Malik Willis

[atl-tiger 655]

7 minutes ago, SumterAubie said:

I can't read an offense for squat, but I have the notion Malzahn has not allowed a qb to run a true zone read since Marshall's first year.

Maybe, not trying to start that whole argument over again though haha.  I just can think of 2-3 occasions where he kept it trying to make the play himself and it didn't work out well.  Both times he got chewed out.  Also the fake PAT against Washington he tried to run it and had someone wide open for the TD.  Think he got eaten up for a safety on another one.

But yeah, small sample size to really tell if hes "the guy",based on what I've seen I don't think he is.

[kd4au 1,145]

Can Willis be the guy? How could anybody tell since he has had nobody coaching him that knows anything about developing a QB. Just add him to a long list of QB 's that Gus and his yes men have ruined.

[cole256 17,042]

So what about any other QB's transferring? What about uga QB?

[Gowebb11 9,313]

This thread reveals a horror. Willis, Gatewood, and Sandburg will be 75% of our QBs on the roster come January, and look how many times they are referred to as ‘projects’ or ‘wildcards’. 

[AUGunsmith 666]

Why is everyone homosexual, since they edited another word,  for gatewood? He wasn't even able to be the full time starter in high school. At best is a project QB whO you hope can transition to TE/WR when he fails at QB. 

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

This thread reveals a horror. Willis, Gatewood, and Sandburg will be 75% of our QBs on the roster come January, and look how many times they are referred to as ‘projects’ or ‘wildcards’. 

And the other 25% is still in high school. Been saying this since before the summer. 

Although, I took "wildcard" to mean something more along the lines of "most qualified candidate but nobody is talking about him" with regards to Sandberg. A majority of people seem to think it's a Willis vs Nix race. Could be wrong. I happen to think Sandberg could very well be a legit SEC QB. 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

13 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

And the other 25% is still in high school. Been saying this since before the summer. 

Although, I took "wildcard" to mean something more along the lines of "most qualified candidate but nobody is talking about him" with regards to Sandberg. A majority of people seem to think it's a Willis vs Nix race. Could be wrong. I happen to think Sandberg could very well be a legit SEC QB. 

I like the fact that dude looks like he's almost 40 years old. lol. But seriously i think he would have the maturity we'd need for next year. I know he played in garbage time but i liked what i saw from Cord. Just hard for me to imagine Gus going away from the Malik narrative and i'd be absolutely shocked if Bo is the starter at any point of the season. Not because he's not worthy but it's just not a Gus move considering how he rides with one player. 

[Tiger 8,818]

30 minutes ago, AUGunsmith said:

Why is everyone gay for gatewood? He wasn't even able to be the full time starter in high school. At best is a project QB whO you hope can transition to TE/WR when he fails at QB. 

 

I want to argue this. But I can't. 

JF3 was in a similar situation. Couldn't beat out a marginal talent for full time QB at JUCO. I hope JG is able to stick around and develop into a stud QB for us under our next staff.

[AUFriction 1,179]

21 minutes ago, Tiger said:

I want to argue this. But I can't. 

JF3 was in a similar situation. Couldn't beat out a marginal talent for full time QB at JUCO. I hope JG is able to stick around and develop into a stud QB for us under our next staff.

I'm actually feeling the opposite. It seems like everyone has written Gatewood off. When he committed, there were discussions of him being Cam Newton level talent like but much more raw. It seemed like perceptions of him changed in the spring game over the few reps he had in the game. 

I'm more confused about the man crush on Cord. He hadn't played football in several years and was not even that highly touted out of high school. Most of the reps we've seen him in were run plays. We have no idea what kind of shape his arm is in. 

I know this forum is about conjecture, but the truth is that nobody really knows anything about any of the quarterbacks on our roster. None of them have had any public reps that matter. QB evaluation is limited to high school film (for whatever that's worth), the spring game (which is largely worthless since QBs aren't even live), and garbage time reps. So, I don't really understand anyone writing anyone off as the best on the roster or as bad. 

[Tiger 8,818]

1 minute ago, AUFriction said:

I'm actually feeling the opposite. It seems like everyone has written Gatewood off. When he committed, there were discussions of him being Cam Newton level talent like but much more raw. It seemed like perceptions of him changed in the spring game over the few reps he had in the game.

