All things Malik Willis (Merged)

[Tiger 8,826]

2 hours ago, oracle79 said:

Don't want to sound negative towards SW, but what do you think/see as the "next level" for him?  I know from some of the posts on here, that some would think he could make it in the NFL, but I don't see that at all.  I think he's over achieving now having started for an SEC program.  But, barring injury/mop up duty, I don't think he sees the field again at Auburn in any meaningful capacity.

I hear you but our opinions on what his ceiling is in the football world is irrelevant to what I'm saying. The kid is going to try regardless is what I was getting at (unless injury makes him quit). But just my opinion here, I think there are a lot of schools that would consider taking him in as a transfer

[cole256 17,073]

7 hours ago, oracle79 said:

Don't want to sound negative towards SW, but what do you think/see as the "next level" for him?  I know from some of the posts on here, that some would think he could make it in the NFL, but I don't see that at all.  I think he's over achieving now having started for an SEC program.  But, barring injury/mop up duty, I don't think he sees the field again at Auburn in any meaningful capacity.

If he left because he was a number 2 guy then it would be no big deal. But anyway it goes one of the qb's on this team is going to have to be able to drive the ball down field....if you can't throw deep you're not going to the NFL period. In the NFL there aren't many wide open guys. Being accurate to me is throwing guys open and throwing in tight spaces. I think I've seen throwing a guy open a few times by sw, I've saw driving a ball downfield once by jj and twice by jf3. None of that is NFL material. These qb's are going to have to work on being at least average at all facets of being a qb for us to be successful. And whoever does that will be the starter doesn't matter what star or whatever they were.

 

[CCslim 56]

On 2/9/2017 at 2:13 PM, Linayus said:

Is he struggling to make the grades or is this something else entirely?

he is struggling the student part of student athlete

[aubiefifty 16,791]

tigerland

 

Auburn freshman Malik Willis works out with private quarterback coach

Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

Gus Malzahn's restriction on his quarterbacks working with private quarterback coaches in their spare time may be a thing of the past.

Last month at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Malzahn -- who has been one of the few SEC coaches to prohibit his quarterbacks from working with private gurus -- said he was going to leave that decision up to new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, to whom Malzahn handed over full control of the offense last month.

"I'm going to leave that up to Chip," Malzahn said at the time. "Chip is our offensive coordinator. He's going to have ownership. We are going to have our same run game and run-play action. He's going to add some wrinkles. He's very good with developing quarterbacks. He's very good with the RPOs. There's going to be some nice additions to our offense."

Fast forward three weeks, and while Lindsey has not been made available to the media for comment on the status of the restriction, one of Auburn's newest quarterbacks has been spending some time before the start of spring practice working with his own private coach. Freshman early enrollee Malik Willis, a three-star dual-threat prospect out of Georgia, spent part of Sunday working with private quarterback coach Sean McEvoy.

Willis returned home to Atlanta for the weekend and spent about 90 minutes working with McEvoy on the campus of Willis' alma mater, Roswell High.

RELATED: Lindsey 'excited' to work with, develop Auburn QBs

"As much as we can we wanted to continue to get some work in and make sure he's as ready as he needs to be for spring ball here," McEvoy told AL.com. ".... He's probably going to have an opportunity to get a lot of work done in spring."

McEvoy, a private quarterback coach at Premier Quarterback Training, began working with Willis back in August, just prior to the start of Willis' senior season at Roswell. The intent was to help Willis -- who didn't play quarterback until his junior year -- to develop a consistent and mechanically sound throwing motion. The two worked together multiple times each week during the season and up until Willis enrolled at Auburn last month.

Sunday marked the first time McEvoy worked out with Willis since he began classes in January. McEvoy posted a short video clip of their workout to Twitter on Monday.

Just straight heat.. [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] @Willis_Malik7 @AuburnFootball pic.twitter.com/fK5oV4QQwb

-- Sean McEvoy (@QBCoachMcEvoy) February 13, 2017

"He's really taken some great strides to get to where he is now," McEvoy said. "He certainly wasn't consistent throwing the football before. He had enough natural talent to throw the ball pretty well at times, but like I said, without that consistency he struggled in key moments.... The idea is that if we want to be consistently accurate, we want to make sure the motion is the same every single time, so whether we're throwing a hitch to the right, or a slant to the left, or a curl, or a comeback, or a post or all the deep-ball stuff, the upper-body mechanics are always the same. The idea to us is that we're throwing as much down a straight line as we can.

"He bought into that over the season and into winter now as he heads to Auburn, it's just continuing to build and develop all of those pieces."

McEvoy, who is also certified through National Football Academies, said he only recently became aware of Malzahn's traditional ban on quarterbacks working with an outside coach, adding that he personally had not had any discussions with Malzahn or Lindsey about continuing to work with Willis in the quarterback's spare time. He did say, however, that Willis had "some conversations with Coach Lindsey" about the matter and that there didn't appear to be a problem as of now.

"Obviously to the point that they're comfortable -- I mean, Malik knew that we took video," McEvoy said. "He knew it was going to be out there, so it's nothing we're trying to hide. That's the point, too."

In the past, Malzahn's quarterbacks have not been allowed to work with personal quarterback coaches because he wanted his players to remain within the bubble of Auburn's system.

 

Gus Malzahn's quarterback island

Auburn faces a quandary at quarterback as it hits the halfway point of the season. Sean White and Jeremy Johnson are competing for the starting job after several weeks of disappointment at the position. Questions abound, and while we may not know the root of the issue, there is one piece of philosophy at quarterback that stands out from the rest of the SEC: Why doesn't Malzahn let his quarterbacks work with gurus and private coaches in the offseason?

 

"Well, it's been that way for a long time," Malzahn said in 2015. "We just really want our guys within our system. You get a lot of different ideas from outsiders that don't fit within your system and sometimes it can be confusing."

As a result, former quarterback Nick Marshall wasn't allowed to work with private quarterback guru George Whitfield during his two seasons on the Plains, and rising junior Sean White has not been able to work with his own private quarterback coach, Ken Mastrole. White previously worked with Mastrole from eighth grade through his senior year of high school, and Mastrole indicated last month he'd work with White again if Lindsey and Malzahn lifted the resctriction.

"I definitely think if they're open to it, Sean's going to come back and work with me," Mastrole said. "There's no question about that."

Last May, quarterback John Franklin III posted a short video on Twitter of him working out in South Florida with former NFL quarterback Michael Vick and private quarterback coach Oliver Boseman, among others. At the time, Malzahn said he didn't have a problem with Franklin's workout because "he's not paying anybody or anything like that," adding that Auburn's coaches encourage players to work on improving while they're back home.

To that end, McEvoy said he was not being paid for his work with Willis.

"If I in any way can help Malik, and then through that... if Malik is better for whatever they find a way to use him, then I want to be able to do that," McEvoy said. "If they don't want that, then that's totally OK as well. It's certainly about just trying to do whatever's going to be helpful for Malik. I get guys have their own opinion on that. It's definitely a conversation that really between Malik, Coach Lindsey and Coach Malzahn -- he can get whatever direction they want to get on that.

"My idea is if it's acceptable to those guys at the program, I'm certainly here and available with Malik to help him as much as I can."

[Barnacle 9,064]

Like

[Mikey 16,600]

I can see two sides to this question. You don't want just anybody messing your QB's up. Guys getting paid a 6 figure salary by Auburn should be capable of coaching their QB's in-house.

[keesler 5,924]

31 minutes ago, Mikey said:

I can see two sides to this question. You don't want just anybody messing your QB's up. Guys getting paid a 6 figure salary by Auburn should be capable of coaching their QB's in-house.

One would think.....

[alexava 6,973]

I project Willis to be a solid #3 with a possibility of some action this season. I prefer he redshirt unless he would see significant action due to injury. I just have a gut feeling he passes woody. No inside info at all. 

[Timbeaux38 299]

On 2/10/2017 at 8:49 PM, aucanucktiger said:

I'm going to laugh my butt off if after all this QB hype from every direction a healthy Sean White is once again our starter in September. 

With JF3 as Backup......

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

I can see two sides to this question. You don't want just anybody messing your QB's up. Guys getting paid a 6 figure salary by Auburn should be capable of coaching their QB's in-house.

At the same time, with NCAA restrictions, there is a huge advantage to these guys being able to get coaching when our coaches can't work with them.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

At the time, Malzahn said he didn't have a problem with Franklin's workout because "he's not paying anybody or anything like that," adding that Auburn's coaches encourage players to work on improving while they're back home.

To that end, McEvoy said he was not being paid for his work with Willis.

These two statements concern me... If these guys are giving away services that they normally charge for, wouldn't that technically be an impermissible benefit?

[McLoofus 35,182]

5 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

These two statements concern me... If these guys are giving away services that they normally charge for, wouldn't that technically be an impermissible benefit?

Not if it's not coming from the school or a booster thereof, I don't think. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Just now, McLoofus said:

Not if it's not coming from the school or a booster thereof, I don't think. 

Cool...

[AU64 10,122]

I'm just curious about when Gus will finally learn to quit hyping his players before they prove themselves on the field. 

[alexava 6,973]

2 hours ago, AU64 said:

I'm just curious about when Gus will finally learn to quit hyping his players before they prove themselves on the field. 

I think JJ hype hurt qb recruiting for 2 1/2 years. 

[Win4AU 4,052]

I don't see anyway JF3 is in the rotation come Fall if Woody sticks around.  1a. Stidham 1b. Sean 3a. Woody 3b. Tyler Queen 5. Malik Willis/RS.  There is too much young talent that needs a chance to shine before JF3 gets another shot.  He is obviously a phenomenal athlete with great speed but he is not an SEC level QB.  Maybe make him the holder for FGs or some sort of wrinkle in the wildcat formation where he could bust a trick play from time to time.

[Barnacle 9,064]

Any way we could change the title to just Malik Willis, since we've merged with another thread not having to do with the USA Today article? I was a little lost looking for the QB coach thread, but that could just be me! Happy Valentines Day, fellas. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 hour ago, Barnacle said:

Happy Valentines Day, fellas. 

I'm talkin' about L'AMOUR

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

35 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I'm talkin' about L'AMOUR

Awwww hell.

Today????

What time is it?

[McLoofus 35,182]

11 minutes ago, AUinTLoosa said:

Awwww hell.

Today????

What time is it?

Too late o'clock?

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

5 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Too late o'clock?

Probably OK.

She's said (many times) that, at this stage in life, it's too late to "break in another one."

'Course, she's a doctor, knows where I sleep, and can make it look like natural causes.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Just now, AUinTLoosa said:

Probably OK.

She's said (many times) that, at this stage in life, it's too late to "break in another one."

'Course, she's a doctor, knows where I sleep, and can make it look like natural causes.

It seems you've made at least a couple good decisions in your time. 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

It seems you've made at least a couple good decisions in your time. 

Well,

successfully wooed someone to dress my color-blind self.

Does that count?

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, AUinTLoosa said:

Well,

successfully wooed someone to dress my color-blind self.

Does that count?

...and the couple of good decisions becomes the few. 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

11 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

...and the couple of good decisions becomes the few. 

except for that horse hair of Damocles.

Alas, "Wherever you go, there you are." [Buckaroo Banzai]

I'm the happiest person I've ever met.