Knock-Knock
- Thread starter riflearm2
- Start date
First-team All Conference USA QB Grant Wells.
That's not a joke, though it sure seems like it.
His last two games were bad, but he played well the rest of the season. I don't know that you could say any other QB in CUSA was better on the season.
This question is for anyone, but especially @riflearm2 because of your particular experience playing and coaching. Could a back injury explain many of GW's issues over the last two games? I mean, he still ran and took hits, and sometimes his throws were on target. But could his drop in play be because of a chronic back injury...should we find out later that he had such an injury? Would a back issue explain the particular fall Grant has shown recently?
Are you letting on that you know something? No troll. Sincerely is that what we're going to find out. From the stands Grant looked gun shy afraid to throw another pick.
If Grant was in fact hurt and just wasn't able to make the throws and Doc still sent him out there then he definitely needs to go.
Asher O'Hara: 66.7% 218 yards per game 12 TDs/8 INTs 6.8 yards/attempt
Grant Wells: 60.8% 220 yards per game 18 TDs/9 INTs 7.9 yards/attempt
At this point, both of them are fairly even. O'Hara has a substantially better completion percentage, nearly identical passing yards per game, but Wells has a better TD/INT ratio and yards per attempt increase.
But then you bring in what else they bring to the table:
O'Hara: 601 rushing yards, 7 rushing TDs, 1 receiving TD
Wells: 175 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs
At this point, for total offense, O'Hara is at 285 yards per game. Wells is at 239 yards per game. Big advantage for O'Hara. Wells is responsible for 20 TDs and 8 INTs while Wells is responsible for 20 TDs and 9 INTs. Slight advantage for O'Hara.
Against Marshall, defenses focused on Knox, Knox, and Knox. Against MTSU, defenses focused on O'Hara, O'Hara, O'Hara. Hell, he wasn't just the QB, he also was the team's leading rusher by 240 yards. O'Hara had as many rushing yards as all of the running backs on his team had combined.
They only faced the same defense one time, and O'Hara outperformed Wells.
Not only was O'Hara the most valuable QB to this team, but he also had the best season of all QBs in the conference.
I'm sure it would make it difficult throwing and following through. My weakness in coaching QBs is mechanics. I don't have a great knowledge of QB mechanics when it comes to things like shoulder following elbow, knee first before hip turn, etc. In fairness, most college QB coaches aren't great at coaching in-depth mechanics (there are outside QB coaches who specialize in more of that), and I am guilty of that, so I can't get specific about how a bad back would impact throwing other than the obvious. Ron Whitcomb (analyst at Buffalo who was the QB coach at ODU) is one active QB coach who I think does a good job with knowing QB mechanics, but I think he over coaches it, and as a result, his guys tend to be robotic instead of letting their natural ability and confidence/comfort work for them.
What I did notice was Wells drifting on his passes and throwing off his back foot. That is more to do with him not being comfortable in the pocket/afraid of a hit instead of having an injury. Possibly related to that, he also didn't have many attempts where he went through a progression. He knew the one receiver he wanted to go to, and he was going to throw it there regardless of what the defense dictated. I can't blame those things on a physical injury.
I watched his first couple of games of the season and then the last couple of games. The decline was shocking.
Isn't it interesting that all QBs under Doc have developed that over time.
It’s almost like early on he had confidence and was just playing ball and his talent was able to shine through.
Then he had one melt down, lost confidence, and the staff did a pitiful job of re-establishing it. They probably over coached the turnovers and got him gun shy and thinking too Much.
I agree he was staring down his receivers. He almost had another pick 6 because of it. And that makes No sense because I KNOW he can go through a progression. I sat right there in the stadium and watch his head go to 2nd, 3rd, even 4th options. And just marveled at how much farther along he was than Green.
It just makes no sense. Would you say that his lack of confidence lead to him locking in on receivers? Im no QB, but I could see how being unsure of a decision would lead you to lock in and over analyze before making a throw.
Just my personal opinion, but as we continued to struggle against Rice he started to press. He was running for his life all game and about the time of the unforced self fumble (the pass that slipped out of his hands) he came off the rails. Doc and Crapsey failed to take him out and let him collect himself and instead kept making him drop back and throw down field which was leading him to press more and more and then three more picks happened. Then to open the game against UAB we're still throwing the ball like crazy.
Where was that Gaines package at Rice? Why not start to lean heavier on Knox? Then you pull the kid out on a makeable 3rd down to only throw him out there in a 4th and long to go for it.
This staff did nothing to help him. They just left him out there flapping in the wind.
Look at the last series before the end of the half. The offense is struggling bad and hasn't completed a pass. We're only down 9-0 and there's 40 some seconds to go in the half and instead of taking a knee and going to the locker room we start throwing deep in our out territory and almost throw a pick. At almost every other situation ahead or not Doc never does that.
The staff failed Grant. They failed him bad.
I also don't know when Knox decided he wanted to leave, but I'm sure Doc and Cramsey forgetting about him the last three games probably made the decision a lot easier.
