We all would've killed for "mediocre" last season.
Brendan Sullivan commits to Iowa
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
We all would've killed for "mediocre" last season.
Still crazy to think we went 10-2* in the regular season. We somehow finished ranked #17 in the final CFP poll, too.
But vs ranked teams?
0-31, Penn State
0-26, Michigan
0-35, Tennessee
.....................
0-92 Total
=========
* 11-1 (it wasn't a fair catch)
Was NW’s line THAT bad last year, or does he take way too many sacks (somewhere in the middle)? He was sacked the 4th most in Big Ten last year with the 19th most passing attempts.
Actually tied with Deacon being sacked 24 times, but Sullivan had 99 passing attempts and Deacon had 251.
Actually tied with Deacon being sacked 24 times, but Sullivan had 99 passing attempts and Deacon had 251.
I’ve always wondered about this. It seems overblown to me but IDK I was a track athlete so there may be something to it.
“the language” is often mentioned as a formidable obstacle. How difficult could it be? I mean, we are not talking pee wee or even high school kids. Iowa players have been academically qualified to take college level courses. You’re telling me they are struggling to learn football lingo? Odd. It’s not advanced calculus.
To me - after a week or two of practice - saying a football player is struggling with language is sort of an insult to the player.
I have to agree with you about the language that deciphers into what the plays turn out to be. I would think really good OC's can boil down their language of calling plays into something that has rhyme and reason to it so that it is fairly easy for everyone to understand. A word or number etc that translates to how the line blocks, a letter in a position that stands for a route that every receiver is running in the personnel package.
But the QB does have to remember and translate all of it while other position players can just listen for their one assignment.
No, one was Tyler Wiegers and I’m pretty certain the QB that committed before we took away his offer was from Wisconsin.
. https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/football/roster/season/2017-18/player/tyler-wiegers/
The QB has to become knowledgeable and FLUENT with the language, enough so that he knows the entire play and who is doing what, including protection. He needs to hear and clearly articulate it in the huddle and adjust to a player who may not have deciphered his alignment or motion pre-snap, etc. All while the crowd is roaring and the bullets are flying.
Also, this will be the first year of the helmet communications system - so there is that new learning curve to navigate.
Lester relies heavily on Kyle Shanahan's language, concepts and schemes. Below is an example of a single KS call.
Sullivan was sacked once every 4 pass attempts. That is really really bad.
NW other QB was sacked once per every 10 pass attempts.
Deacon sakced once per every 10 pass attempts.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of Benevetti (sp?) who had his offer pulled while in HS and John Wienke from Tuscola, IL who came in as a QB and converted to punter. Wiegers transferred to Easter Michigan (he was from MI not WI)but it would be news to me that his scholarship was pulled.
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So the older, more experienced (3 years starting experience - E Michigan, Cincinnati, Northwestern) QB in Ben Bryant took fewer sacks than the younger, less experienced Sullivan did. Makes sense to me.
Bryant has exhausted his eligibility. Sullivan has two more years of eligibility.
Regarding Hill v Sullivan, let's have fun with stats:
- Hill had a total of 276 plays (43 rush, 233 pass). He fumbled 10 times (once every 28 plays) and lost 6 (once every 46 plays).
- Sullivan had a total of 174 plays (75 rush, 99 pass). He fumbled 1 time (once every 174 plays) and lost 0 (once every zero plays).
Hill certainly was taught the same value principle, but he didn't follow through on it.
Lester DEMANDS that his QBs are efficient and value to football.
Here’s some crazy talk: what if we play both QBs? I know it’s lunacy, but is it possible that we give more than one guy some snaps in a game where the starter doesn’t get injured?
Imagine a world where Iowa intelligently uses the roster and actually prepares for Cade getting hurt instead of writing off the season. I know; crazy.
Yeah, now look at how many positive yards he had even with being sacked as much or more. Moveing the chains is efficient. Plus some tidbits from last year at Northwestern. "The top three pass catchers are done, but AJ Henning (Michigan) and Cam Johnson (Arizona State) will bring an instant boost." And "It’s not like the offensive line is totally starting over, but it’s patching things together after losing Peter Skoronski and most of the top blockers." So yeah, it might have been tough for any QB to shine with all that going on.
As long as KF stays out of it, we might do just fine
Wait, so we have McNamara, now Sullivan, and an incoming Sullivan. All we need is to get Appalachian State's Mason McHugh out of the portal and we'll have the most goddamned 4-leaf clover of an Irish QB room in the history of college football.
More fun with analytics:
Sullivan averaged a loss of 5 yards part sack. Hill lost an average of 7. Sullivan was more efficient minimizing damage when taking a sack play, and I'm being generous to not even bring up the fumble yardage lost or loss of possessions by Hill.
If you take out sack yards and correlating attempts, Sullivan averaged 5.5 yards per rushing attempt (51 attempts, 281 yards) while Hill averaged 1.4 yards per rushing attempt (23 attempts, 32 yards). I'll take greater than half a first down on average when my QB runs.
Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.
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I think you're right on Wienke. Confused him with Wiegers. Wasn't Benevetti from Wisconsin?
Looks pretty twitchy to me and definitely has an arm to make the throws. I expect he could be a serviceable replacement QB if needed this coming season.
I went ahead and looked at the stats for the 7 NW games last season that Mr. Sullivan saw action in and in none of those games did NW lose possession of the ball due to a fumble. Also noted that in those 7 games Mr. Sullivan was sacked 24 times, so he had plenty of opportunities to cough the ball up.
This is a huge get. Not in the sense that he is a top-level prospect, but in the sense that he gives the team some competent depth. Think of it this way...if you'd been commuting to work 20 miles every day on a bike with flat tires for the past couple of years and all of a sudden you were given a 2002 Mercury Sable, it would be a game changer for you.
When looking at his stats I think some are misleading. Of games he played in last year, and according to sports reference he went against #3 team defense in PSU. #4 in Iowa and number #13 Nebraska and number 17 in Duke. With a less then a great OL and the top 3 targets from 2022 gone (as I posted above). DESPITE all of that is the context one needs to look at his stats in. (Yeah it is possible he might be pushing for the starting job)
Maybe Sullivan held onto the ball longer trying to extend and make plays, hard to say unless you see the video as to what was going on.
just based on that short vid, he does seem to have a tendency to do that. but if he doesn’t cough up the ball and can stay healthy it could pay off for us.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Yes, as I mentioned in an above post he was thinking of John Weinke from Tuscola, IL.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
In a couple of years folks may be calling for Sullivan to replace Sullivan.
No. He RS his freshman year. Has played the last two and has two more to go. Does not have a Covid year.
In a couple years Sully 1 will have graduated and Sully 2 will be a RS Frosh. That's the plan.
