JT and Vad and shown ability before their starting year

[Longestday]

This topic assumes JT gets the starting nod, which is not 100 percent certain.

Vad showed he had an athletic edge on Washington in 2012. He could make something from nothing at times. He ran with abandon and had an arm strong enough to get the ball deep down field. But, Tevin showed why he continued to start with his constant ability to execute the option and check plays.

Vad did show issues. He had a tendency to stop trusting in the system at times. He also had issue checking plays on the line. Vad also seemed to have someone in mind before pass plays and would act on feel versus read. Most honest people admitted these issues.

Vad did pitch the ball in the NC game, and fairly decently. He did not run the triple option very much. In the final 2012 game, Vad was running both the triple and counter option. He did have issues on the counter option and being ready to pitch the ball.

JT had a minim of snaps versus Vad's initial time on the field. But, JT has shown a good eye on reading (see his series in the Miami game and his reading the cross charge). I also think JT has a better mesh/pull that is harder to react too. JT also shows an ample ability and willingness to pitch the ball.

JT does a better job with his vision. He is looking for the open man, not throwing to a predetermined person. I think JT has a better field awareness than Vad given his limited number of snaps and spring game.

JT is not as tall as Vad and had at least one issue with the screen pass. He also has to move out of the pocket at times to see open receivers. The good thing is he is good at passing on the move.

We all have concerns with JT goal line and short 3rd down conversions possibilities. Does JT have enough mass to push through? Some wonder if JT is too reckless with the ball.

JT is more of an intelligent vision player. Vad played more on emotion and relationships.

We can only speculate, but I believe JT has more going for him at this point than Vad in reading, pitching, and field awareness.

 

[wingsrlevel]

good analysis of the differences between the two. At times Vad looked like he was going to be that "guy". I think with JT there will be some drop off in the passing game and the short yardage game. I don't feel good bringing Days in on goal line situations either.I think our best option in these situations would be a give to the BB.

 

[Eric]

Bottom line in my mind is that Vad was never comfortable in our offense...I think he always had second thoughts in the back of his mind.

I am not worried about this with the QB's on the roster now.

 

[gtg936g]

Vad's issues (going down early, bad reads) to me are all part of not being mentally tough. For all the grief and the boos, Tevin would trot out on the field and give it his all... Win or lose. That is an example of being mentally tough. When a young man has been told over and over that he is great, he has a hard time believing that he is human and will make errors. I think Vad had a lot of people tugging at him to bail since he got here. Couple that with the reality that he is not superman made him mentally weak compared to a lot of other players (I am not downing the kid, just making an observation here) which caused him to lose trust in the system and the team. If you could add Tevin's mental attitude to Vad's ability you would have a heck of a QB.

Football is an emotionally charged sport. There are highs and lows. You must be able to handle both in stride, and players must be able to handle it better than the fans.

JT has the tools, but he will make mistakes, and we will lose some games. Can he handle the pressure, the highs and the lows? I do not know, but I hope so.

The only aspect we as fans have any control over is what happens when he trots back on the field for the next series after a turn over. Will we boo, cheer, or sit silent? Do you think our team is more likely to give it their all if we are getting beat and the stadium is cheering them on instead of running for the exits? We as fans are mentally weak if we expect our team to give their all, but we bail after the first loss, or bad play. If hold ourselves to the same standard we expect from our players, the players will respond.

 

[Moonknightatl]

I am curious how JT will handle the short yardage situations. Hopefully he will watch TW's tape on short yardage situations and not JN's or VL's. TW was more effective in short yardage situations than I expected him to be because he was good at finding creases and sliding for yardage (this was especially impressive considering the uneven line play). Of course JN would just power for yardage (very effectively) and JT will not be able to do this, while VL neither powered for yardage nor had the slippery ability TW had in those situations. We will not always be able to use the BB in those situations so JT will need to learn to be effective. It seems, the offense tends to get in short yardage situations more often than most teams so JT will need to get many reps and prep for these situations.

 

[techman78]

Vad's issues (going down early, bad reads) to me are all part of not being mentally tough. For all the grief and the boos, Tevin would trot out on the field and give it his all... Win or lose. That is an example of being mentally tough. When a young man has been told over and over that he is great, he has a hard time believing that he is human and will make errors. I think Vad had a lot of people tugging at him to bail since he got here. Couple that with the reality that he is not superman made him mentally weak compared to a lot of other players (I am not downing the kid, just making an observation here) which caused him to lose trust in the system and the team. If you could add Tevin's mental attitude to Vad's ability you would have a heck of a QB.

