Playing safety by end of camp?
*drops match, walks away*
*drops match, walks away*
Thomson
- Thread starter herdalicious
- Start date
Football injuries are commonplace - so how is it that we assume that Alex Thomson wasn't serious about playing at Marshall or whether of not he doesn't end up as a starting QB after healing. Isaiah Green could easily be hurt in his first start against the Miami Redhawks.
When he was first signed, someone I know described Thomson as "the bunny the dogs will chase."
I think that was an accurate assessment - like Birdsong was for Litton, I think the staff know they have the real deal in Green and just wanted to make sure he was properly motivated going into his FR season. If Thomson panned out, all the better, but if he showed up with a dud shoulder, eh....he's served his purpose at this point.
I think that was an accurate assessment - like Birdsong was for Litton, I think the staff know they have the real deal in Green and just wanted to make sure he was properly motivated going into his FR season. If Thomson panned out, all the better, but if he showed up with a dud shoulder, eh....he's served his purpose at this point.
Oh well we have been forced to use other Freshman QBs in the past.
At least he is a RS freshman
Personally, Green may be the most athletically talented QB Doc has signed. If he pans out this year, having a 4 year starter would be a huge plus for this program.
His shoulder was a known issue. Or atleast should have been. I know I questioned his arm after I found out that his shoulder separation took a year to heal.
I don't like the thought of our cash starved program spending $60,000 on a rabbit.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/spor...cle_65338ed1-c4cd-5520-b1c6-ae565e4771b3.html
Reading an article like this makes it all but impossible for me not to pull for Green.
Reading an article like this makes it all but impossible for me not to pull for Green.
He's a Junior, so at most he'll only use two years of that scholarship, but my guess is they'll do to him what they did to Willy Korn and that's move him some place he doesn't want to play, make him quit and transfer down and free up the scholly. Korn was a blessing - he didn't even stay to the end of camp, so he was a freebie.
Here's another one: anybody remember Jonathan Garner? I just Googled him - his football career ended with the stat lin 0-1, 0 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 rush for -1 yard (the play that destroyed his shoulder his FR season at GaTech).
Last edited:
There’s pretty much no chance of this happening.
I agree with Josh. The comments Doc made about the situation with Thomson are pretty clear (no coach-speak!): They are going to decide on a starter between Green & Morrell. Thomson stays in the mix for some playing time IF the shoulder heals....situational etc.
Nah, I think (if healthy) Thomson is very much in the mix for the starting job.
So Thomson is very much in the mix yet he can barely practice. Green and Morrell for that matter have been at every practice and going all out.
Thomson can barely do passing drills if that and he can't even do that on a consistent basis.
Man If I were Green or Morrell and Thomson was named starter I would be beyond pissed.
I have yet to see what all the hype is about. He played at Wagner and couldn't stay healthy there. He gets here and can barely participate.
When I have seen him practice he isn't any better than Green.
His leg up is that he's played. How much is playing at Wagner going to translate to playing at Marshall. Are we the SEC? No. However it's still a jump in game speed, physicality, and pressure.
What I don't want to see is Thomson named starter then in week two he blows his shoulder out and then we're making a switch or worse yet going into conference play we're having to switch.
Thomson can barely do passing drills if that and he can't even do that on a consistent basis.
Man If I were Green or Morrell and Thomson was named starter I would be beyond pissed.
I have yet to see what all the hype is about. He played at Wagner and couldn't stay healthy there. He gets here and can barely participate.
When I have seen him practice he isn't any better than Green.
His leg up is that he's played. How much is playing at Wagner going to translate to playing at Marshall. Are we the SEC? No. However it's still a jump in game speed, physicality, and pressure.
What I don't want to see is Thomson named starter then in week two he blows his shoulder out and then we're making a switch or worse yet going into conference play we're having to switch.
well it is a shame he is still hurt and can't compete. However, we aren't sure he was going to win the job anyway so time to get behind Green folks.
To have such a fantastic recruiter like Doc we shouldn't be depending on FCS transfers anyways. I know Litton left early, but our season hinges on a guy that hasn't thrown a live ball in over a year and played in one of the worst FCS conferences.
