It's the football off season, I was looking for football related info and decided to look at our QB position. We have 3 QB that I think most people put at the top of the list of prospective starters: Cole Pennington, Braylon Braxton, and Mitch Griffis.
In 2023, Braxton struggled completing passes with a 44% completion percentage on 50 attempts in 6 games, his long was 37 yards. He ended the season with an espn qb rating of 68.8 and a qbr of 15.9. Braxton was a better running qb he averaged 4.3 yards per rush with a long of 46 yards on 40 carries.
Griffis completed 59.9% of his passes on 207 attempts in 9 games. He ended the season with an espn qb rating of 130.5 and a qbr of 35.5. His long was 69 yards. He rushed for an average of 1.2 yards on 106 attempts, his long was 27 yards.
Pennington completed 57.1% of his passes on 112 attempts in 4 games. He ended the season with an espn qb rating of 98.6 and a qbr of 14.9. His long pass was 65 yards. He rushed for an average of -4.6 yards on 15 attempts, his long was 6 yards.
Griffis faced the stiffer competition facing Clemson, FSU, VT, Duke, NCSU, and GT among others. Looking at our new air raid scheme Pennington and Griffis would give us more of a drop back pocket passer look (think Texas Tech) while Braxton would give us more of a running threat qb spread offense look (think a less talented Pat White). If Braxton can read what the defense is giving him and complete the short passes at a high % he could be the starter we see in the fall. His biggest question would be whether he can stretch the field and complete the medium and long range passes to force the defense to cover the entire field which is a cornerstone of the air raid offense.
I would put Pennington and Griffis in the same category. More traditional air raid offense qbs that can hit passes at a higher % all over the field. Defenses would be forced to defend the entire field. Griffis has the edge with the higher completion %, espn qb rating, and qbr. Neither have the rushing ability that Braxton has and rely more on the ability of the OL and WR.
If historical performance is the best indicator of future success then Griffis has the advantage. Griffis and Braxton both had better stats in the 2022 season, but I used only the 2023 season since Pennington only had meaningful stats in the '03 season. None of the qbs put up impressive passing stats in '03. I think that will change in the air raid offense with the emphasis being on the qb recognizing what the defense is giving him and throwing mostly short high % passes that rely on the wrs speed and athletic ability to make big plays. Huff recruited 2 wrs off the top of my head that should add speed to our wr unit.
Your thoughts on our qb room or starting qb?