Auburn 'in conversations' with more QBs on transfer board

[e808 3,024]

30 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

I think what Metafour is trying to get at is that Robbie is not a very good QB as his #86 ranked QBR indicates.

He's ours so we try and make excuses for him and look at him through the best lens possible...if we squint our eyes a little you can't see the flaws as much.  Better to deal with reality and get a QB with all of the necessary skills.

Here are the rankings.  He's #116 when you rate him by how many points he generates vs the average QB (-23).

https://www.espn.com/college-football/qbr/_/sort/qbpaa/dir/desc

I am not saying he is the best thing since slice bread. I just want to see how he performs in better conditions. How many quarterbacks do u think would have done better with the current situation and schedule of Auburn.

For example Sanders is said to be turnover prone. Put him in the same situation as Robbie. Would he be better or worse. Suspect oline, terrible coaching, shoulder injury and much tougher schedule. 
 

Example #2 Previous Auburn quarterback had a rollercoaster ride. Went to a better situation and took a massive leap and could be in heisman contention.

Bottom line it’s 50/50 if RA will improve. No one can definitely say yay or nay.

*numbers don’t always tell the story are there 13 or 14 quarterbacks better than Bryce Young

Edited January 17, 2023 by e808

[AUINSY 2,228]

25 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

I think what Metafour is trying to get at is that Robbie is not a very good QB as his #86 ranked QBR indicates.

He's ours so we try and make excuses for him and look at him through the best lens possible...if we squint our eyes a little you can't see the flaws as much.  Better to deal with reality and get a QB with all of the necessary skills.

Here are the rankings.  He's #116 when you rate him by how many points he generates vs the average QB (-23).

https://www.espn.com/college-football/qbr/_/sort/qbpaa/dir/desc

Right. Agreed. I think what @Gowebb11 and @e808 and I are saying is that the previous coaching staff was way, way in over its head with just about every aspect of SEC college football. Bo Nix went from Auburn's team to another team, coaching staff, and O-line and was very successful. We've got a new coaching staff, a new offensive line, and just about everything about this team is different and new. I can't think of a coaching staff who had a shorter tenure at an SEC school than our previous one. I can't think of a coaching staff at Auburn who was worse than the previous one. While we can and need to consider what happened this past season, to say "it will be the same/worse next year" is likely dishonest. Doesn't mean Robbie will be a world-beater/the next Bryce Young, but he could be a dangerous, decent SEC QB. What we can say looking backwards is Robbie was in a worst-case scenario at Auburn in 2022. The probability Auburn's/Robbie's situation is as bad or worse in 2023 as 2022 is slim-to-none, not impossible, but highly unlikely. Just my $0.02. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by AUINSY

[W.E.D 11,070]

30 minutes ago, e808 said:

That’s not an excuse it’s a fact. Does an injury affect how u practice or ur ability to get better. Injuries and illness takes a toll on everyone. 

He wasn't injured all spring, summer, or pre-season camp.  We constantly heard reports about him being bad, inaccurate, throwing to the wrong team, etc.

We saw exactly that during games.  The shoulder is an excuse

[W.E.D 11,070]

28 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

I think what Metafour is trying to get at is that Robbie is not a very good QB as his #86 ranked QBR indicates.

He's ours so we try and make excuses for him and look at him through the best lens possible...if we squint our eyes a little you can't see the flaws as much.  Better to deal with reality and get a QB with all of the necessary skills.

Here are the rankings.  He's #116 when you rate him by how many points he generates vs the average QB (-23).

https://www.espn.com/college-football/qbr/_/sort/qbpaa/dir/desc

It's wild how ppl want to convince themselves of something completely made up to feel better.

There's a chance Robby improves some, but expecting him to jump from near worst to top half of the league/competent QB is super optimistic 

[metafour 4,966]

39 minutes ago, e808 said:

That’s not an excuse it’s a fact. Does an injury affect how u practice or ur ability to get better. Injuries and illness takes a toll on everyone. 

