Peter Burns of SECN says Nick is the 7th best QB in the SEC

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Originally Posted by thf24

I don't know what everyone is freaking out over... of course Fitz isn't going to project near the top as a pro based on his career thus far. The only head scratcher is Hurts, and I don't think Tua has enough of a sample size for consideration, but it's not hard to argue that the other four have more potential as pocket passers based on what we've seen thus far. I agree with 34 though that Fitz is going to do plenty to change that this year.

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It's who you want to play college ball with next season. All things equal it's got to be Fitzgerald

If it?s solely for NFL I would probably go
1. Locke
2. Stidham
3. Bentley
4. Fitz
5. Fromm
6. Hurts
...no reason to rank Tua because he has played one game and Hurts will never see the NFL field as a QB IMO. I would take Fitz over them all for college only though. He is going to have to make major strides passing the ball before I would draft him above the other 3. I don?t get Burns putting Hurts, Tua, and Fromm above Fitz though. Burns is a big mouthpiece for us too, he likes State.

I'm going to say this:
Fitz with Dan: #4
Fitz with Joe:#1

We all know what would happen this fall with Dan as coach. Dan would get conservative with Fitz's running, and force him into a check down system attempting to prove again that he is the QB Guru and can make even a 2* with only offers from "U T Chatta-noooga" an NFL QB.

With Joe, I think we will still get to see Fitz do what Fitz does best - RTDFB. For Fitz, that means a much higher completion percentage. In 2 seasons (minus the USA '16 and OM '17 games), when gaining 80+ rushing yards, Fitz has a completion % of 60.4%. In games with less than 80 yards rushing, his completion % plummets to 46.8%. With Joe's RPO package and a downfield passing game, I think we see a Cam Newton-esque season on the horizon.

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Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg

I'm going to say this:
Fitz with Dan: #4
Fitz with Joe:#1

We all know what would happen this fall with Dan as coach. Dan would get conservative with Fitz's running, and force him into a check down system attempting to prove again that he is the QB Guru and can make even a 2* with only offers from "U T Chatta-noooga" an NFL QB.

With Joe, I think we will still get to see Fitz do what Fitz does best - RTDFB. For Fitz, that means a much higher completion percentage. In 2 seasons (minus the USA '16 and OM '17 games), when gaining 80+ rushing yards, Fitz has a completion % of 60.4%. In games with less than 80 yards rushing, his completion % plummets to 46.8%. With Joe's RPO package and a downfield passing game, I think we see a Cam Newton-esque season on the horizon.

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100% agree with this.

Fitz runs to set up the pass next season. And with Guidry, Whop and Heath he'll put up some solid passing stats.

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Originally Posted by fishwater99

I hope they keep downplaying Nick and our team. We need a little chip on our shoulder.

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Exactly. We always play better as the underdog

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Originally Posted by MadDawg

What do you think?

https://s13.postimg.org/d83qlpqmv/QBList.jpg

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I think its a good thing he is saying this bc Nick and the team will feed off it but realistically, if you take Jalen Hurts, Bentley, Stidham, or Drew Lock over Nick Fitzgerald you should be fired immediately.

I could see the argument for Fromm and Tua bc they are young and only gonna get better but we know what the rest of those guys are and none of them are as talented as Fitz.

Lock is the only one who has a slight chance bc he can help win you a game with his arm. He hasnt won anything but thats mainly due to his defense being trash. The others arent put the team on my back guys

Locke is going to be a 1st round draft pick...Stidham likely gets drafted in the top 3 rounds.

Fitz won't be running neatly as much, unless what we're trying to do isn't working

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Originally Posted by Bothrops

Fitz won't be running neatly as much, unless what we're trying to do isn't working

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Not really. He'll be running about as much but just with fewer designed QB runs. It will be off of read option and RPO's mainly.

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Originally Posted by PMDawg

Stidham at #1? List is automatically disqualified.

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The Auburn QB for Heisman narrative is UNDEFEATED in preseason SEC Media talk.

Wash. Rinse. Fail. Repeat

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Not really. He'll be running about as much but just with fewer designed QB runs. It will be off of read option and RPO's mainly.

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Precisely because our running game will be based on the read option and RPO?s he likely WILL run less. Unless we think defenses will defend us against the pass first or against the pitch to the RB, he will be running less. Until these receivers and Fitz?s arm make teams plan to stop the passing game more so than his running threat, opponents will continue to plan for stopping Fitz first. He might have a higher YPC average because of fewer short yardage designed runs, but I would bet the farm he has much fewer carries per game.

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Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg

I'm going to say this:
Fitz with Dan: #4
Fitz with Joe:#1

We all know what would happen this fall with Dan as coach. Dan would get conservative with Fitz's running, and force him into a check down system attempting to prove again that he is the QB Guru and can make even a 2* with only offers from "U T Chatta-noooga" an NFL QB.

With Joe, I think we will still get to see Fitz do what Fitz does best - RTDFB. For Fitz, that means a much higher completion percentage. In 2 seasons (minus the USA '16 and OM '17 games), when gaining 80+ rushing yards, Fitz has a completion % of 60.4%. In games with less than 80 yards rushing, his completion % plummets to 46.8%. With Joe's RPO package and a downfield passing game, I think we see a Cam Newton-esque season on the horizon.

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The Dan Mullen hate has gone a little overboard on this site. If you think another coach is going to come in and run him more than Mullen did, I think you're insane.

And the completion percentage stat is probably due far more to 2 things:
1) Good defenses are better at stopping you from running and passing.
2) It was probably the run they shut down first. After doing that, he becomes 1-dimensional, and defending his passing is much easier.

I don't believe it was just because we chose not to run him as much in those games.

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Originally Posted by smootness

The Dan Mullen hate has gone a little overboard on this site. If you think another coach is going to come in and run him more than Mullen did, I think you're insane.

And the completion percentage stat is probably due far more to 2 things:
1) Good defenses are better at stopping you from running and passing.
2) It was probably the run they shut down first. After doing that, he becomes 1-dimensional, and defending his passing is much easier.

I don't believe it was just because we chose not to run him as much in those games.

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How is it Dan Mullen hate to recognize that he did exactly what I described with Dak. He ran Dak 50 fewer times in '14 than in '15 and attempted 81 more passes. That is a significant change in offensive style for a QB.

And while Fitz's worst games were when the run has been shut down - many of those games Dan gave up the QB run from the start. Whenever Dan had a team jump us early for 1-2 quick scores, he moved away from the QB run and got conservative in the passing game. Did you ever feel like we could come from behind if we got down 10 versus any SEC team? So, yeah on that side you are probably right. However, I think Joe's offense stretches the field more and would open things up more if the run gets shut down. And that is an advantage over Dan's offense.