Zach C putting in work

[AuCivilEng1 10,998]

I’m not sure if any of you guys have seen Zach training the spring or not, but if you go follow Ray Isaac Sniper School on Twitter, he has been posting clips of Calzada doing drills. I have admittedly not been a fan of the idea of having Zach Calzada as our starter next year. In fact, the sheer thought of it completely killed my Auburn football hopes and dreams. But Zach looks really good in these clips. The kid has a f’ing laser cannon arm. Nice tight spirals, good footwork. 
 

Just wondering if anyone has seen the clips and if so, what are your thoughts?

 

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

I thought exactly the same way u did. Wasn't a fan at all when he came onboard. Have high hopes now. Hopefully it pans out and I will gladly say I was wrong about him

[GunsmithAU 383]

His measurable ability has never been in doubt it's the decision making that has been most questioned. 

At this level, most every scholarship QB is going to have above average to elite arm tallent. 

[AuCivilEng1 10,998]

20 minutes ago, GunsmithAU said:

His measurable ability has never been in doubt it's the decision making that has been most questioned. 

At this level, most every scholarship QB is going to have above average to elite arm tallent. 

Unless they play QB for Auburn under Gus😏

[AUinMS9528 1,086]

41 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

I thought exactly the same way u did. Wasn't a fan at all when he came onboard. Have high hopes now. Hopefully it pans out and I will gladly say I was wrong about him

Just curious, not a loaded question, I promise…..

but what exactly was it that changed your mind about ZC?    
 

I really want to have high hopes, but with him being injured most of this off-season, I just don’t know what could’ve taken place to make us have higher hopes.  My fear is that we’re just being fed the typical off-season hype without much substance behind it.   

[AuburnNTexas 7,138]

I am hoping he is the answer but all the quick clip told me is he can throw a great ball when nobody on the field and he knows in advance exactly where the receiver is. I saw great arm strength as that ball was moving both times he threw it.  A top notch QB needs to analyze defense before the snap adjust immediately to blitz's make good reads while going through progressions then and only then is the arm required and then depending on who he is throwing to and where defenders are throw a laser to a receiver or lob over a defender but not to far to allow another defender to get there or hit a 40 yard pass in stride. There are so many different types of passes required in a game.  

Please don't take this as knock on your putting this out there. I did see a really strong arm that was accurate under ideal conditions there are many that can't do that.

[GunsmithAU 383]

2 hours ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

Unless they play QB for Auburn under Gus😏

What QB to play didn't have arm talent?

[au302 2,669]

2 hours ago, AUinMS9528 said:

Just curious, not a loaded question, I promise…..

but what exactly was it that changed your mind about ZC?    
 

I really want to have high hopes, but with him being injured most of this off-season, I just don’t know what could’ve taken place to make us have higher hopes.  My fear is that we’re just being fed the typical off-season hype without much substance behind it.   

Not him, but me personally it's the fact that he very well may have the strongest arm in college football. He's clocked at 55. That's top 5 NFL arm talent. Personally, I did not know that about him when we got him. And I agree, a lot of this is just offseason hype, and arm strength don't mean squat if you can't hit guys. So I'm curious to see if he improves with footwork and accuracy, because that's where he struggled.

Secondly, while Jimbo is a good coach, last year was a poor coaching job for him. A lot of it is on Calzada, but to succeed, his offense seems to need an elite pass blocking OL. Reason being because Jimbo's playbook is full of long developing complex routes, and it takes receivers more time to complete these and get separation. Their OL took a big step back, and according to their fans their receivers weren't separating at all and things looked ugly. Again, Calzada played his role in their struggles as well

[AuCivilEng1 10,998]

40 minutes ago, GunsmithAU said:

What QB to play didn't have arm talent?

I’m just messing around, man. 

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

4 hours ago, AUinMS9528 said:

Just curious, not a loaded question, I promise…..

but what exactly was it that changed your mind about ZC?    
 

I really want to have high hopes, but with him being injured most of this off-season, I just don’t know what could’ve taken place to make us have higher hopes.  My fear is that we’re just being fed the typical off-season hype without much substance behind it.   

To be honest. I don't know. I guess some positive articles I've seen about him. I guess the unknown of seeing him play for AU is it more than anything. Hope is a powerful emotion LOL

[Rednilla 5,383]

50 minutes ago, au302 said:

So I'm curious to see if he improves with footwork and accuracy, because that's where he struggled.

If he improves his footwork, the accuracy will follow. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that something about working with Harsin and Kiesau will help him in that area more than working with Jimbo did. The problem is that Jimbo has a little better track record with QBs than Malzahn (which makes sense, because like Harsin, Jimbo was a QB in college, while Gus was a receiver), so the fear would be that he doesn't have as much room to grow as Bo might have, despite having less experience on the field than Bo did when Hars became *his* coach.

[au302 2,669]

52 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

If he improves his footwork, the accuracy will follow. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that something about working with Harsin and Kiesau will help him in that area more than working with Jimbo did. The problem is that Jimbo has a little better track record with QBs than Malzahn (which makes sense, because like Harsin, Jimbo was a QB in college, while Gus was a receiver), so the fear would be that he doesn't have as much room to grow as Bo might have, despite having less experience on the field than Bo did when Hars became *his* coach.

For sure. Certainly possible. The only thing with Bo was that Hars/Bobo likely had to spend almost all of winter and spring last year just breaking him down as a QB back to square one, and then rebuilding him from there. Just due to all the bad habits he had. Hopefully with Calzada, they don't have to deconstruct him as much and can more so just continue to build. At least that's my hope. 

