Point being, it can be done. I thought the same thing about Hurts (not natural thrower, never be good in the NFL), but here he is, proving me totally wrong.
If you want to accuse anyone of giving up, I would suggest you look at Mullen's recruiting. Napier and Richardson were both stuck with the cast that was available. Also it was mentioned by some analyst (I also looked it up) on staff in 2022 we had an OL coach, a DL coach, an RB coach, a WR coach. a cornerback coach, a safeties coach, an inside linebackers coach, an outside linebackers coach and a strength and conditioning coach. Guess what one position didn't have a dedicated coach. You could say it was Napier, but not many head coaches can also be a primary position coach. I like Billy and want him to get a fair chance, but Spurrier he ain't. I give a lot of credit to Billy for scrambling to put any type of class together last year in a short amount of time and hope that he continues to attract players that can turn this program around.
The article touches on AR’s supporting cast, but it also gives a couple of examples of head-scratching decisions that the other players on the field had little to nothing to do with.
Not just that. He apparently also crushed the interviews and table talks, which indicated his headwork is better than what we saw in games. This would be in contrast to other QBs, such as JaMarcus Russell, who also had eye-popping measurables but showed below-average cognitive skills in the interviews, reportedly.
Certainly that's possible however it just may mean he has and will have issues reading defenses and throwing accurately. Keep in mind NFL corners and dbs are the best of the best and he will have tighter windows to throw in. He played the entire year, full of reps and was still making same mistakes. He has all the measurables but if a nfl qb can't read defenses and consistently throw accurately they're toast. AR seemed injury prone and that's not a good thing especially going up a long season against superior athletes. He is fast straight line but not as nifty as in being quick. FSU's qb wasn't the fastest but could easily elude a collapsing pocket by being quick. I do hope AR succeeds but measurables are one thing and facing nfl defenses is another.
The Combine performance lacks rushers, nfl defenses schemes, dbs. It lacks game like conditions. So, if I'm going to spend millions of dollars on a qb, I'd like to see how he competes on the field. Give me a Drew Breeze or Purdy or Brady who aren't the fastest, aren't the strongest, aren't the tallest but who are accurate and can read defenses and I'd pick the over and above. Still, only time will tell if AR is a hit or busts.
Falling on deaf ears. A fanbase is going to try to be loyal to the one that’s still here. If Billy would have left and AR was still here, you’d have more people agreeing with you. As it is, everything you said was spot on.
Billy got 6 wins out of one of the most athletically talented QBs ever. Can't wait to see how he does with Mertz.
Sigh. The offense put up a ton of points, even with a wildly erratic AR. Unfortunately, this coincided with one of our worst ever defenses. It is, statistically speaking, grossly unfair to place our losses on the shoulders of BN’s offense or on AR.
No QB takes on tacklers like that all the time. Even Tim Tebow I can’t imagine what the opinion of Chris Leak was here. Was he not trying because he was passive running the ball?
Poor play calling can contribute to poor production... but AR couldn't throw a short pass if everyone was standing still. When the football leaves the hand, it's all on the QB at that point.
Wish AR the best - his main problem was being the QB on a team with a horrible defense. Now, can he read a defense at NFL speed? Can he hit the RB out in the flat? Can he (with relative consistency) hit a seam route or a crossing route? Let's see. Hoping for the best but if I was drafting in the first round I'd probably take a left tackle or a beast of a LB.
First, I'm no idiot. I sat and watched the game at Vanderbilt and my excuse-making for AR stopped that day. I know what I saw and I saw what was available . . . and wasn't taken. My 10-year old grandson (who plays QB) knew what to do half the time. It's not just the wide open QB runs AR had available and didn't take. They got so bad -- Vanderbilt KNEW AR wouldn't run -- they snuck safeties in the box before the snap and AR could have walked around the end for a 1st down. It's not just the inexplicable failure to pass to an open, deep WR 2-3-4X. Its not the throws to Montrell Johnson coming out of the backfield that were ropes on Montrell's wrong side and shoestring high. The last pass of the game . . . From the article: There must have been a reason he threw a final, Hail Mary heave in a loss to Vanderbilt clear out of the end zone and into the stands. Or he threw a 4th-and-12 attempt in the final minute against Florida State — with Florida at the positive 25 and trailing by 7, and tight end Jonathan Odom wide open beyond the sticks — 15-feet over the head of his receiver. I won't listen to anyone blame those AR failures on Coach Napier. I watched Coach Napier try to coach the team during every TV timeout, right in front of my seats. I saw body language and separation of one player from the rest of the team. Coach had to turn completely around and put his back to the team to talk with the one player. I'm sure Coach Napier called that pass-to-the-15th-row play. You claimed, "It’s common knowledge our passing scheme was very weak to put it mildly." No it wasn't. It's something the GNFP guy got on his soapbox about criticizing week after week . . . some of the same plays run by current NFL teams by the way, including Kansas City. That's hardly "very weak to put it mildly." I'm not surprised they wanted to bench AR after Vanderbilt. You could see it with your own eyes. MUCH different than watching a game on TV. My perspective of the whole season changed that day in Nashville. AR will probably sign a big fat contract and get rich from the NFL. He has certainly been looking forward to and practicing with his private QB coach for years . . . for this combine.
Nothing against AR. Hope he does great in the NFL and gets filthy rich. He represented UF well off the field. One reason he is knocking the interviews out of the park is because his coach, Billy Napier, groomed him for it. He was chosen to speak for the team after almost every game and practice. The fact that he has yet to capitalize on that incredible athleticism and imposing physical presence he is blessed with is not because of his coaches. I’ll take a QB that can read the defense, see the field and EXECUTE over the most athletic and imposing physical specimen any day. If you can find a QB that has both those qualities, that’s even better. It’s not how many plays you have in the playbook or even how the plays are called as much as how well a team executes and the QB is a big part of offensive execution. Jordan Travis is physically and athletically dwarfed by our guy but, he put his team on his back and willed them to victory against us last year. The opportunity to do the same for us was presented to AR many times last season, including the game against Free Shoes U and he was unable to get it done.
Coaching was part of it for sure. WR room wasn’t very good either. And then AR was inconsistent at times. I’m someone who firmly believes if you let AR sit a year he will be MUCH better than he was in college. If you draft him and start him day one, might be a train wreck
The NFL guys in the article seem to cast aspersions at Lloyd Carr for not starting Brady more, but those same expert NFL scouts drafted the GOAT dead last, so it there is that. The NFL is not great at developing quarterbacks. I have no idea how they project quarterbacks into the NFL, but I can tell you this, if AR was returning to Florida next year, I would be saying that Florida has the best Day 1 quarterback in the SEC.
I was also at the Vandy game, and yes to all of this. Honestly I still can’t get over that last Hail Mary, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it lol. He’d make an unbelievable throw and then a 100 mph inaccurate throw on a short crossing route. And yes left many yards on the field from lack of running. He represented himself and the school well but what I saw that day did not scream “win at all cost”.