You can underperform on a winning or losing team. Throwing shade at the other players doesn't make AR better. He is no scapegoat. He just is who is. We had 3 years to see what he was: spashes of high level athletic play followed by mistakes, inconsistent play and injuries. I wish him all the best.
He ended up being exactly what many projected him to be when he got to UF: a high-level athlete who was dangerous with his legs, with a strong but wildly inconsistent arm. Anyone who is disappointed simply had unrealistic expectations of him. That would be like me expecting an average QB like Graham Mertz to throw for 3,500 yards and 40 TDs next year, then shaking my head in disappointment and saying he underperformed when he fails to reach those lofty expectations.
I don’t think it’s ridiculous to expect a dominant physical specimen to run the ball when he easily can. Or to not chin it up with FSU players as they’re beating you. Is that how low we’ve gone, we expect this type of crap?
So you’re now saying expecting development, and players to get better, is simply unrealistic lolololol
i think AR showed improvement as the season went on but he’s still raw and when you’re raw, inconsistent play will happen. Not to mention our WR core went down in numbers late in the season. He underperformed in his OWN right and idk if anyone will disagree but it wasnt shocking that he was inconsistent to anyone who’s followed him
AR left Gainesville as a better QB than he was when he arrived so he did get better, unfortunately like I said, people like you placed unreasonable expectations on him. That’s not his fault. Shrug.
“When he easily can.” Nothing about the game of football is easy. Most of you look at his physical gifts and expected him to turn it on at the push of a button whenever you wanted him to, that kind of thinking works in video games not in real life.
if people took a step back and realized he is a first year starter who had only one career start under his belt and was under a whole different coaching staff and offensive system, his struggles shouldn’t have been a surprise. His not a finished product as a passer, what was folks expecting?
Very true. This is also what I’m wondering. I guess I’m not as disappointed in him as others are because I tempered my expectations of what to expect from him.
I might buy that if: 1. He didn't get a year of coaching from Brian Johnson. 2. If he hadn't had two years of coaching from Dan Mullen. 3. If he hadn't had a personal coach throughout high school and college. 4. If he didn't have running skills that forced defenses to give him easier throws. 5. If he couldn't elude the rush as easy as he can. 6. If he wasn't equally as bad against UK early in the year when he had veteran receivers. Then maybe I could say we had too high of expectations. But then again, he isn't starting at Vandy or Wake Forest or Illinois either. There are some built in expectations that the cupboard isn't bare at QB. And he had many advantages to other 3rd year starters.
With AR for me it’s not even about expectations or talent, it’s more demeanor. He’s way more athletic than Tebow was but did you ever for a second doubt Tebow’s desire to win? Nothing to do with supporting cast or teammates. A lot of people think of Tebow and it’s “the promise” while holding back tears, the stained jersey after running over FSU defenders. My thoughts with AR are incredible highlight plays and then games like Kentucky, where even beyond the numbers his expression and body language spoke volumes. I don’t need a rah-rah guy but he looked completely checked out multiple times this year.
so you’re saying there was no reason why AR should have struggled this year, right? Cause if so, im not gonna argue that, I just disagree. heck even last year ALLLL of us were heated at Mullen for “holding AR back” when he told us clear as day AR had a lot of things to work on as a QB and what’s crazy are the things he mentioned last year as things AR struggled/missed happened this past season. Being a passer aint just about physical gifts, it’s between the ears and that’s his biggest weakness. Everyone knows this
That's all fair. With that in mind, he really needs to go early in the draft. If he free falls for any reason in the draft, he really should have returned or transferred to another school with a good qb coach.
yea and to a man, as far as playing football, he would have been better served to come back but i get why he declared. Can’t pass that up and risk. His accuracy and timing is really not good no matter how I try and spin it lol
Good and valid points. My "disappointments" vs expectations fell into two categories. My first was with his struggles for a significant portion of the year with his not keeping the ball on read option plays. I think of the keeper vs TAMU that literally changed the tone of the game and wonder how we saw so little of that thru the season. By and large his running success was the result of broken plays rather than designs. My other area is admittedly an intangible....on an offense lacking an established leader I thought he would step up into that role to some degree. Maybe not Tebow levels but at least something. And from my viewpoint that simply didn't happen.