[Rednilla 5,383]

1 hour ago, au302 said:

For sure. Certainly possible. The only thing with Bo was that Hars/Bobo likely had to spend almost all of winter and spring last year just breaking him down as a QB back to square one, and then rebuilding him from there. Just due to all the bad habits he had. Hopefully with Calzada, they don't have to deconstruct him as much and can more so just continue to build. At least that's my hope. 

Well, I don't know anything about Calzada's high school tutelage (though I doubt it was particularly good, since he was only a 3 star even with the cannon attached to his shoulder), but I'm not sure even the Malzahn camp would try to make the argument that Bo had equivalent or better college QB coaching before Hars when compared to the instruction Calzada got in College Station.

[AUinMS9528 1,086]

11 hours ago, Rednilla said:

If he improves his footwork, the accuracy will follow. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that something about working with Harsin and Kiesau will help him in that area more than working with Jimbo did.

Yep.  Better footwork should improve accuracy.   
 

A couple of things that might provide some hope.   1.   Maybe because he is the Expected QB1 at AU, he and the coaches will have a greater emphasis, focus, and urgency on getting better with footwork, etc.   He wasn’t expected to be QB1 at A&M.   2.   Maybe the AU system and personnel will be a better fit for him.   Someone with a better knowledge of A&M’s offense should correct me where I’m off base, but if AU has more check downs and quick reads to alleviate some of the pressure-related mistakes, we could see a significant improvement in his numbers.   
🤷‍♂️IDK.  Maybe?

[Rednilla 5,383]

4 hours ago, AUinMS9528 said:

Yep.  Better footwork should improve accuracy.   
 

A couple of things that might provide some hope.   1.   Maybe because he is the Expected QB1 at AU, he and the coaches will have a greater emphasis, focus, and urgency on getting better with footwork, etc.   He wasn’t expected to be QB1 at A&M.   2.   Maybe the AU system and personnel will be a better fit for him.   Someone with a better knowledge of A&M’s offense should correct me where I’m off base, but if AU has more check downs and quick reads to alleviate some of the pressure-related mistakes, we could see a significant improvement in his numbers.   
🤷‍♂️IDK.  Maybe?

From what I've picked up on here, the AU system is pretty much a better fit for every QB...unless TAMU has an outstanding O-line, in which case it is very QB-friendly. But that's almost entirely from people who may or may not have any idea what they're talking about (I have no clue), so...

[Sizzle 3,909]

32 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

From what I've picked up on here, the AU system is pretty much a better fit for every QB...unless TAMU has an outstanding O-line, in which case it is very QB-friendly. But that's almost entirely from people who may or may not have any idea what they're talking about (I have no clue), so...

Lol yeah this thread all over the place. Also if Calzada wasn’t as good as he could’ve been because of a mediocre OL then what kind of OL do we have?

[JDUBB4AU 5,111]

Need another National Championship banner in the background. Let’s get it Zac C … 

[Rednilla 5,383]

5 hours ago, Sizzle said:

Lol yeah this thread all over the place. Also if Calzada wasn’t as good as he could’ve been because of a mediocre OL then what kind of OL do we have?

Different offensive systems. Supposedly, Jimbo's system requires the offensive line to be exceptional so they can hold out the rush for a relatively extended period of time in order for the pass routes to run their course so that the QB has an open target who's looking for the ball. The hope is that Harsin's offense, which I don't think we've *really* seen yet, because I'm pretty sure the playcalling was mostly Bobo based upon the familiarity it took on...I think Harsin was pretty involved in the opening scripting of plays, but once they got off script, it was mostly Bobo's call. I'm sure he was calling plays from Harsin's playbook, but Bobo's patterns were painfully obvious. The hope is that Kiesau and Harsin are a little more in tune (and there is every reason to believe they are, considering Kiesau came with Hars from Boise), and that they have more checkdown routes than Jimbo has in order to be able to maybe make something even if the pass pro breaks down

[Barnacle 9,064]

Calzada may end up surprising a lot of people.

[Mikey 16,575]

10 hours ago, Barnacle said:

Calzada may end up surprising a lot of people.

I'm certain that he will. Be that happy or sad surprise remains to be seen!

[W.E.D 11,070]

On 6/11/2022 at 2:06 PM, Sizzle said:

Lol yeah this thread all over the place. Also if Calzada wasn’t as good as he could’ve been because of a mediocre OL then what kind of OL do we have?

Last year we had a horrendous run blocking OL and a barely average pass blocking OL.  Hopefully we have 3 new starter and can nudge run blocking up some.

[WFE12 9,191]

[Sizzle 3,909]

2 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Last year we had a horrendous run blocking OL and a barely average pass blocking OL.  Hopefully we have 3 new starter and can nudge run blocking up some.

Even if we did have 3 new starters how can we expect improvement when they couldn’t beat out mediocre starters last year?

[Rednilla 5,383]

3 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

Even if we did have 3 new starters how can we expect improvement when they couldn’t beat out mediocre starters last year?

Well, I could see one of last year's true freshmen maybe making that kind of splash in year two just based upon the fact that O-linemen almost always need at least a year in the weight room before they're ready...except the only two linemen we signed were rated pretty low, so probably not all that likely.

Eston Harris, Jr. might have a slight shot to play as a true freshman if he deserved his 4 star rating, but I doubt it for the aforementioned reason.

[W.E.D 11,070]

42 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

Even if we did have 3 new starters how can we expect improvement when they couldn’t beat out mediocre starters last year?

No college kid develops and gets better.  That's the argument?

Zierer had zero college experience, he'll limited football experience. Now he has some. I think Trox will be better at RT if he can stay healthy. Stutts transforming his body and developing or Wright getting healthy and starting over Council shouldn't be difficult to get better play.