Birdsong & Litton
- Thread starter HerdFan_33
- Start date
In the press conference, Doc also said that the QB position needs to make plays and "can't be one dimensional". Nice to know he also saw what most of us saw on Saturday at the QB position.
I hate the thought of burning Litton RS. Hate it. What about Gunner? He didn't look any worse in camp I don't think.
Excited to see what Litton brings to the table. I felt he was the best look through all of the spring from the scrimmages I saw. #goherd
I disagree.. We should start Gunnar and guarantee him at least the first half to display his skills.
Obviously, he should have been in the Ohio game, NO LATER THAN the beginning of the second half.
Then we would know more about whether to pull CL's redshirt.
Obviously, he should have been in the Ohio game, NO LATER THAN the beginning of the second half.
Then we would know more about whether to pull CL's redshirt.
Doc has said on numerous occasions that if you can play, you will play. But damn I hate burning CL's redshirt like that.
I am a student at Marshall, but truthfully I don't really pay much attention to camp, practice, scrimmages, etc. BUT from what I have heard from other students, players, trainers, Litton is superior to Birdsong already, yet they ended up going with Birdsong because of the experience. I imagined something along the lines of Birdsong being the starter for two years and Litton coming in for three years after that (with the redshirt), but then again, I imagined Birdsong being a bit better.
I'm very weary about the decision with burning Litton's redshirt.. We've gotten burned (no pun intended) by that in the past.
P.S. I absolutely can't stand what people have said about Birdsong on social media (some of the more inappropriate, uncalled for stuff). By all accounts, he's a really nice guy, loves the Herd, and obviously wants to succeed. I understand that people are upset with the performance on the field, but some of the stuff said was deplorable.
I'm very weary about the decision with burning Litton's redshirt.. We've gotten burned (no pun intended) by that in the past.
P.S. I absolutely can't stand what people have said about Birdsong on social media (some of the more inappropriate, uncalled for stuff). By all accounts, he's a really nice guy, loves the Herd, and obviously wants to succeed. I understand that people are upset with the performance on the field, but some of the stuff said was deplorable.
Here is my take.. Doc never had delusions that Birdsong was going to be great.. Just hoped he would be "good enough" to manage the offense and win games with the tremendous amount of talent we have on this team so that Litton's redshirt could be saved and he wouldn't have to restart where we were 4 years ago with Cato.. When it became clear at Ohio, that Birdsong wasn't playing "good enough" to let us get by he made the call to burn the redshirt.
I think it's the right call. Tomorrow isn't promised play for the here and now and we'll worry about the future when it gets here.
I think it's the right call. Tomorrow isn't promised play for the here and now and we'll worry about the future when it gets here.
Personally I want to see Chase play. Watched him in camp and he looked good to me. I'm sure the kid wants to play and could give a flip about a red shirt. If he's good he will be the guy.
I think Doc's worst case scenario would be having an 7-5 2015 the same time Dana Holgorsen has a 5-7 2015. He could go 3-9 and still be our coach the next year, but a single turd season knocks him out of the running for a P5 job, especially with WVUs likely coming open this January.
I understand that it's still wasting his redshirt. But being only 2 games into the year, if the kid can play let him play. It's not like in the past when we've burnt a redshirt for 2 or 3 games at the end of a meaningless season. We still have or entire conference schedule plus half of our non conference left. If he can win games play him.
But for him to win games we are going to have to play as a team much better than saturday night. 200 yards in penalties is not going to win any games.
Here is what's scary. If we start Litton, then we may be looking at a year where we have 7 wins. I mean even Cato (who we all can agree is one of the best we've had) only managed 7 wins and not all of them where his... Could be a long year.
But for him to win games we are going to have to play as a team much better than saturday night. 200 yards in penalties is not going to win any games.
Here is what's scary. If we start Litton, then we may be looking at a year where we have 7 wins. I mean even Cato (who we all can agree is one of the best we've had) only managed 7 wins and not all of them where his... Could be a long year.
Smart move by Doc. Birdsong has extra motivation to improve thru competition. If Litton does well, great. If not, then you know where your are. I also think that we could Red Shirt him next year - we did this with Byron as he redshirted his Sophomore year in 99 (not sure if that is still the case).
If you're going to burn it, burn it now. 1/6 of the season is already over, burn it while there's still a meaningful amount of snaps left. Plus, that gives 2 games of experiences (at least part of those games) until the conference slate starts. Conference play is really all that matters for us now anyway.
I wasn't there so I can't say for sure, but everything I've heard from the people who went to practices said there was a huge gap between 2 and 3 at QB.
I'll take Litton getting experience now and not being able to play in 2019 instead of wasting 2015 and possibly 2016.
I'll take Litton getting experience now and not being able to play in 2019 instead of wasting 2015 and possibly 2016.