I don't know, but since we signed Thomson we've been told he was going to be the starter and was an NFL caliber QB. Phil Simms said so.
As I asked previously who checked him out medically? Did we just take the word that his shoulder was fine. This seems like a mistake was made somehow or someone was misled. JMO
Oh I realize that Thomson has fewer options than Korn had, and that transferring now, even back down to FCS, would mean he'd only have one year of eligibility left. Still, this staff traditionally hasn't been a big advocate of making things comfortable for folks on scholarship who can't contribute, so thus my assumption about his long term future if he can't throw a football.
What's baffling me are all those posts I read about the work he was doing on campus this Summer, working out with his receivers, etc. Was he? Doesn't seem now like such a thing was even possible.
My favorite transfer story ever was Anthony Binswanger - Snyder's staff recruited him sight unseen from CA based solely on his JUCO kicking stats, and then he goes 5-for-13 for Marshall and never plays again.
My guess is if you asked someone in the AD, they'd tell you we don't have a recruiting budget, so coaches can't afford to fly out and scout players. Still, you'd think if we brought them on campus someone would be like, "Here, throw this football at that wall over there."
Not sure how it works with football, but in basketball. A player can come on campus and workout with the team in front of the coaching staff (and fans). There were about 60 of us on hand to watch Sustic and Beyers workout.
I wonder if Phil made that assessment before or after Thomson's injury?
Or, how about this, "so you had a significant injury on your throwing shoulder...we will need to have you cleared through local physicians before we discuss any actual scholly offer."
Surely they couldn't have been that dumb as to just take the kid's word for it? That reminds me of Boobie Miles.
"My knee is fine coach"
What do you think happened with the kicker Marshall signed this year? He took a visit to Marshall, but they had no real clue about him. Hell, Doc told the media that the kid was an All-American at Erie CC. There are two problems with that: 1) he was enrolled at Erie but didn’t play football for them . . . wasn’t even on the roster 2) he hasn’t been an All-American anywhere he played.
Doc didn’t know shit about the kid. And that’s not necessarily Doc’s fault. There are very, very few programs in the country that have somebody on staff (including analysts and quality control coaches) that knows how to identify, coach, and correct specialists on technique. It forces specialists to get their coaching from people outside of the program, almost entirely in the off-season. So if a kicker starts getting into a bad habit in fall camp, he’s going to continue that all season since nobody is trained on staff to be able to identify it. Even worse, when recruiting specialists, most staffs have absolutely no idea what to look for. They, like anyone else, can notice a strong leg, an accurate kick, or good hangtime. But they don’t see potential, technique, or maxed out players. They see a 20 year old JUCO kid kicking a max of 40 yard field goals and like him, but they dislike the 17 year old kid kicking a max of 35 yard field goals because he is 5 yards shorter.
What they aren’t trained to see is that the 17 year old has a half-kick and/or poor lean, meaning if coached properly, he could put another 10-15 yards on his kicks within a few months while the 20 year old kicker has already maxed his potential.
And a lot of coaches are aware that they are clueless on this stuff, so they basically become pawns for these private kicking coaches around the country. These private coaches have their own camps once a year. They then rank their kickers and give them 5 stars, 4 stars, etc. Based on the hype these private coaches give certain prospects - many of whom have their own agenda - D1 coaches eat it up because they don’t have the coaching knowledge on specialists to know any better.
Go look at just about any practice. Check out the specialists. They are almost always on their own all practice “working on” their trade. They are either by themselves or with a player personnel guy who is tasked with “coaching” them but has no real clue what’s going on, so he’s basically there as a babysitter.
The last school I was at was no different. The starting long snapper during camp was far, far inferior to the backup. When I asked why the backup wasn’t starting, I was told that his snaps were a bit more erratic in accuracy. I explained that is assuredly the result of his guide hand being incorrect. His guide hand had all of his fingers placed tightly together. I explained that the guide hand is just like shooting in basketball. You want to spread your fingers out, as it gives you better control of accuracy. It was a quick and easy fix that had drastic results within one week.
