Fitzgerald is getting better.......

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

You're off your rocker if you think there "wasn't much difference". Dak's first career start he went 15/28 for 213 yards 0/0 and 133 rushing yards (2 TDs) on the road at Auburn vs the #2 team in the country. Dak sure wasn't perfect, especially as a passer, but if you think we're seeing similar players I don't know what to tell you.

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Nobody is saying Fitz is or will be better than Dak. Fact is Dak made some terrible throws, bad reads and had similar struggles his redshirt sophomore year. The fact that he barely completed 50% of his passes against what turned out to be a bad Auburn defense actually proves the point. He was a better runner than passer and he ended his career a better passer. Yes it was Umass but Fitz will gain confidence from this game and you could even see a confidence difference in the second half.

I don't care about his stats from sat , the biggest thing he did sat was show leadership.. He looked engaged with the other players.. We need the locker room and the players on the same page..
Hopefully this off week the offensive guys start to rally around him and he continues to grow up

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Originally Posted by Cowboydawg

Nobody is saying Fitz is or will be better than Dak. Fact is Dak made some terrible throws, bad reads and had similar struggles his redshirt sophomore year. The fact that he barely completed 50% of his passes against what turned out to be a bad Auburn defense actually proves the point. He was a better runner than passer and he ended his career a better passer. Yes it was Umass but Fitz will gain confidence from this game and you could even see a confidence difference in the second half.

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I will say this, Fitz physically has every thing Dak has and maybe more but rather or not Fitz has the head, smarts and the drive to be the best that Dak has I don't know.

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

You do realize Jordan Hare had 90k and was incredibly loud? That environment was much tougher. Also, I don't care what those rankings say, Auburn was an exponentially better defense than UMass.

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True and Fitz had a much better game than Dak too...which is to be expected. If our defense had halfway shown up and we didn't have all those drops in the first half, we wouldn't be talking about this.

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Originally Posted by coastratdog

Fitz is not the offenses problem. The problems are;

1. OL is slow, weak and poorly coached
2. O scheme is not using his option running ability enough
3. Receivers gave taken a step backwards from last year. Too many drops. They need to help him out.

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#3... Ross and Gary are very good.. Myles is having a tough year so far, but kid played well as a freshman
The other 2 I agree with...

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Originally Posted by mic

#3... Ross and Gary are very good.. Myles is having a tough year so far, but kid played well as a freshman
The other 2 I agree with...

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Really like what I've seen out of gray. He should've had 2 long td's vs lsu... fitz has to start hitting those throws

Fitz: 25-38 3 TD's 299 yards 1 sack

15 carries 119 yards 7.3 per carrier longest run 21

Pretty impressive.

Also penalties killed us yesterday as did a few dropped passes. Two holding calls on #60 probably cost us points.

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

You cannot look like what he did in the first half. Worst QB play I've seen under Mullen. The 2nd half is what he's supposed to look like vs UMass. If he plays well in 2 weeks vs Auburn, that will show us something. UMass is a 4-year composite recruiting rankings of 100.25. They aren't a freaking top 100 recruiter. I realize sunshine feels better but mother of god, that was a horrible football team. I'll stop short of singing Fitz's praises until he looks serviceable against a decent team.

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The 1st half sucked no doubt. But our offense put up 40 points on what til that point had been a pretty decent defense.

I'm more worried about OUR defense, or lack thereof.

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Originally Posted by QuadrupleOption

The 1st half sucked no doubt. But our offense put up 40 points on what til that point had been a pretty decent defense.

I'm more worried about OUR defense, or lack thereof.

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We've shown good flashes on both sides of the ball, but haven't put them together in a whole game yet. Hopefully consistency is almost here.

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Originally Posted by basedog

Fitz: 25-38 3 TD's 299 yards 1 sack

15 carries 119 yards 7.3 per carrier longest run 21

Pretty impressive.

Also penalties killed us yesterday as did a few dropped passes. Two holding calls on #60 probably cost us points.

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Dak didn't reach 299 yrds passing until the 8th game of his JR yr against Arkansas. That's after he played half the 13 season. Fitz has done it in his 3rd start as a sophomore. He's gonna be a great one, we just have to be patient

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Originally Posted by Sacrifice

Dak didn't reach 299 yrds passing until the 8th game of his JR yr against Arkansas. That's after he played half the 13 season. Fitz has done it in his 3rd start as a sophomore. He's gonna be a great one, we just have to be patient

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And Dak actually played QB in high school. Fitz was a WR and backup QB until his Senior year. He threw maybe 75-100 passes in his HS career and had around 30 attempts last year. The kid is green and learning and we have to keep that in our heads. The fact that he is starting and improving at this level shows he has the skill and talent. He just needs experience. That's why I think Dan blew this not making him starter after spring. He needed that time to build the respect of the team.