Football is an emotionally charged sport. There are highs and lows. You must be able to handle both in stride, and players must be able to handle it better than the fans.

JT has the tools, but he will make mistakes, and we will lose some games. Can he handle the pressure, the highs and the lows? I do not know, but I hope so.

The only aspect we as fans have any control over is what happens when he trots back on the field for the next series after a turn over. Will we boo, cheer, or sit silent? Do you think our team is more likely to give it their all if we are getting beat and the stadium is cheering them on instead of running for the exits? We as fans are mentally weak if we expect our team to give their all, but we bail after the first loss, or bad play. If hold ourselves to the same standard we expect from our players, the players will respond.

You couldnt have possibly said any of that any better than you did. Too many times we as fans lose sight of the fact that these are 18-22 year old kids out here playing the game and not 26-30 year old millionaires.

 

[Mack]

Bottom line in my mind is that Vad was never comfortable in our offense...I think he always had second thoughts in the back of his mind.

I am not worried about this with the QB's on the roster now.

From what I gather ,and this is scuttlebutt ,Vad was sort of promised that if he came to tech they would open up the offense......fair deal on both sides.HE got here and had problems with the option mainly due to the fact he was a spread qb.On paper he was the answer to six years of medium type qbs but I think he just got tired of the scheme......Now he gets to throw the ball and do what his ability lets him do and hope he does well.Yes I dont like the option and have stated why many times on many boards but I will always say........get a running and thrower and the offense will not even resemble what we have now.I hope JT is the answer and I do think his speed will be a big advantage for next year........We shall see.HWGA

 

[techman78]

good analysis of the differences between the two. At times Vad looked like he was going to be that "guy". I think with JT there will be some drop off in the passing game and the short yardage game. I don't feel good bringing Days in on goal line situations either.I think our best option in these situations would be a give to the BB.

If there is a drop off in the passing game we will be in major trouble.....45% completion with 11 Td's and 10 int's, only 120 yards per game from Vad. Personally I believe that JT's running ability and capability of breaking the big one can really help open up the passing game, plus JT is good at checking down on other open receivers instead of just going to his primary which Vad did waaaay to much. JT also has better passing mechanics, I think his biggest question is height.

 

[GT Man]

good analysis of the differences between the two. At times Vad looked like he was going to be that "guy". I think with JT there will be some drop off in the passing game and the short yardage game. I don't feel good bringing Days in on goal line situations either.I think our best option in these situations would be a give to the BB.

I wouldn't be surprised to see different passing. He's looked good with the short pass, which I feel has been missing from this offense. JT is good at throwing on the run too.

 

[Yoda]

Honestly, Vad wasn't quick enough and couldn't make the reads to be an option QB. I truly believe it's that simple. We should be in good hands going forward. I'll take JT making those risky pitches all day long over what we saw all last year and would scream at the tv "pitch it for #@$$ sake".

 

[GT Man]

From what I gather ,and this is scuttlebutt ,Vad was sort of promised that if he came to tech they would open up the offense......fair deal on both sides.HE got here and had problems with the option mainly due to the fact he was a spread qb.On paper he was the answer to six years of medium type qbs but I think he just got tired of the scheme......Now he gets to throw the ball and do what his ability lets him do and hope he does well.Yes I dont like the option and have stated why many times on many boards but I will always say........get a running and thrower and the offense will not even resemble what we have now.I hope JT is the answer and I do think his speed will be a big advantage for next year........We shall see.HWGA

If that's the case, then I think PJ did what he promised. The offense was opened up. That's why we saw Vad out of the gun. The issue, IMO, is that Vad wanted the system to fit him 100%. The rest of the team was built to run the option offense. There's only so much deviation you want to make, when you've been running it successfully (for the most part) for decades.

THWG!

 

[Boomergump]

Let me ask you guys this question: what offense WOULD suit Vad perfectly? I am almost afraid to ask because I don't know. Maybe more practice time in the passing end of the offense would be enough to get him over the hump in a different scheme. I don't know. At present, I am not so sure a pass happy scheme would really suit him more than our offense would. There were some issues with him in the passing game, in terms of seeing the field, decision making, and mechanics of throwing, that will be hard to overcome enough to become an elite type QB in any offense. Obviously he was not bought in to our system and it affected his play. He was a gentleman about it, but to argue it didn't affect him greatly in his performance is not a reasonable position to take, especially when viewing film over the last couple years.

Personally, I think our offense is pretty close to the best possible offense for his skill set. Had he given the option part (and running / speed training) of the job as much attention over the summer as he did working with Whitfield and bought in to what we do, we might be having a totally different discussion right now. In fact, when you look at it logically, going to those mainstream QB camps was a very bad decision for a guy who needed to polish his reads etc in the offense that HIS TEAM runs. He may have goals to make the NFL, but if truth be told, he probably would have had a way better chance of becoming an ALL ACC QB running the flexbone than he will playing in the NFL as a drop back passer. The physical tools and the obvious quality of character and intelligence are all there. The only thing really missing is desire to do so.

 

[GT Man]

Let me ask you guys this question: what offense WOULD suit Vad perfectly? I am almost afraid to ask because I don't know. Maybe more practice time in the passing end of the offense would be enough to get him over the hump in a different scheme. I don't know. At present, I am not so sure a pass happy scheme would really suit him more than our offense would. There were some issues with him in the passing game, in terms of seeing the field, decision making, and mechanics of throwing, that will be hard to overcome enough to become an elite type QB in any offense. Obviously he was not bought in to our system and it affected his play. He was a gentleman about it, but to argue it didn't affect him greatly in his performance is not a reasonable position to take, especially when viewing film over the last couple years.

Personally, I think our offense is pretty close to the best possible offense for his skill set. Had he given the option part (and running / speed training) of the job as much attention over the summer as he did working with Whitfield and bought in to what we do, we might be having a totally different discussion right now. In fact, when you look at it logically, going to those mainstream QB camps was a very bad decision for a guy who needed to polish his reads etc in the offense that HIS TEAM runs. He may have goals to make the NFL, but if truth be told, he probably would have had a way better chance of becoming an ALL ACC QB running the flexbone than he will playing in the NFL as a drop back passer. The physical tools and the obvious quality of character and intelligence are all there. The only thing really missing is desire to do so.

BINGO!
I wish Vad the best. That said, a better player would have made HIMSELF better and not waited for everyone around him to adapt. The guy had all the physical tools to be prolific. He had plenty of snaps ahead of him to improve as well. I just want to see a sharp, hard-nosed QB run our offense the way it was meant to be run. I had a ton of fun watching GT in 2008 and would like to see that again!

 

[Longestday]

Vad's passing was not great. I would blame a lot of this on the OLs inability to block. I am not sure, but it may be the case, that the OL pass blocked worse this year than for Tevin.

Was Vad's mechanics a result of him or the situation, the lack of improvement - him or the situation. I do recall the QB coach calling out Vad during his video on passing more than the others. I think Vad has such a great personality that he was pulled under several teaching wings (versus his excellent "natural" passing ability).

Personally, I think Vad has a vision/field awareness/decision improvements to make more than anything else.

 

[UgaBlows]

Vad sure threw a lot of interceptions for such a awesome passer

 

[thwgjacket]

JT is better for the offense we run here. Is he going to be throwing 60 yard bombs like JN and Vad? No. But he will force the defense to spread the field more which can help to open runs for the B-Back. A lot of times I saw LB's close together and playing more inside than I have seen in previous years. I don't think teams were worried about Vad getting to the edge. With JT we have one of the fastest players in the country at QB. I don't think that's an overstatement. His ability to get to the edge opens up our inside running game. And if we are consistently gashing teams on the dive then the game is in the bag.

 

[Fatmike91]

If there is a drop off in the passing game we will be in major trouble.....45% completion with 11 Td's and 10 int's, only 120 yards per game from Vad.

Last year WAS the drop off in passing. Hopefully we can get our efficiency back to the "Tevin years"...

/

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Vad's passing was not great. I would blame a lot of this on the OLs inability to block. I am not sure, but it may be the case, that the OL pass blocked worse this year than for Tevin.

Was Vad's mechanics a result of him or the situation, the lack of improvement - him or the situation. I do recall the QB coach calling out Vad during his video on passing more than the others. I think Vad has such a great personality that he was pulled under several teaching wings (versus his excellent "natural" passing ability).

Personally, I think Vad has a vision/field awareness/decision improvements to make more than anything else.

Vad didn't read the field well. Not on the option nor in the passing game. Tevin had him beat in spades in that department.

 

[techman78]

Last year WAS the drop off in passing. Hopefully we can get our efficiency back to the "Tevin years"...

/

Exactly. Another poster was saying that we would probably experience a drop in passing with JT and I was saying basically the same thing you are. Bad struggled mightily passing. The 3 game stretch from Va Tech through BYU was extremely rough. Hopefully JT can turn that around as well.

 

[Mack]

Bommer I think a Carolina. Offense would help Vad.One thing for sure a throwing Qb coach would HSVE helped him along with o OL that could pass block...now make the NFL as a Qb ...doubt it but I think he id better spread Qb than option.