Starting QB speculation

[forensicbuzz]

I swear this is the only leg all of you have to stand on. What about Sims ability to throw the deep ball with accuracy and in stride (please don’t say a wide open AB that he led out of bounds last game), and his tendencies for turnovers in crucial moments? I keep calling y’all out because the way y’all talk about Sims, you don’t give Graham the same forgiveness under a worse oline. Seriously, expect better.

For ****'s sake. Give it a rest. He's a true freshman. He's learning. He's not there yet. But he provides a better outcome in the coaches' eyes than any of the others. They get paid a hell of a lot more money to make those decisions. Graham was a RS Freshman last year. He couldn't make the throws to move the sticks. Our offense sucked last year with Graham. I love the kid, but it is what it is. If he were better, he'd be playing. Enough already.

 

[JacketOff]

For ****'s sake. Give it a rest. He's a true freshman. He's learning. He's not there yet. But he provides a better outcome in the coaches' eyes than any of the others. They get paid a hell of a lot more money to make those decisions. Graham was a RS Freshman last year. He couldn't make the throws to move the sticks. Our offense sucked last year with Graham. I love the kid, but it is what it is. If he were better, he'd be playing. Enough already.

I would never send ill-wishes on a player’s performance, especially a Tech player. But if Graham gets another chance and he doesn’t perform any better than Sims has, at least this dude might stfu about him. It’s obvious he’s either related to Graham or a family friend. Just about every single one of his posts dating back to 2018 are about Graham. JG is a hell of an athlete. He did some good things at QB last year under some tough circumstances. But there’s a reason that only 1 out 67 other Power 5 schools + Notre Dame and BYU offered him a spot to play QB. There’s also a reason why Sims was an Elite 11 finalist and Gleason had numerous P5 offers.

If JG starts against Louisville and puts up 450 yards through the air with 5TDs and no turnovers, then I’ll be all aboard the Graham train again. But there’s no way that he’s the most talented QB in the room right now, and 66 other schools can confirm that.

 

[Ibeeballin]

They need to simplify the playbook for Sims. He is getting hit way too many times (or tipped passes) which are plays which take time to develop. He needs to have more checkdown opportunities than he does today. The blitzes killed us on Saturday and will in the future unless we have shorter passing schemes. We have really good backs and one way to counter the pressure is swing passes, screens, etc

Simplify the playbook down to what?

We ran all that and still blocking to execute

 

[orientalnc]

My opinion has evolved over the past two days and I held back sharing it. Until now.

This thread served its purpose when none of us had any idea who would start against FSU and the speculation was fun. And the poll was pretty accurate at the end.

Now we have seen Sims in the starting role and he is not perfect. I wish he had shown more success downfield, but he connected on a nice long throw to AB that could have gone for a TD if Brown had maintained balance. Yates and Gleason are not the answer if Sims needs more time watching. The coaches say Graham is greatly improved over last year. If that's the case, I look forward to seeing him play. But, I do not think the errors Sims has made are the end of civilization as we know it. Nor do I look at the penalties and fear the worst for our future. They certainly need to be fixed and I sincerely hope that happens soon. But, Tech is not looking around for a new coach, so that line of thinking is going nowhere.

 

[kalld12]

For ****'s sake. Give it a rest. He's a true freshman. He's learning. He's not there yet. But he provides a better outcome in the coaches' eyes than any of the others. They get paid a hell of a lot more money to make those decisions. Graham was a RS Freshman last year. He couldn't make the throws to move the sticks. Our offense sucked last year with Graham. I love the kid, but it is what it is. If he were better, he'd be playing. Enough already.

LOL, Graham was in the same position last year. Through 3 games, Sims has played worse. Graham didn’t start till after Citadel. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sims, but at this point I want to see Graham and how much he’s progressed. Talking with Graham on social media he was behind the 8 ball getting to camp late due to COVID-19 and he will be back in the picture over the next 2 weeks. Don’t make me post the messages. Don’t want to scare you guys and your beloved SIMS. Oh and btw, you’ll keep hearing from me until Sims actually shows he can take care of the ball and win us games

 

[slugboy]

Don't know the raw data that goes into this... but interesting

That’s a really bad choice of axes. There are good reasons to split out “passing downs” where your team got behind the chains and the other team should be pinning their ears back from “standard downs” where you’re keeping up with the chains, but this chart ain’t it.