He has no history of ever being known to be "accurate". He is an athlete trying to play QB going all the way back to his time at Hoover HS, where he had all the same flaws you see today. This is all known. I can point out to you that he actually started his senior year recruitment cycle as a fairly highly rated 4-star QB, and finished the cycle as a 3-star...because he didn't look particularly good in his senior season. 

A shoulder injury is a real thing. What isn't real is trying to pretend like his inaccuracy and other issues are simply due to his shoulder. When you try to explain away his serious flaws that he showed last season by saying "oh, well his shoulder was hurt" then you are in essence trying to suggest that these would be non-concerns had he otherwise not been hurt.

But in reality, he was just as inaccurate and mistake prone all offseason when he was in competition for the starting job. In case you forgot, mighty TJ Finley beat him out to become the starter. You are free to go back and read the countless reports of Ashford from the summer/fall and you can pretty easily see that all the reporting correlates exactly with what he looked like as the starting QB in real game action.

Edited January 17, 2023 by metafour

[e808 3,024]

12 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

He wasn't injured all spring, summer, or pre-season camp.  We constantly heard reports about him being bad, inaccurate, throwing to the wrong team, etc.

We saw exactly that during games.  The shoulder is an excuse

The same shoulder injury excuse u made for Sanders drop in performance right. U see how that doesn’t make sense. Injury limits a person no matter who u are.

Calzada was supposed to come in and compete for the job. I wonder what stopped him from doing that 🤔

Edited January 17, 2023 by e808

[GAAubie 501]

Robby may be a good QB, but his decision making is the issue for me. It's one thing to physically not be able to make the proper plays(see Sean White), but it's another to make BAD decisions. The ONLY place that I heard about his injury reported was from him. IF he was injured and couldn't throw during practice, then I hope that Holden took most of those practice snaps and they will BOTH be given the same opportunity to win the starting job. I'm not ANTI Robby, but I haven't been impressed with his in game decisions. A QB needs to be the LEADER and the CALMEST player on the field and I saw  several instances where he didn't show that he can remain calm and focused. HOPEFULLY this part of his game will improve and we will have a winner at QB, regardless as to who it is! I'm an Auburn Tiger and I just want my school to WIN!

Edited January 17, 2023 by GAAubie

[slyinsocal 831]

This should be fun. Would Georgia win a Natty with RA at the helm? No way IMO. Carry on.....I'll sit back and listen....

Edited January 17, 2023 by slyinsocal
Added an answer

[Shadow Tiger 1,291]

Robby may have to switch to receiver like Kodi did.

[Cardin Drake 1,820]

Everybody is discussing this like it's an either/or situation. It's not. I expect Freeze to continue to pursue other options at QB for next year. That's the prudent thing to do.  And I also expect Ashford to compete for the job.  It's not that the criticisms of Ashford are wrong. It's just that his running skills are so exceptional that a lot of us are hoping he can make enough progress on his passing to give us a real option at QB.  It may not happen, but I'm glad to see him in the mix. Ashford remains an intriguing possibility despite the naysayers.  And we need a proven guy for next year.

[W.E.D 11,070]

1 hour ago, e808 said:

The same shoulder injury excuse u made for Sanders drop in performance right. U see how that doesn’t make sense. Injury limits a person no matter who u are.

Sanders wasn't ever super accurate, but he actually had a history (3 years) of performing okay-ish...~62% comp.

Ashford has never had that

[DAG 33,957]

Can you teach a QB how to be more accurate? I sure hope so, but the data points do not OVERALL point to it,  When I look at Lamar Jackson QB stats in high school I believe he had an overall of 47.1 % completion rate. However, He was a prolific athlete which really helped.  This in turn continued into college where he had an overall QB completion rate of 57% (Marginal at best), but again he was an insane athlete. RA is not an insane athlete like Lamar, so he cannot rely on that. He does indeed do enough though if he can at least get to the low 60s. 