I say you give him a look, and if by the end of Kent State he doesn't look like the next Chad Pennington, you have an "accident" in practice and declare him out for the season. Then if he isn't in the NFL by 2018, get the medical exemption and steal a fifth year. The NCAA is handing those out like candy these days, even to the smaller schools, so we might as well take advantage.
Not sure but think they did same thing with Pennington. He played one year then used redshirt his second year then played three years after that. So if he plays well and let's say birdsong is hurt and recovers, he plays next year. After all as far as anyone really knows birdsong beat out the others so something has happened since camp. Can't imagine he forgot how to play. He was a starter at JMU, wasn't he?
This whole situation puzzles me. Birdsong was the supposed clear winner all throughout camp and beats Purdue his 1st game in front of a sold out crowd and has one bad game and now he is not the guy? I just don't get it. If he wasn't the guy from the beginning then why did we start him? I hope this isn't Docs panic button after the horrible game at Ohio. It doesn't look good for Birdsong though unless it is a ploy to light a competitive fire under him.
We need a (QB) who can make plays, extend plays, and use our weapons (WR's). We are the defending Conference USA Champions. If you want a game manager transfer out. Go Herd!
(This was a picture of Tonya Harding with the words "I GOT THIS" on it. Apparently the link has died.)
Last edited:
I suspect what we don't know is that Birdsong's performance in the Purdue was probably not what was expected either. Studying film, I suspect the coaches saw much of the same things not accomplished in that game that didn't get accomplished at Ohio either. Just speculation, but maybe he (Birdsong) is skiddish in the games concerning releasing the ball, maybe not trusting what he thinks he sees, too worried about making mistakes.
Who knows. But I seriously doubt that Chase Litton is getting his chance JUST because of the Ohio game. The Ohio game may be the vehicle to make it happen more than the only reason to make it happen.
Who knows. But I seriously doubt that Chase Litton is getting his chance JUST because of the Ohio game. The Ohio game may be the vehicle to make it happen more than the only reason to make it happen.
Do we have "two"? Current starter right now is backup material, so if someone either Litton or Gunner is better and show better on game day it just means we reorganize that position.
This team around Litton if he ends up being the starter is however, better than the team around Cato as a freshman in my opinion. Built pretty similarly as far as the defense is going to be what carries us but 2011 didn't have a Devon Johnson and while it had veteran WRs like Dobson and Antavious Wilson we do have some weapons out wide this year too if we can get them the ball.. But, the biggest thing that helps Litton is that the 2015 schedule is considerably weaker than the 2011 schedule that Cato played against, especially with Purdue and Ohio already in the review mirror.
I dunno, I'd say MTSU and WKU will be as tough or tougher. But your point is correct in my opinion.
I'm not sure this staff was ever sold on Birdsong.. I live in Florida now so I couldn't make it to the spring game or any practices but my Dad still does.. And while he isn't Doc Holliday when it comes to evaluating talent he is a pretty sharp man when it comes to football he coached it for many years (all be it at a lower level) and he told me all summer long that he was surprised Birdsong got the nod because he wasn't very impressed with him and thought Litton looked more natural.. I think Doc was just hoping that with the team we have around Birdsong he could be "good enough" to allow Litton to redshirt.
Most other teams play freshman. If he is good play him. Not playing a year hurts a qb unless your pennington.
The more and more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the coaching staff has been thinking about making this move for awhile. The buzz that I've heard from some of the team and other affiliated people was that Litton is better and everyone truthfully knows it, the only reason they gave Birdsong the nod was because of "game experience" and/or they thought he'd be good enough to play above replacement.
I personally think this is essentially PR move to transition Litton to QB1. It just does not make much sense to burn Litton's redshirt and then have him back-up Birdsong for the rest of the year. Even saying that we can redshirt Litton next year, who's to say that another year of practice for Litton doesn't make him ultimately better than Birdsong and he starts anyways?
Also, I know that Birdsong beat Purdue and the whole team should be blamed for the Ohio game, but he has consistently struggled to make good passes and move the team down the field. We won the Purdue game because we were blessed with an outrageous performance from Lang, not because the offense was particularly productive. With the tools we have, the offense should not be struggling like this. Period.
I personally think this is essentially PR move to transition Litton to QB1. It just does not make much sense to burn Litton's redshirt and then have him back-up Birdsong for the rest of the year. Even saying that we can redshirt Litton next year, who's to say that another year of practice for Litton doesn't make him ultimately better than Birdsong and he starts anyways?
Also, I know that Birdsong beat Purdue and the whole team should be blamed for the Ohio game, but he has consistently struggled to make good passes and move the team down the field. We won the Purdue game because we were blessed with an outrageous performance from Lang, not because the offense was particularly productive. With the tools we have, the offense should not be struggling like this. Period.
If Litton loses his redshirt then he needs to be the starter the rest of the year. There would be no use burning his redshirt if he is only going to play sparingly. If he plays, let him make mistakes and learn. It will only make him and the team better in the long run.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
HS recruiting (non ‘25 those are in the portal thread)
- Latest: PeytonwGill