It also means (to me) that the regression line they put down the middle is meaningless. Do you want to be on the standard downs side of the line? Do you want to be on it? (basically, kinda “meh” answers because it’s the wrong line.)

It’s not surprising that QBs clustered around the line, since the two measures are strongly related to each other.

What is kind of worthwhile is how far out you are from the origin (like Lawrence is).

You could have really shown the same thing on a simple line.

 

[forensicbuzz]

LOL, Graham was in the same position last year. Through 3 games, Sims has played worse. Graham didn’t start till after Citadel. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sims, but at this point I want to see Graham and how much he’s progressed. Talking with Graham on social media he was behind the 8 ball getting to camp late due to COVID-19 and he will be back in the picture over the next 2 weeks. Don’t make me post the messages. Don’t want to scare you guys and your beloved SIMS. Oh and btw, you’ll keep hearing from me until Sims actually shows he can take care of the ball and win us games

Like I said, I love Graham's athleticism. He was electric at times last year. Unfortunately, he could not consistently move the sticks, and, in the end, that's what it's about. If Graham comes back in and takes the job back, more power to him. If he's the better option, then he should be playing. I don't think anyone questions that the better QB should be playing (well, maybe some do, but that's a small, sometimes vocal, minority). Most of us pull for all of the guys on the team. They make each other better. Personally, I thought Graham would start the first game. I was surprised when he didn't.

As electric as Graham could be last year, Sims has shown the same this year. As for passing ability, given the options, I'd take the guy who could make the short and intermediate passes and struggled with the deep ball as opposed to the guy who struggled in the short game and threw a pretty deep ball. Boom or bust with the deep ball; Short/intermediate passes keep the sticks moving. That being said, I'm not married to any particular player in any position. I want the team to be electric and the best players out there, whoever they are.

As for Graham's development, he's done plenty to stunt his own growth. From not focusing on classwork and needing to take his first Spring in the new offense off to get eligible for last year to whatever kept him from joining his teammates for Summer Camp. Part of being dedicated to the TEAM is doing what it takes to put yourself in a position to help the team. He's allowed the others to catch up with him, and that's on him.

 

[4shotB]

. Oh and btw, you’ll keep hearing from me until Sims actually shows he can take care of the ball and win us games

great. But a pro tip, harping on the same point relentlessly here on the internet isn't going to change one thing fwiw and it is just annoying to the more even keeled posters. We already have enough "one trick" ponies here (see political posts, Covid posts, CDP posts, etc.) I know this isn't going to stop anybody (see political posts, Covid posts, CDP posts, etc.) AND it isn't against site policies to repeat the exact same thing over and over. But do you really want to be one of those guys?

 

[smokey_wasp]

LOL, Graham was in the same position last year. Through 3 games, Sims has played worse. Graham didn’t start till after Citadel. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sims, but at this point I want to see Graham and how much he’s progressed. Talking with Graham on social media he was behind the 8 ball getting to camp late due to COVID-19 and he will be back in the picture over the next 2 weeks. Don’t make me post the messages. Don’t want to scare you guys and your beloved SIMS. Oh and btw, you’ll keep hearing from me until Sims actually shows he can take care of the ball and win us games

You're taking this situation personally for some reason and you really don't need to do that. Not interested in social media chatter, so no thanks on that.

 

[slugboy]

LOL, Graham was in the same position last year. Through 3 games, Sims has played worse. Graham didn’t start till after Citadel. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sims, but at this point I want to see Graham and how much he’s progressed. Talking with Graham on social media he was behind the 8 ball getting to camp late due to COVID-19 and he will be back in the picture over the next 2 weeks. Don’t make me post the messages. Don’t want to scare you guys and your beloved SIMS. Oh and btw, you’ll keep hearing from me until Sims actually shows he can take care of the ball and win us games

Graham's QBR last season was 109. As of right now, with several interceptions caused by batted balls, Sims is at a 108 QBR. Graham wasn't good with turnovers, either--but that is a stat where he was doing better than Sims. For almost all of the other stats you'd look at, Sims is better.
I would also like someone to walk out there and play like Heisman candidate, but I don't see how you can say "Sims has played worse" without cherry picking the evidence. If Graham had been making first downs and had a QBR last year of 140, maybe I could see your argument.
The people who watch the QBs every day seem to think that Sims has been playing the best. We don't have much evidence to contradict that.

