Addressing the Vad Lee situation

[DvilleJacket]

I would be fine getting a Qb like navy usually has but add better talent around him.

 

[awbuzz]

Definitely not good publicity for GT. No other way to spin it ...simple as that.

All of those thoughts Justin Thomas was/is a better player get the opportunity to see if he is assuming that he's able to win the starting job next season.

 

[kg01]

ely not good publicity for GT. No other way to spin it ...simple as that.

All of those thoughts Justin Thomas was/is a better player get the opportunity to see if he is assuming that he's able to win the starting job next season.

Dude my heart just skipped a beat. "Assuming he's able to win the job"? If he doesn't win the job. Whew boy.

 

[boozinbuzz]

I few thoughts. I realize they aren't the most positive but I am putting them on this board b/c I like the honest football discussions that take place here:

• This is bad. Really bad. I asked for other examples of starting QB's transferring that didn't involve head coach/offensive coordinator changes, injuries, etc... . The answers I found were Russell Wilson from NC State and Danny O'Brien from Maryland. Both instances did not turn out well for the teams they departed from.
• The triple O will not succeed without extraordinary talent at QB. Tracy Ham, JR Revere, Nesbitt all had this. I had hoped Vad would have this but it became apparent to me this year this wasn't the case. I still hate to see him go though b/c he seems to me to be a very good person who always had a drive and ethic.
  
• GT really needs some strong leadership right now, certainly from the AD maybe even from the prez. Not saying fire the coach kind of stuff but something to show that things are going to be fine going forward. I don't know what exactly but anything is needed right now. It is going to be very difficult to sell season tix to folks that aren't already heavily invested in GT football this year.

 

[awbuzz]

Dude my heart just skipped a beat. "Assuming he's able to win the job"? If he doesn't win the job. Whew boy.

I'm just not trying to count chickens until all the eggs get here!!!

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

I'm not so sure that its simply we should pass more, I think it's more that people want a different scheme. The truth is that it is much harder to take a snap under center, have a 3-5 step drop, while surveying the field and then accurately put the ball down field.

It's much easier for a QB to read the defense from the gun. Simply go look at the NFL and see how many teams run from the gun, even the ones that are running option are doing it from the gun. This advantage from a QB standpoint, who is the most important player on offense, plus the uptempo movement is what is so hard for defensive coordinators to adjust too.

I don't think this is true necessarily. I always found it much easier to take the snap under center because there were less variables in the timing of everything and the pass block angles/throwing lanes were generally better.

 

[UgaBlows]

I really hate that it hasn't worked out with Vad but i truly believe that this is the best thing for him and GT at this point. He can't run Cpj's offense effectively period, he don't like running the ball and taking/delivering hits, and he really isn't nearly as good a passer as everyone thought he would be. I believe JT is going to be a great option qb and if he gets hurt Byerly looked pretty proficient at it too.

 

[MWBATL]

My primary reaction to all of this is...If CPJ knew this was coming, why oh why didn't he play JT to get him some experience and game reps this year ?

Oh well...it is what it is!

I don't really believe the state of the program is this coach's fault, but I have about had it with how he is running things. Having your starting QB abandon ship is a startling indictment of how things are going on the Flats.

 

[stylee]

Vad threw at a completion rate 11% lower than Tevin Washington's was in 2012.
Tevin Washington was a significantly more accurate passer than Vad.
Let's say it again - Vad, the guy everyone is saying was a natural passer and who should have been in an offense which featured his arm more - threw at 45% this year, whereas the much-maligned Tevin Washington threw at 56% last year.


I'm not saying Vad lacks potential or anything, but the suggestion that his natural passing ability was so overwhelming that our offense should have been re-designed to feature it even more prominently (in a year when we actually went more pistol than ever before) is just so absurd I wonder if you guys watch the games.

Does anyone truly believe Vad would have excelled in a system that required him to read secondaries even more heavily this year? I just don't understand that.

I truly, honestly hope he goes somewhere and plays lights-out and makes it to the NFL. I always liked Vad and his personality. And I think he can get a lot better - Tevin kept improving, to the point that our passing game DID adapt to his ability to read secondaries and throw accurate mid-range passes. But let's not pretend Vad was Brett Favre forced into a Tommie Frazier offense.

 

[Boss Ross]

Vad transferring is the best thing that could happen to GT because he is not the right fit for this offense. I had someone on the staff tell me at the start of the season that JT was the better QB I just don't understand why CPJ kept playing VL. GO JACKETS!!!

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

Stylee, Vad was accurate if and when he stepped up. It's embarrassing that he wasn't coached to do that more consistently. I think people are still banking on his potential instead of the results because his problems were coachable.