Just gotta remember we saw the redshirt-junior version of Cam Newton. We are talking about RS level Joey G, it's going to take him some time.

 

1 minute ago, AUFriction said:

I'm more confused about the man crush on Cord. He hadn't played football in several years and was not even that highly touted out of high school. Most of the reps we've seen him in were run plays. We have no idea what kind of shape his arm is in. 

This is our signature. Whoever has played the least amount of snaps is the best QB we have. It's the Auburn way.

 

2 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

I know this forum is about conjecture, but the truth is that nobody really knows anything about any of the quarterbacks on our roster. None of them have had any public reps that matter. QB evaluation is limited to high school film (for whatever that's worth), the spring game (which is largely worthless since QBs aren't even live), and garbage time reps. So, I don't really understand anyone writing anyone off as the best on the roster or as bad.

I think you nailed it on the head right here.

[McLoofus 35,182]

10 minutes ago, AUFriction said:

I'm more confused about the man crush on Cord. He hadn't played football in several years and was not even that highly touted out of high school. Most of the reps we've seen him in were run plays. We have no idea what kind of shape his arm is in. 

Good lord. Can anybody say anything remotely nice or critical about somebody without it being labeled gay, or a crush, or hate, or bashing? "He might be pretty good." "You wanna have his babies!!!" 

Cord was a middle 4* QB coming out of high school. Dan Mullen wanted him and compared him to Tim Tebow, but what does Mullen know about QBs? He hasn't played football in years but he's been playing baseball so he's still going to be in reasonable shape. He will have a full year of reacclimating under his belt by the time spring practices start. His reps might have been mostly run plays but as you can see from Malik Willis, just making good decisions with the ball is not to be taken for granted and puts you pretty high up our list of QBs. Finally, the dude is big. Normally I wouldn't care but until our OL makes GIANT leaps forward, we're going to need a guy who can sustain hits. 

[autigeremt 6,589]

3 hours ago, NorthGATiger said:

I personally would like to see a Joey Gatewood outside of the Gus M doghouse.  I may never get my wish.  We all forget for his size what a great athlete he is.

I would have him as the favorite if not for his "doghouse" tag. Gus is his own worst enemy. 

[AU64 10,122]

2 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

I would have him as the favorite if not for his "doghouse" tag. Gus is his own worst enemy. 

Why is that?    if kid can't stay out of trouble with the HC...it's the coach's fault?     When did that start?   

JMO but we have some reasonable candidates for next season …...all seem to be big enough, and appear to be real DT type (as opposed to JS who did not like to run with the ball)    Thusly, it seems any of them (plus Bo) should provide some versatility.    

Chip was the QB coach for two years and we still don't have a solid QB. ..SO.....what we need now is a real QB coach to bring them along in the off season.  ...and maybe before signing day. ….and trusting the PTBs don't throw roadblocks in the way. 

[autigeremt 6,589]

Just now, AU64 said:

Why is that?    if kid can't stay out of trouble with the HC...it's the coach's fault?     When did that start?   

JMO but we have some reasonable candidates for next season …...all seem to be big enough, and appear to be real DT type (as opposed to JS who did not like to run with the ball)    Thusly, it seems any of them (plus Bo) should provide some versatility.    

Chip was the QB coach for two years and we still don't have a solid QB. ..SO.....what we need now is a real QB coach to bring them along in the off season.  ...and maybe before signing day. ….and trusting the PTBs don't throw roadblocks in the way. 

QB Development has been a bugaboo of his. Plus....you recruited the kid. Give him a chance to work out of the "house". 

[AU64 10,122]

1 minute ago, autigeremt said:

QB Development has been a bugaboo of his. Plus....you recruited the kid. Give him a chance to work out of the "house". 

Being in the dog house likely has nothing to do with QB....likely behavior related.....lots of rumors posted here and there about work habits and such.   

I accept that Gus does not have a string of big time QBs over the over the years but he's rarely been anywhere to work with a kid more than a couple years.   BUT at AU....it's not his job to do the QB development as far as I know..  Unless someone shows otherwise I bet he lets Chip work with the QBs which was his job.   Now if it the development does not get done, that's on Gus for not holding the coach accountable.

