The JT myths

[CobbTech]

Since most GT fans have given Byerly the starting job, I figured I would start a thread about the guy who will likely be the starting quarterback on August 30th. Justin Thomas. I said in another thread that Byerly impressed me the other day. He looked much better throwing the football than I expected, he looks like he is good, not great with the reads in the offense, he is much faster than I expected and is a tough guy to bring down. However, there have been some misconceptions going around about Thomas that I figured we could talk about.

1. "He has ball security issues. " Does he though? Is he any worse than what we've had since Nesbitt? Any worse than TB? Everyone gave TB a pass in the spring game. If it was JT fumbling the ball, he would have been getting bashed. In real games how many fumbles did he lose last year? I don't remember one.

2. "He won't last an entire season because he is too small." If that is the case, why would our coach, who has run this offense for 30+ years, even recruit a guy who is going to spend most of his time on the sidelines because he will be hurt from the offense? It doesn't even make sense. I think there is a misconception that our quarterbacks take a "pounding." Nesbitt missed time due to a hamstring and ankle injuries. Tevin never missed time due to an injury and he is not exactly a physically imposing guy. Vad never missed time due to an injury from the offense.

3. "Byerly has a much better command of the offense than Thomas." I don't think you can say this for sure right now. Go back to last year's games. Virginia, Syracuse, BYU, Clemson. JT looked pretty good to me running the offense. His pitches were crisp, reads were solid, and he did a really good job with the mesh. He showed signs of being a solid passer as well.

To all of those handing Byerly the job, pump the brakes. There is a reason JT didn't play on Saturday if he was good to go. PJ knows what he has in JT. He wanted to see other guys perform. If there was a true quarterback controversy, don't you think JT would have played?

 

[RamblinCharger]

Amen, I agree 150%. Justin is a freak and I think everyone will see that soon enough.

 

[Bule]

Agree with some of your points but from everything I have heard, it will still be an ongoing battle in the fall to decide the starter for sure. FWIW I think JT wins the job but I don't think there is a clear cut leader at this point. I think it could definitely be a 1a and 1b type of a scenario.

 

[RamblinCharger]

Agree with some of your points but from everything I have heard, it will still be an ongoing battle in the fall to decide the starter for sure. FWIW I think JT wins the job but I don't think there is a clear cut leader at this point. I think it could definitely be a 1a and 1b type of a scenario.

I personally think a coach will almost always say that there is a battle into the fall. Paul seems to say that every year no matter what. We don't need any of these guys getting overly confident. Everyone needs to work hard to get better, but I doubt it's that close of a competition.

 

[00Burdell]

Maybe we can just be happy that for the first time in longer than I care to remember we have legitimate, bona fide depth at the quarterback position.

It isn't necessary to piss and moan about which one should start. Obviously, the better one will start.

I'm just pretty pleased that the days of going "Oh, $!*&^" when the starter comes out of the game are, for now, over.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Who is JT? I didn't see him.

Seriously, JT was said to be hurt and wearing red. So he wasn't played. Plus he had the quote that it was a lot tougher taking more of the snaps and he was sore.

I think our QBs take a lot of hits, the type that weaken and slow you down. Not the type that knock you out. It is a real tough call when a starting QB is slowed down to decide when a fresh back up is better than a slow starter. I don't think we'll have that problem, I think JT will not be able to take the pounding. Just an opinion based on his play last year against better teams and not being able to make it through Spring practice. Maybe it was a freak accident that got him and I'm wrong.

We are in good shape at QB. We need someone to beat out Chamberlain or the QB is going to have a long year.

 

[thwgjacket]

Who is JT? I didn't see him.

Seriously, JT was said to be hurt and wearing red. So he wasn't played. Plus he had the quote that it was a lot tougher taking more of the snaps and he was sore.

I think our QBs take a lot of hits, the type that weaken and slow you down. Not the type that knock you out. It is a real tough call when a starting QB is slowed down to decide when a fresh back up is better than a slow starter. I don't think we'll have that problem, I think JT will not be able to take the pounding. Just an opinion based on his play last year against better teams and not being able to make it through Spring practice. Maybe it was a freak accident that got him and I'm wrong.

We are in good shape at QB. We need someone to beat out Chamberlain or the QB is going to have a long year.

 

[Squints]

I think all three could be legitimate concerns worth talking about. However, I've said before I think they are being really overstated by some people. Why? I'm not sure. Probably, a combination of the offseason and people looking at the glass half empty leading them to nitpick.

 

[iceeater1969]

We need or qb to not be a tweener - must do mesh well and then be good at either run, pitch or pass, but preferably run,.
If he can run well then the pitch and pass will come. By running we can have a burner like JT or a beast like my hero J Nesbit. The burner will get 3 yds but sometimes 50 while the beast will sometimes get 20 but will always get the extra yard.
JT is a burner, griffin in a few years could be a beast. Is Byerly a tweener? If we are still asking in September we will have our answer. We need the new freshman to have a chance so it is up or out for the back up qb..
The qb must be a baller.