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

You cannot look like what he did in the first half. Worst QB play I've seen under Mullen. The 2nd half is what he's supposed to look like vs UMass. If he plays well in 2 weeks vs Auburn, that will show us something. UMass is a 4-year composite recruiting rankings of 100.25. They aren't a freaking top 100 recruiter. I realize sunshine feels better but mother of god, that was a horrible football team. I'll stop short of singing Fitz's praises until he looks serviceable against a decent team.

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Agree. Here is a Tony Romo quote that kind of describes the problem that I think Fitz has. He's getting better, but, when you don't throw the ball in high school, you lose out on the opportunity to gain instincts.

http://i.imgur.com/ZdthXNQ.jpg

The biggest improvement I saw in Nick yesterday, his leadership.
First time I've seen him patting linemen on the head after plays and lifting his RB's up off the ground. That is a huge factor, he's gonna get there if he keeps those things up, the team will gel behind him.

Fitzs needs to learn, you don't have to throw a 100 mph fastball on every pass. Some of the receivers are having problems with it. I could see in the 2nd half he was taking some off his throws.

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Originally Posted by Sacrifice

Fitzs needs to learn, you don't have to throw a 100 mph fastball on every pass. Some of the receivers are having problems with it. I could see in the 2nd half he was taking some off his throws.

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It's tough to learn. It's about feel & instincts.

It's the difference between starting pitchers & relievers in baseball. Relievers aren't starters because they typically lack the feel to add & subtract velocity & command the baseball at a necessary level. Fitz is a crude passer that we are trying to turn from being a reliever to being a starter

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

You cannot look like what he did in the first half. Worst QB play I've seen under Mullen. The 2nd half is what he's supposed to look like vs UMass. If he plays well in 2 weeks vs Auburn, that will show us something. UMass is a 4-year composite recruiting rankings of 100.25. They aren't a freaking top 100 recruiter. I realize sunshine feels better but mother of god, that was a horrible football team. I'll stop short of singing Fitz's praises until he looks serviceable against a decent team.

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Ah!!! We got a "reality" guy! Reality, he set a record on his first full game played vs and SEC team! Did that count?

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

You're off your rocker if you think there "wasn't much difference". Dak's first career start he went 15/28 for 213 yards 0/0 and 133 rushing yards (2 TDs) on the road at Auburn vs the #2 team in the country. Dak sure wasn't perfect, especially as a passer, but if you think we're seeing similar players I don't know what to tell you.

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Fitz was 19/29. So he threw 1 more pass and completed 4 more. In that, Fitz had a better start.


Fitz ran for 195 yards.... that's more than Dak in his start.


So wrong again Beastman.

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Originally Posted by BeastMan

What I'm saying is UMass shouldn't be your measuring stick for getting better. They are terrible. If Fitz makes plays vs Auburn in 2 weeks, that will be a better judge of improvement.

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LOL, it's about more than the outcome. It was about his adjustments as a QB, his eyes, his shoulder movements, his feet.... his timing. etc. Nothing about that has to do with the team played.

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Originally Posted by coastratdog

Fitz is not the offenses problem. The problems are;

1. OL is slow, weak and poorly coached
2. O scheme is not using his option running ability enough
3. Receivers gave taken a step backwards from last year. Too many drops. They need to help him out.

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1- They actually look better to me than last year.
2- You don't want that. Most want to see it because they think it will win every game. It was that way when Dak started. Everybody was mad because Dan could not coach. Had the best running QB and he is making him throw it. Then they saw what happens when that's all you do. Defenses key in to stop Dak from running. The scheme hasn't changed. It's a read option. It's Fitz's choice.
3- Yes way more dropped. But there's a reason for that. It's not what these guys are use to. They have had Dak for what....2 years and some change? That's a chemistry and slight timing issue that only gets resolved in PT and game situations. The fact that he threw for over 60% this weekend, 65% vs South Carolina is pretty vantastic considering the drops

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Originally Posted by Jack Lambert

I will say this, Fitz physically has every thing Dak has and maybe more but rather or not Fitz has the head, smarts and the drive to be the best that Dak has I don't know.

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I will take what Team mates have stated

“The ball is placed on the outside shoulder. That’s one of the main things he does,” Wilson said. “Great throws like that is what’s going to separate him from a lot of quarterbacks in the SEC.”

But you are right. The old saying "hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard"