Topic: Football

[Herdiowa]

Any news on spring football? 

[BigJimslade]

Any news on spring football?

Yes
It is horribly boring

[Green Dog]

Anyone think Huff will come out first week of spring practice and name Pennington as starter and team captain?
Has he learned anything after three full seasons?

[MicDrass1]

Anyone think Huff will come out first week of spring practice and name Pennington as starter and team captain?
Has he learned anything after three full seasons?

No - it will be a Qb battle

[svherd]

Anyone think Huff will come out first week of spring practice and name Pennington as starter and team captain?
Has he learned anything after three full seasons?

Why would he?

[Green Dog]

Why would he?

Exactly what I was wondering last year.

[Green Dog]

No - it will be a Qb battle

I sure hope so. Should of been last year but we saw how that went.

[gochneaur645]

Fancher was easily the best QB on our roster last year so there wasn't a debate.

Pennington is hopefully 3rd string this year. Should be a battle between Braxton and Griffis. Rooting for Braxton because I think he has the most upside.

[svherd]

We better hope one of the two come in and blow the doors off. That's the key to our season and huge for Huff's career as an HC. Of the films I have seen, I like Griffis the best - but I don't care who it is, as long as we win.

[HerdEcon]

No - it will be a Qb battle

I hope you are right and we have enough talent to have a full out war, not just a tickle fight.

[Johnnyherd]

We brought in these QBs and a new OC to run the AirRaid and I don?t think Pennington has the arm or passing skills to run it.  Obviously no one knows the future but I see Pennington starting his senior year. 

I feel like it normally takes a year to work out the timing and execution of a complicated passing offense and usually teams sacrifice games in the learning process.

[HerdEcon]

We brought in these QBs and a new OC to run the AirRaid and I don?t think Pennington has the arm or passing skills to run it.  Obviously no one knows the future but I see Pennington starting his senior year. 

I feel like it normally takes a year to work out the timing and execution of a complicated passing offense and usually teams sacrifice games in the learning process.

We finished last season 3-5 and dead last in the SB East.  To put that into perspective, Old Dominion finished 5-3 in conference. 

The conference schedule this coming season is as favorable as it's going to get with the coaching changes in the East and drawing the 2 worse teams last season from the West.  That should be a huge help for Huff.  Last season we split the games vs the West teams and lost to both teams in the East with coaching changes.  If we could win both games vs the West and pick up one win vs one of the teams that had a coaching change then Huff would go 5-3 in conference.  That should be an easy path for Huff.  The hard thing for Huff is going to be holding serve in the East, we won close games vs ODU and Ga Southern last season. 

[BigJimslade]

We brought in these QBs and a new OC to run the AirRaid and I don?t think Pennington has the arm or passing skills to run it.  Obviously no one knows the future but I see Pennington starting his senior year. 

I feel like it normally takes a year to work out the timing and execution of a complicated passing offense and usually teams sacrifice games in the learning process.

Penny2.0 !!

[puma]

We brought in these QBs and a new OC to run the AirRaid and I don?t think Pennington has the arm or passing skills to run it.  Obviously no one knows the future but I see Pennington starting his senior year. 

I feel like it normally takes a year to work out the timing and execution of a complicated passing offense and usually teams sacrifice games in the learning process.

I think this will be one of the toughest aspects of the portal era to adapt to. The roster churn is so crazy now and they basically have 6 months to make it work.

[HerdEcon]

I think this will be one of the toughest aspects of the portal era to adapt to. The roster churn is so crazy now and they basically have 6 months to make it work.

Good point that everyone will be going through it, well most everyone.  There are still a few programs that may rely on building the program off high school recruits supplemented by transfer portal and Juco players to fill a few holes on the depth chart.  Maybe it will make the transition to a new offensive scheme easier for Huff. 

[coalherd]

Why would he?

Well, maybe because he is, uh, you know, a "fast learner" like, uh, you know, Danny D.!!

[whf]

Fancher was easily the best QB on our roster last year so there wasn't a debate.

Pennington is hopefully 3rd string this year. Should be a battle between Braxton and Griffis. Rooting for Braxton because I think he has the most upside.

I'm going to venture a guess that your way off on this.We've seen no signs that "transfer in" QBs are heads and tails above our in-house talent; the only time that happened is when we hadn't recruited a decent QB in time for him to be ready. These kids aren't coming here because they just got tired of the old place, they weren't going to play there.

[MUonium]

it's obvious the last few, if not several years, the best QB was on the field.  even Frohnaphel (sp) and his team wasn't very successful, and arguably, he might have had the best chance.  i would love to have the luxury of having a truly hard time choosing which QB to start.  would love to see Pennington, but we all know the level of competition he came from in HS was not debateable and sometimes the apple does fall farther away from the tree, has less drive to compete.

we just need one who makes a big leap in this off-season like Penava did in basketball.  we need that OC to have true foresight concerning his QBs as individuals and the entire offensive supporting cast.  then, he must have the ability to adjust as needed should plan A not go the way he wants.

seems to me, that Huff tried utilizing his best 11 on offense but his and his OC's "plans" never seemed to work consistently enough to move the ball.   we know for certain that a good combination of O staff can correct that.  even Doc had some good staff combos in the first half of his tenure or so.

i hope for a better year than expected

[NewfieHerdFan]

Who is the "favorite" to start from our group of running backs?

[andy31]

Who is the "favorite" to start from our group of running backs?

I would have thought AJ Turner would have stood a good chance, but On3 lists him as being in the transfer portal even though I haven't seen any confirmation elsewhere of that.  I'd guess the NC State transfer would be starting in the lead.

As for this Pennington discussion, I think a lot of people are apparently going to be disappointed with where he falls on the depth chart.  Watching him without green tinted glasses, we saw that he is not ready for prime time.  There is a reason we brought in two experienced transfer portal QBs.  He will be behind both of them.

[svherd]

I would have thought AJ Turner would have stood a good chance, but On3 lists him as being in the transfer portal even though I haven't seen any confirmation elsewhere of that.  I'd guess the NC State transfer would be starting in the lead.

As for this Pennington discussion, I think a lot of people are apparently going to be disappointed with where he falls on the depth chart.  Watching him without green tinted glasses, we saw that he is not ready for prime time.  There is a reason we brought in two experienced transfer portal QBs.  He will be behind both of them.

Yep. I really hope one of the QB's coming in can light it up. It's gonna be an interesting fall camp. The OL MUST be better, QB play MUST be better. OC MUST be better. Defense lost some crucial experience and game tested guys. I am hope I am dead wrong but I don't see anything better than 6-6 at this point.
Having seen videos of both, the Griffis kid looked really good at times when he started for W-F. Hard to get a read on the Tulsa kid.

[Flat Tire 2]

It seems to me that the Danettes seem to think Cole is the best option at QB? Anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

[whf]

It seems to me that the Danettes seem to think Cole is the best option at QB? Anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

This is horse shix................comment; quit looking for things you just want to see and connections you just want to see.

Two different sports, two different conditions.  DD's been here 10, read it again, 10 years.  No one is relating his "soon to expire' tenure with a young athlete who will compete with folks being brought in to try to beat him out.  Will he win the role, we won't know for some time.  But these kids aren't coming here because they're the top candidates where they already are. Read their profiles and playing time, demise on the depth charts, challenges where they're leaving from. They aren't the beauties and the besties some of you seem to think they are.

[elginherd]

Great take, whf!

[HerdEcon]

I'm going to take up for Huff and the OC here a bit.  I believe the QB that Huff and the OC put on the field will be the QB that they believe gives us the best chance at winning.  It may not be the QB with the strongest arm, the QB that runs the fastest, or the QB that reads the defense the best, but there are a lot of things that go in to being a good QB.  It doesn't matter if a QB has a strong arm if he doesn't know the play book and is throwing passes to places where there are no WRs.

Now, whether Huff and the new OC have brought in FBS level QBs, that's another issue.  It's up to Huff to find and bring in players with the appropriately level of talent and skills.  I think that's where we are in some of these cases, we have some QBs that aren't up to the level they need to be to complete consistently at this level.  I think Huff underestimated the level of talent and skill he needed to bring in to compete.  We may be below Alabama and Penn State but we expect to be above all (or most all) other G5 schools.