 

[Longestday]

JT will make a good starter and runs the option better than Vad. He has his own strengths in speed and agility. No one is going to be quicker down the line or to expose a small gap for major yards.

He does get taken down with minimal contact and will bend away from contact due to his size. But, JT is a TD potential on any play due to his speed and elusiveness.

JT is not the guy for a QB keeper on 4 and 1 or to run the midline.

 

[daBuzz]

JT will make a good starter and runs the option better than Vad. He has his own strengths in speed and agility. No one is going to be quicker down the line or to expose a small gap for major yards.

He does get taken down with minimal contact and will bend away from contact due to his size. But, JT is a TD potential on any play due to his speed and elusiveness.

JT is not the guy for a QB keeper on 4 and 1 or to run the midline.

I've seen others post this as well so I'm curious. If you really believe this to be true, why then did Vad take over 95% of the snaps last year?

 

[Longestday]

JT did not have game experience which counts for a lot in reading defenses and checking plays. CPJ could have played JT from day 1 and got him the experience he needed. Vad was the team leader and JT did not have Vad beat enough to prove to the team he should be on the field.

There is no doubt in my mind that JT reads better than Vad.

Byerly will have to prove far beyond any doubt that he is better than JT before CPJ and the team will allow him to start before JT.

 

[RamblinCharger]

I've seen others post this as well so I'm curious. If you really believe this to be true, why then did Vad take over 95% of the snaps last year?

Because he has tremendous potential and PJ didn't want to lose him. I think paul kept playing him hoping that he would stay, but I think it was a dumb move. That is purely speculation on my part, but he kept vad in the game at times when he shouldn't have been and that is the only thing that makes any sense to me.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

We need or qb to not be a tweener - must do mesh well and then be good at either run, pitch or pass, but preferably run,.
If he can run well then the pitch and pass will come. By running we can have a burner like JT or a beast like my hero J Nesbit. The burner will get 3 yds but sometimes 50 while the beast will sometimes get 20 but will always get the extra yard.
JT is a burner, griffin in a few years could be a beast. Is Byerly a tweener? If we are still asking in September we will have our answer. We need the new freshman to have a chance so it is up or out for the back up qb..
The qb must be a baller.

I think a lot of that depends on who you have surrounding your qb. Tevin did pretty well and he's a "tweener" and he didn't have much surrounding him. Imagine if he'd have had Dwyer, Allen and Thomas around him...

 

[Declinometer]

Whoever starts is the starter. We all agree that competition is good no matter the position. I don't think we have had this level of uncertainty at this point of the upcoming season as who the starter will be.

 

[daBuzz]

Because he has tremendous potential and PJ didn't want to lose him. I think paul kept playing him hoping that he would stay, but I think it was a dumb move. That is purely speculation on my part, but he kept vad in the game at times when he shouldn't have been and that is the only thing that makes any sense to me.

You honestly and seriously believe that Coach Paul Johnson would change his personnel substitutions and INTENTIONALLY play a player who didn't run his offense as well as another player....all just to placate a player and potentially keep him for another year? If you really believe that, then you quite obviously know very little about the man. I don't mean that as a personal attack, by the way. But just, no.

Look, I've been quite open about my disdain for the offense. But I actually like Paul Johnson a LOT. If he weren't so married to running the ball so much and we had a semblance of a passing game, I'd be happy to have him as our coach for a long time.

I like it that he doesn't take crap from anyone. He has a personal habit or two that I'm not so fond of but don't we all? But I can guarantee you that he didn't play Vad Lee most of the snaps just because he was afraid of him leaving.

I'm supposed to meet my friend for dinner & drinks tomorrow night and I'll ask him this question about who runs/ran the TO better...Vad or Justin. And I'll also ask him why VL got 95% of the snaps and was it due to Paul trying to make sure Vad left.....or was Vad simply better at running the offense.

 

[vamosjackets]

I've seen others post this as well so I'm curious. If you really believe this to be true, why then did Vad take over 95% of the snaps last year?

I think Vad had a better grasp of the overall offense due to his experience and extra time in they program over Justin. I think he also had better passing ability. Longestday could still be right about Justin being more adept at simply making TO reads and such but still have less of a handle on the offense overall than Vad last year.

 

[vamosjackets]

Maybe we can just be happy that for the first time in longer than I care to remember we have legitimate, bona fide depth at the quarterback position.

It isn't necessary to piss and moan about which one should start. Obviously, the better one will start.

I'm just pretty pleased that the days of going "Oh, $!*&^" when the starter comes out of the game are, for now, over.

I actually think we've had good depth at the QB position the last 2 years with Vad as the backup and then Justin as the backup. But, yeah, it's great to have the "QB controversy" problem again this year due to good depth.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

You can have a ton of potential, but that means squat if the light never comes on. CPJ was waiting for the light to come on for Vad, it just never did. That went a long way, but at the end of the day, Vad still gave us a better chance to win than JT did last year, at least in coach's mind. JT had issues of his own, mainly ball security ones. That said, he ran the triple option play better than Vad. But that's just it, it's one play, not the whole offense.

 

[UgaBlows]

He kept hoping that the Vad from '12 UNC would show back up