Early in the season, we were playing a PAC 12 team. They continued using the inferior snapper. On the headset, I insisted that a change had to be made because their snapper was going to fvck us and get a punt blocked, plus he was inferior in coverage. Luckily, the coach in charge of that unit knew I had more experience/knowledge in it, so he told the head coach that he was going to make a change, which was overruled, because the head coach thought a switch at halftime could be bad. The rest of the season (and this camp), my snapper has started and has a legit shot at being an NFL guy.
There are a lot of things that are done wrong in coaching. Many times, the excuse is “well, that’s how it’s always been done at places I’ve been.”
It just seems hard to imagine we hear all this hype about a QB who - prior to his arrival on campus, was going to be Litton’s replacement before he ever took a snap despite the unknown status regarding his shoulder. Now with the season approaching we find that he probably will not be able to meet the expectations. Hence we go with an untested Freshman more than likely. Good thing is he do have a good offensive line, running backs, and receivers.
I was talking about the impossibility of Thomson throwing with his receivers. It's just baffling that nobody realized until last week the kids arm was dead.
It wasn't though. I watched practice during the first week. He looked good. He didn't have the same zip on the ball that Green has(which is near Byron), but he threw a pretty good ball. Then by last week he was being pulled from practice. I think his hurt it again. How much who knows.
My deal is he hasn't been able to participate in practice as much as the other guys and one of them (Green) is probably more talented. So how can you name Thomson the starter if he can't even make it through camp.
Sure he probably went out and played pitch and catch with the guys during the summer, but that was on his terms. Now he gets in practice and actually has to throw in a competition setting and his shoulder as of right now does not appear that it can hold up to that level.
I fear he comes apart going into USCjr or NCST and then we have a QB starting at that time that has no game experience and hasn't been prepped as the starter.
Also those who have crowned him starter please tell me where you got that from? What have you seen that sold you so much on Thomson that the thought of starting Green is the difference of a championship/Access Bowl season to holding onto a 7-8 win season?
Thomson has had durability issues in his career. He played at Wagner in a crap conference in the FCS. So why was everyone sold that this guy was going to come in here and take us to the next level. It's not like Oregon a couple years ago when that brought in that EWU QB that was a stud. I don't care what Phil Simms said about him. Phil Simms was being paid to train and develop him so of course he was going to sell him.
Or, how about this, "so you had a significant injury on your throwing shoulder...we will need to have you cleared through local physicians before we discuss any actual scholly offer."
Surely they couldn't have been that dumb as to just take the kid's word for it? That reminds me of Boobie Miles.
"My knee is fine coach"
Just shows that some coaches are tards too. Like when we had Rockhead out there playing against Kent State. He should have been shut down. Nope we put him out there when he could barely walk.
I believe most of what he was saying is based on Thomson being his client and he was selling him. He never called him a starter though. Said he was an NFL backup caliber QB. With the QB situations around the country if Thomson was a cant miss talent then he would have had teams lining up to land him. Here is a QB with starting experience who has two years left to play who is 6'5" and 230lbs. Teams should have been fawning over him. So why weren't they?
1. No one outside of us an two others really thought he was that much of a talent.
2. Everyone else knew or at least had serious questions about his shoulder.
Whatever it is, the way he has been painted on Marshall message boards and by Doc, this kid should have been wanted everywhere and shredding our defense right now.
I personally think his career at Marshall should be considered something of a scandal in retrospect. We were sending this kid out every week to play as long as he could, claiming he had only minor leg/ankle injuries, and then shelving him when his "leg thing" got "aggravated."
When a local reporter went to press with a story about the reality of Johnson's back injury, he had his access to Marshall athletics stripped in retaliation. Most fans fell on the side of the AD, since the reporter in question had such a deep history of being full of shhh, but when Johnson headed to the NFL, team docs brought to light that, in fact, it was his back, it was a serious injury, he shouldn't have been out there, and it possibly cost him the chance at a career in the NFL.
When Litton bolted in the Spring, Johnson took to Twitter to show his support and say basically that he wished he had done the same thing. That's the closest he's gotten to just coming out and saying it in public, but I figure that day will come eventually.
Don't know if it is the same guy that C.K.'s post mentioned, but wasn't it last summer, 17, when fall practice started, that we had a kicker in camp from Georgia that the staff brought in who had made the Parade magazine AA squad? He didn't make it through pre season camp, IIRC.