Plus, one of the big complaints about Gus and his offense gong back to Tulsa, was that it was not NFL compatible and he's rarely been able to recruit a really top notch HS QB other than JJ perhaps?   Assuming we keep Nix, he will be the best prospect coming to AU out of HS in a long time....maybe all the way back to Jason Campbell? 

[Dan-0 479]

Considering Malik´s running ability, and assuming he can complete some tunnel screen passes, wouldn´t that automatically put him at or above par with Stidham this year? Give him some RPO´s and turn him loose and let the chips fall where they may.

[sevenlee36 1,654]

Doubtful

[KolchakAU85 430]

20 hours ago, atl-tiger said:

No, I don't think he can.  He played QB for 1 year in high school and was a project coming in.  Hes gotten no significant reps and we know he hasn't been developed.  The thing he was supposed to be successful at, the zone read, he struggled with this year. 

^^^^^^^^^^^Exactly.

I have no confidence in Willis.  None.  However, struggling thru next season with him (or Cordwood or Gatewood) may be necessary (and beneficial) to allow Bo Nix to redshirt.

[CCslim 56]

I don’t want to see cord or a stidham type QB running this offense again

all teams do now is stack the box, pin their ears back and force us to pass.

I hated when people say Gus needs a running qb...but there is truth to it.

 

on the subject of Malik he can run the read option and hasn’t had the chance to pass so can’t evaluate him on passing if he doesn’t do it.

[McLoofus 35,182]

23 minutes ago, CCslim said:

I hated when people say Gus needs a running qb...but there is truth to it.

Yeah, I'm kinda in the same boat. Seemed at the time like people were really just wanting one and falling victim to recency bias, but our coach literally doesn't know how to run an offense with a guy who isn't a running back with a pretty good arm and freakish vision.

23 minutes ago, CCslim said:

on the subject of Malik he can run the read option

Can he? There's a lot of decision making that goes into running it properly and I am no confident in his decision making at this point at all. 

[CCslim 56]

4 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Yeah, I'm kinda in the same boat. Seemed at the time like people were really just wanting one and falling victim to recency bias, but our coach literally doesn't know how to run an offense with a guy who isn't a running back with a pretty good arm and freakish vision.

Can he? There's a lot of decision making that goes into running it properly and I am no confident in his decision making at this point at all. 

Well I believe the side line tells them to keep or hand off before the snap, these are design runs.

in 2017 it seems he went with it, this year looks like he was doing his own thing.

again he only plays garbage time and we can’t really tell how good or bad he is yet.

A day doesn’t count

[auskull 239]

21 hours ago, Sully to Beasley said:

Goodness knows we need a talented OC and QB coach at the Loveliest Village on the Plains to sort out this mess!

No truer words have been spoken. Unfortunately its all the other things associated with a head coach that need attention also.

[CullmanTiger 52]

18 hours ago, SumterAubie said:

I can't read an offense for squat, but I have the notion Malzahn has not allowed a qb to run a true zone read since Marshall's first year.

I agree 100%, there is no read option

[McLoofus 35,182]

52 minutes ago, CCslim said:

in 2017 it seems he went with it, this year looks like he was doing his own thing.

Yeah. That's the part that has me concerned. Could be a temporary condition, and it could be somewhat justified or at least forgivable given the overall dysfunction of our offense. But I did not see a guy who has a dependable mindset for the most important and cerebral position in the game.

[Win4AU 4,052]

I’d be interested to see Malik in a true Gus Malzahn offense.  I want to remind everyone how bad Nick Marshall looked against Wazzou in 2013.  He couldn’t hit anything.  The next game he looked a little better and a little better after that etc.  I could see Malik being similar in needing to find that rhythm.  Ive got to believe the running game will be better next year and Malik’s ability will further spread the defenses should help keep the defenses off balance.

I saw someone say Cord had that it factor and I’m not sure how you could know that after 2-3 series against ASU?  I think he will push and could win the Qb job but there isn’t enough data for me to say either way.  Gatewood May be the best of the bunch but we won’t see him again till Aday.