 

[kalld12]

You're taking this situation personally for some reason and you really don't need to do that. Not interested in social media chatter, so no thanks on that.

You keep saying this but couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m ready to see a change at QB and Graham is my choice, we keep rewarding sub par performance.

 

[kalld12]

great. But a pro tip, harping on the same point relentlessly here on the internet isn't going to change one thing fwiw and it is just annoying to the more even keeled posters. We already have enough "one trick" ponies here (see political posts, Covid posts, CDP posts, etc.) I know this isn't going to stop anybody (see political posts, Covid posts, CDP posts, etc.) AND it isn't against site policies to repeat the exact same thing over and over. But do you really want to be one of those guys?

Please read my posts 1 by 1. Yes, my clear choice is Graham, and I’ve brought up numerous times why the Sims experiment isn’t working to date and why a previous QB who we have data analytics on and isn’t far from Sims in athleticism, arm strength, and now real starting experience, should be given a chance to show what he can do. I’m not attacking people, I’m stating my opinion and why I believe my opinion. Freedom of speech right? Or does that not exist on this board?

 

[lv20gt]

I’ve brought up numerous times why the Sims experiment isn’t working to date and why a previous QB who we have data analytics on and isn’t far from Sims in athleticism, arm strength, and now real starting experience, should be given a chance to show what he can do.

Graham has had a chance to show what he can do. He did all of last year. He was consistently just bad in the short to mid range passing which is a key component of our passing game in a way that the deep ball just isn't. It's why we struggled to move the ball in any type of consistent manner.

Freedom of speech right? Or does that not exist on this board?

No it doesn't. That's not how that works. Freedom of speech doesn't protect you from people calling you out for your overt bias.

 

[ramblinwreckguru]

Does anyone else think that there is a possibility that CGC does not want to start another qb at this point maybe at least in part that if another qb seems to out perform Sims, he would look bad in his decision to start Sims for the first 3 games?

 

[dmel25]

Does anyone else think that there is a possibility that CGC does not want to start another qb at this point maybe at least in part that if another qb seems to out perform Sims, he would look bad in his decision to start Sims for the first 3 games?

I don't get this vibe at all.

 

[ramblinwreckguru]

I don't get this vibe at all.

I really hope you're right.

 

[Lee]

Does anyone else think that there is a possibility that CGC does not want to start another qb at this point maybe at least in part that if another qb seems to out perform Sims, he would look bad in his decision to start Sims for the first 3 games?

No.

Anyone who watched the FSU game and would argue we should’ve started someone else has an agenda.

We have turned the ball over 10 times in the last two games. I’m sure Collins has opened up the qb competition again. If Sims is the guy next FridayCS UL it’s because he gives us the best chance to win.

If someone else comes out and plays great, then that means they’ve earned it.

No coach is going to start a true freshman on the road at FSU without feeling very confident he is the best guy to lead the team. If it was close, you go with experience.

 

[lv20gt]

Does anyone else think that there is a possibility that CGC does not want to start another qb at this point maybe at least in part that if another qb seems to out perform Sims, he would look bad in his decision to start Sims for the first 3 games?

Possibility? Sure. But there is no reason to think that. Last year Graham wasn't the initial starter, and I don't believe the final starter either of his years at temple was the one who originally won the job. I think most likely the simplest explanation is the correct one. Sims is starting because the staff think he's the best choice.

 

[ramblinwreckguru]

Possibility? Sure. But there is no reason to think that. Last year Graham wasn't the initial starter, and I don't believe the final starter either of his years at temple was the one who originally won the job. I think most likely the simplest explanation is the correct one. Sims is starting because the staff think he's the best choice.

I just get the feeling that he might be playing more for the future and not necessarily for the here and now.

 

[4shotB]

I’m not attacking people, I’m stating my opinion and why I believe my opinion. Freedom of speech right? Or does that not exist on this board?

As long as you are following our posted rules and guidelines, you have carte blanche to post whatever you want. Whenever you want. However many times you want. Free of charge even. Just wanted to give you a friendly reminder that some people find repetitive posts annoying is all. But there is no rule against that so there you have it. Go forth and enjoy. Peace.