I do think it does carry weight that RA was indeed behind a terrible line with a lackadaisical coaching staff. However, I want to emphasize, RA cannot be trusted to make simple slant passes or even open wheel routes. Every once in a while he would make a throw that made you go hmmm, but that was far and few between. I truly think RA needs to NOT be the starting QB next year. I think a year of learning and growing is absolutely necessary for him.  The good thing is the next QB probably won't be here till the summer so that will give him and the coaching staff time for growing pains, for him to gain confidence and for him to learn how to become a QB. 

I am for sure not giving up on RA, but I think we would be fools to rely on him to start, based on the limited action we have seen. A few of those throws missed completely changed the trajectory of momentum in a couple of games. Further, Caddy and Co did a great job of trying to compensate for his inaccurate passing by utilizing a significant running game, which is in no way normal, FYI. So here's to hoping we do get a QB and RA takes the time to learn under this staff.

Edited January 17, 2023 by DAG

[AuburnNTexas 7,133]

4 hours ago, KansasTiger said:

Awful lot of assumptions in this 'What we know' post. Expecting HF and PM to turn around a below 50% comp pct QB into an SEC caliber starter in one offseason while installing a new system seems like a recipe for expecting too much.

I never said he would win the starting job and would be a lot better. I said he is very athletic and has a great work ethic. I also said that HF will probably look seriously at Geriner who I personally think could win the job. The fact that HF didn't go after Sanders means two thing to me he thinks either RA or HG could be as good as Sanders but that does not mean he thinks either will be the starter as he is still looking in the Portal hoping to find somebody he thinks would easily beat out RA or HG. 

Counting the freshman coming in if HF doesn't find the right QB one of those 3 will be the starter. The thing is HF won't just settle for a body from the Portal. 

[KansasTiger 3,248]

46 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I never said he would win the starting job and would be a lot better. I said he is very athletic and has a great work ethic. I also said that HF will probably look seriously at Geriner who I personally think could win the job. The fact that HF didn't go after Sanders means two thing to me he thinks either RA or HG could be as good as Sanders but that does not mean he thinks either will be the starter as he is still looking in the Portal hoping to find somebody he thinks would easily beat out RA or HG. 

Counting the freshman coming in if HF doesn't find the right QB one of those 3 will be the starter. The thing is HF won't just settle for a body from the Portal. 

I mean, you never 'said' he would get better or win the starting job, but you did. You just said it with caveats like 'should' and 'might'.:

"we should see a lot more consistency as a QB even though he will be in a new system. He might be a legitimate Starting SEC QB with the coaching he will get."

Edited January 17, 2023 by KansasTiger

[AuburnNTexas 7,133]

18 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

I mean, you never 'said' he would get better or win the starting job, but you did. You just said it with caveats like 'should' and 'might'.:

"we should see a lot more consistency as a QB even though he will be in a new system. He might be a legitimate Starting SEC QB with the coaching he will get."

You are correct and that is why I used the caveats. You quote the caveats I used as the reason I said he would be a starting SEC QB when the caveats are the opposite. I also state that Geriner might win out the starting job.  I also state that HF is still looking in the Portal but won't just take a body.  I do believe good coaching can help and he could improve.  To be honest I think HG is our best option if the stories about his accuracy are true.  But lets see what progress any of the QB's show during spring before we make grand announcements for or against any of our possble starting QB's.

What surpises me is why more people don't seem to think HG has a chance to win the job.

Edited January 17, 2023 by AuburnNTexas

[KansasTiger 3,248]

27 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

You are correct and that is why I used the caveats. You quote the caveats I used as the reason I said he would be a starting SEC QB when the caveats are the opposite. I also state that Geriner might win out the starting job.  I also state that HF is still looking in the Portal but won't just take a body.  I do believe good coaching can help and he could improve.  To be honest I think HG is our best option if the stories about his accuracy are true.  But lets see what progress any of the QB's show during spring before we make grand announcements for or against any of our possble starting QB's.

What surpises me is why more people don't seem to think HG has a chance to win the job.

Ill agree with the HG assessment. Using last year's game play as an assessment of his ability seems unfair, as he had like one or two series and was running for his life every other play. People seem to use his HS ranking as a reason he can't develop, but that doesn't make much sense to me either. HG would be my hope if we don't get a transfer. RA isn't the guy either way, IMO

[gr82b4au 5,568]

2 hours ago, Shadow Tiger said:

Robby may have to switch to receiver like Kodi did.

Maybe, but he can’t until after spring is over. That would just leave us with Finley is not good at all (and most say he is transferring) and HG who is unproven. 

[ellitor 33,076]

On 1/15/2023 at 10:56 AM, AUwent said:

That we’ve been able to win transfer battles with USCw and UAT would make it completely baffling if we truly are missing on all these QB targets. I def have more trust in the staff than I did a month ago, but we desperately need a QB out of the TP—Robbie is absolutely not the answer, sorry! Yes 2003 was super disappointing (not that I have any memory of the hype leading up to it) but can we please stop using it as proof that any low-rated/criticized player or coach will be a star for us?

So are we confident that there’ll be a nice crop of QBs that hit the portal come May? If OM is getting Howard then it sounds like we could easily get Sanders if we want him.

@AUwent Sounds like you still think we are getting beat for QBs. So far the only 2 we would have for sure taken were McCall & Leary, maybe 3 with the Armstrong kid. McCall can't transfers due to grades. UK beat us for Leary because they over paid the moon for him. Armstrong went to NC St. to be with his old OC. As for Sanders he has academic concerns. That's why no school has taken him yet.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

This is not where HF wanted to be at all with the QBs. We went after 2 of them and it did not work out. But as you know, most quarterbacks already have a long-standing relationship with coaches that have recruited them for years. That is the reason why most of these quarterbacks that hit the portal are committed within a week. They already know where they want to go. 

We are stuck with what we have at the moment. So buckle up AU fam… 

[ellitor 33,076]

20 hours ago, autan said:

Didn't our staff also offer Leary after McCall (our No. 1 guy) didn't work out?  Leary was plan B for us, but Plan A for UK. So no surprise that he signed with Wildcats.

He signed with the Cats because they over paid for him. It wasn't a Plan A Plan B thing for us.

[ellitor 33,076]

6 hours ago, KansasTiger said:

Awful lot of assumptions in this 'What we know' post. Expecting HF and PM to turn around a below 50% comp pct QB into an SEC caliber starter in one offseason while installing a new system seems like a recipe for expecting too much.

[cole256 17,042]

4 hours ago, AUDevil said:

I think what Metafour is trying to get at is that Robbie is not a very good QB as his #86 ranked QBR indicates.

He's ours so we try and make excuses for him and look at him through the best lens possible...if we squint our eyes a little you can't see the flaws as much.  Better to deal with reality and get a QB with all of the necessary skills.

Here are the rankings.  He's #116 when you rate him by how many points he generates vs the average QB (-23).

https://www.espn.com/college-football/qbr/_/sort/qbpaa/dir/desc

So now is it cool to criticize the QB?

[cole256 17,042]

It's not a big deal....It's ok to say a QB isn't or haven't played good or well. Even if we really like them or want them to be good.....He just didn't play the position of quarterback well. It is what it is.

We don't have to pretend a guy is good when he's not.

[W.E.D 11,070]

7 minutes ago, cole256 said:

We don't have to pretend a guy is good when he's not.

Fans being fans.

[tinman1 485]

4 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Fans being fans.

They would have been saying the same about Malik Willis had he been forced to play when he was at AU.  And where is he now?????  I'm not saying Ashford is going to be an NFL QB, but some folks appear to have their minds made up he cannot improve, even with proper coaching.