 

[GTonTop88]

I don't believe losing Vad will hurt us much in the passing game. As stated earlier his completion percentage was no better than Tevin or Nesbitt. Vad had a great first half against UGA but other than that I thought JT coulda bout more time with his legs than vad. Under duress I think JT will be better

 

[AtWork]

One thing that bothers me about this is not getting a lot of playing time for Back up QB. I feel like this may have been fleshed out earlier if Vad would have played more last year. Not my call and TW did do a great job running the Triple better and now we know why Vad and the guys couldn't beat out TW.

I do hope the team chooses to rally around this and wish Vad the best. Better to cut the cord now then waste both his teams time and his own.

 

[stylee]

There are two sides to "coachable issues."
One side is the coaches.
The other side is the player.

As someone who's been a coach who hasn't properly recognized when it was the former and when it was the latter, I can only plead ignorance as to this particular situation. But it's important to remember that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

 

[Squints]

Vad threw at a completion rate 11% lower than Tevin Washington's was in 2012.
Tevin Washington was a significantly more accurate passer than Vad.
Let's say it again - Vad, the guy everyone is saying was a natural passer and who should have been in an offense which featured his arm more - threw at 45% this year, whereas the much-maligned Tevin Washington threw at 56% last year.


I'm not saying Vad lacks potential or anything, but the suggestion that his natural passing ability was so overwhelming that our offense should have been re-designed to feature it even more prominently (in a year when we actually went more pistol than ever before) is just so absurd I wonder if you guys watch the games.

Does anyone truly believe Vad would have excelled in a system that required him to read secondaries even more heavily this year? I just don't understand that.

I truly, honestly hope he goes somewhere and plays lights-out and makes it to the NFL. I always liked Vad and his personality. And I think he can get a lot better - Tevin kept improving, to the point that our passing game DID adapt to his ability to read secondaries and throw accurate mid-range passes. But let's not pretend Vad was Brett Favre forced into a Tommie Frazier offense.

This sums up my feelings on this more accurately and eloquently than I ever could. Great post.

 

[LibertyTurns]

This is bad. Really bad. I asked for other examples of starting QB's transferring that didn't involve head coach/offensive coordinator changes, injuries, etc... . The answers I found were Russell Wilson from NC State and Danny O'Brien from Maryland. Both instances did not turn out well for the teams they departed from.

Sometimes I wonder- Wilson set all kinds of records and took Wisconsin to Rose Bowl. I wish GT had it so bad.

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/wilson_russell00.html

 

[collegeballfan]

Open up the passing game... Easy to say, hard to do.

GT made an attempt to open up the passing game. Did not work for a few reasons.

Requirements for a passing game: a QB that can read the defense, a QB who can steep up in the pocket and deliver the ball, WRs who can run pass patterns, OL that can pass block and BBs that can pass block. Oh, and did I mention having receivers who can actually catch. This season GT had None of the Above.

 

[CuseJacket]

I few thoughts. I realize they aren't the most positive but I am putting them on this board b/c I like the honest football discussions that take place here:

• This is bad. Really bad. I asked for other examples of starting QB's transferring that didn't involve head coach/offensive coordinator changes, injuries, etc... . The answers I found were Russell Wilson from NC State and Danny O'Brien from Maryland. Both instances did not turn out well for the teams they departed from.
• The triple O will not succeed without extraordinary talent at QB. Tracy Ham, JR Revere, Nesbitt all had this. I had hoped Vad would have this but it became apparent to me this year this wasn't the case. I still hate to see him go though b/c he seems to me to be a very good person who always had a drive and ethic.
  
• GT really needs some strong leadership right now, certainly from the AD maybe even from the prez. Not saying fire the coach kind of stuff but something to show that things are going to be fine going forward. I don't know what exactly but anything is needed right now. It is going to be very difficult to sell season tix to folks that aren't already heavily invested in GT football this year.

I don't think there's clear evidence that Danny O'Brien transferring after the 2011 season was really bad for Maryland. Maryland was riddled with injuries last year at the QB spot to a point unheard of in college football, ever. They were an average team this year, far better than their performance the previous two seasons. His tenure at Wisconsin as he was benched permanently a couple games into the season. He transferred again to Catawba College.

 

[Atomic Jacket]

If Lee transferring was a good thing, then his staying would be equally good because the coach could always bench him and it would be the same thing as him transferring. Therefore, his transferring is either no impact, at best, or a bad thing. Most likely it is a bad thing.

 

[LibertyTurns]

I'll tell you what bothers me:

A. Tevin was playing a and everyone wondered why Vad was riding the pine until Vad got the chance to start. Then we found out why.
B. Now Vad started all season and I saw way less of JT than I had expected. Maybe coach knows best? I hope not.