we got rid of Doc and got Huff and most things stayed the same. Look Grant had his issues. He started out games too amped up and overthrew. However it isn't all on him. WRs had drops, balls going through their hands for INTS, falling down out of their breaks, and fumbling on would be TDs.
He had his share, but about a 1/3 of his turnovers weren't his fault. The QBs get too much of the blame. If you hit a WR in the hands and it goes through their hands to a defender or you fall down in a timing route it's on the WR. They didn't do their job. It's just too easy and convenient to just blame the QB.
That usually happens with sophomores. Each QB we've had since Cato graduated has been compared to what Cato became forgetting how far he came as a player.
I also go back to not having a true dependable #1 option. Just about every very good to great QB always has that #1 WR that is there when they need them and makes big plays. We don't have that and haven't had that in quite some time. Tyre Brady was the closest we've had in a while and even he was inconsistent.
I really think the running or lack thereof is on the staff. Here we are constantly criticizing them for the backup QB situation and then in the same breath people criticized Grant for not being a runner. Is it not possible the staff told him to run only when he had to because they knew if he went down we were screwed.
I know everyone loves these running QBs, but opening your QB up to taking more hits is just nonsense. Sure the big run looks cool, but I'd rather have an upright QB all year.
Could be. Even still he was a local kid. I thought that would garner more favor and patience, but in the end it didn't.
I think we're all a bit jaded and expect players to always look like 5th year seniors.
Grant gets hammered for not being accurate or inconsistent yet he completed 66.3% of his passes last year and 61.1% of his passes the year before. He took more heat than he deserved.
Cramsey was the OC and QB coach. He wasn't good at either.
True, but I'll offer nothing demoralizes a defense more than to play good defense for 4-5 seconds and have the play breakdown only to have a mobile QB take off and run for big yardage. It appears ND has a guy very capable of hurting us with his legs.
It does, but they never stay upright a whole season. Grant could run and he did early on in his time here. I really do believe the staff knew what they had behind Grant and kept his running to a minimum. I just don't think it's worth opening your QB up to free shots. If it's there then take it, but using your QB running to open your offense is fool's gold. You hear it every season. We heard it with Cato as well. Until that #2 spot gets nailed down better than it's been the last 5 years I don't want our starter running more than necessary. If we can get another Cato/B Froh combo then fine, but if there is a cliff between #1 and #2 don't even think about it.
Valid point....it appears that Fancher can hurt opponents if a play breaks down , with the exception of Cato as a Senior and Mike Peyton years ago we really haven't had that type of QB around.
Hope Fancher can get meaningful game reps vs Norfolk State. If Colombi goes down or struggles significantly, we need Cam to have some experience.
Coaches have said it was a player's mistake or that they did struggle in certain situations.
But then that's called, "throwing the player under the bus" and said coach gets blamed for coaching in such a situation.
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