It's pretty easy to show a kid the recruiting profile of Dak Prescott and Nick Fitzgerald and then just sit back and smile. It sells itself.
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It's pretty easy to show a kid the recruiting profile of Dak Prescott and Nick Fitzgerald and then just sit back and smile. It sells itself.
Still successful in the NFL, though. If you are an NFL starter at QB, that is a success, especially considering where some of the top QBs played college:
Aaron Rodgers - Cal
Matt Ryan - BC
Drew Brees - Purdue
Dak - MSU
Ben Roethlisberger - Miami OH
Russell Wilson - NC St originally
Derek Carr - Fresno St
Eli - OM
Rivers - NC St
It's not like the top college programs are producing big-time NFL QB's. No program at all is consistently producing them. So if you produced a starter in the NFL, that's impressive.
ETA: Also, in light of this, it's hilarious that these recruiting services continue to evaluate QBs in the same manner they always have. Does he have a big arm? Does he have a prototype release? Is he tall?
The top QB traits are intelligence, quick decision-making, and accuracy. Those are given far less weight in recruiting than size, arm strength, release, and speed.
No one has really been a QB U since Miami hit the skids. They are the only program I can think of in the past 35 years that at any time consistently turned out NFL talent. Kelly, Testaverde, Kosar, Toretta, Walsh, Erickson, was a pretty good run for 15 or so years. Who else? BYU around that same time with McMahon, Young, and Detmer. USC tried in the early 00s - but were any of those guys top shelf NFL talent?
He is comparable to Lamar Jackson. Same build at this stage in hs. I think skill wise he is better than LJ was as well.
I don't necessarily even fault them for it. It's very tough to evaluate decision-making and intelligence at the HS level and project that. And if you are big enough, fast enough, with a good enough arm, it can cover up faults in other areas. Cam Newton is maybe the most dominant college player ever, and while he's not the best decision-maker or the most accurate guy, he is off the charts in all the big tools.
But so many of the smaller, less toolsy, really smart and accurate QBs make it than the big, huge, 'talent'-laden guys.
Agree 100% I think the problem is those last three are a lot harder to quantify then the first 3. There are a lot of intelligent QBs that struggle because they can't make all of the throws. Quick decision making can be developed over time if the kid is intelligent and atheltic.
I mean you look at Mullen and the QBs we have signed they have all outside of Dak been "prototypical" as far as size and arm strength. Staley and Fitz both have the prototypical body and arm you look for. Tyler Russell was the same way. The only outlier we have signed is Dak as far as not being prototypical.
I think it is a lot harder for scouting companies to spend enough time with the kids to know what they have inside IE leadership ability. All they really get to grade off of is what their coach says about them and what they can do physically.
Mullen obviously values size and speed, but part of that is the offense we run. He needs a QB to be a weapon on the ground and to absorb a bunch of hits and tackles. QBs in the NFL and in more pro-style offenses need enough size to get hit and get back up, but I don't think size is as important as many evaluators claim.
But I wouldn't call Fitzgerald prototypical. He has the size and raw arm strength, but he doesn't throw like a 'prototypical' QB. He's got a hitch in his windup and doesn't have the quickest release. His success has come more from him being a good fit in the offense than being a good pure QB. I don't see him having NFL success unless he improves in several areas.
Dak was successful initially because he was a good fit for the offense. But he was always extremely smart, he always made good decisions, and he developed the footwork and accuracy by working his butt off. He is big enough but doesn't have the height people look for, he's not super fast, and his arm is good enough but not great. Yet he's a superstar.