Some Thoughts On Our QB Situation

[RougeDawg]

He isn?t the only one suspend. Gay is suspended also. They shared the same tutor as Nick Wearherspoon.

Better watch out. This board will crucify you like they did me in February when I said nick was done and this was more than basketball. Then when I vehemently said we were on the QB search for a starter and KT was not going to be the guy.

Where are all of those people who attacked me for trying to give a heads up on what was coming, without actually reporting it too early?

[NCDawg]

Man I sure do hope we are good at BASKETBALL this year.

What does this response have to do with my question about KT?

[WinningIsRelentless]

Better watch out. This board will crucify you like they did me in February when I said nick was done and this was more than basketball. Then when I vehemently said we were on the QB search for a starter and KT was not going to be the guy.

Where are all of those people who attacked me for trying to give a heads up on what was coming, without actually reporting it too early?

Screw?em!

[TNDawg35]

What does this response have to do with my question about KT?

He’s answering your question... KT got in trouble for the same thing a basketball player did...

[NCDawg]

He’s answering your question... KT got in trouble for the same thing a basketball player did...

OK, I didn't understand. Guess we don't want to publicize it too much and I should have read though the lines.

[Bothrops]

Key ain't redshirting.

[BuckyIsAB****]

If will Rogers gets an OM offer and flips, he'll immediately become no big loss haha

Neither of those are going to happen. OM could offer him and he'd say no.

[justwin]

Just listening to Bo Bounds & it's like these media guys don't think.

"Gonna be a competition"; "Boff Stefens & Key will pl-aaaay"

Here is what's going happen:

- Tommy Stevens is going to start at QB for Mississippi State. Of course, don't argue with it.

- KT is going to be red shirted, but, since red shirts can play in 4 games, those 4 games will be used when he is needed as a "fireman" Meaning, if it's a blow out, he ain't playing. If we are at Auburn and the score is 21-17 in the 4th quarter & Stevens rolls his ankle, KT will play.

- The biggest debate with our QB situation is who gets the blowout snaps. Does Moorhead punt on Mayden & give those snaps to Shrader or does Moorhead believe enough in Mayden to give him snaps? With Schrader also red shirting, IMO it would behoove Moorhead to save Shrader's action for when he can play an entire quarter or so. No sense in wasting one of his games to kneel the ball or play one series.

Here is a guess of how the QB situation will shake out per game: In this I've got 7 possible games that KT could play in, but we can only use him in 4 of those.

This is not rocket science.

good question

Joe's biggest mistake in year 1 is he should've never sat Key after game 1. Key deserved to play and he won SEC POY. If you build a program based on merit, he deserved to play. Then, he should've worked Fitz back in with packages. Best thing is you can tell Joe has learned from this. So, I don't think he's looking to restrict any of the QBs to the 4 game rule. When Joe was hired, he spoke of wanting to score as many points as possible. I'm not going to call Joe a run up the score kind of coach, but more of the spurrier mold in that if/when the backups or backups to backups go in, we are going to run our playbook. So, its going to be nice to try to score 60 vs the nonconf teams and smaller SEC teams as that's how you build an offensive identity and public commitment to evolving the historic MSU run first O by incorporating a complementary downfield passing attack.

Have you ever considered the QB snap distribution by TD passes? I hope we throw 35+ tds as a team this year.

here is a staggering stat ~ total passing TDs since 2009:

2018 22 (Key had 6)
2017 17
2016 24
2015 33 (29 from Dak)
2014 31 (27 from Dak Attack)
2013 18 (tyler threw 5 & was injured game 1)
2012 28 (tyler threw 24 as 1st yr starter)
2011 19
2010 19
2009 18

hard to believe that in the last decade of cfb with such an emphasis on passing, the MSU high water mark is 33 total TD passes.

We can have another Dak. Our program is built for it.

[ShotgunDawg]

Key ain't redshirting.

So we're just going to waste another year?

[msstate7]

Neither of those are going to happen. OM could offer him and he'd say no.

Good deal. I thought there was concern over this at one time

[Todd4State]

good question

Joe's biggest mistake in year 1 is he should've never sat Key after game 1. Key deserved to play and he won SEC POY. If you build a program based on merit, he deserved to play. Then, he should've worked Fitz back in with packages. Best thing is you can tell Joe has learned from this. So, I don't think he's looking to restrict any of the QBs to the 4 game rule. When Joe was hired, he spoke of wanting to score as many points as possible. I'm not going to call Joe a run up the score kind of coach, but more of the spurrier mold in that if/when the backups or backups to backups go in, we are going to run our playbook. So, its going to be nice to try to score 60 vs the nonconf teams and smaller SEC teams as that's how you build an offensive identity and public commitment to evolving the historic MSU run first O by incorporating a complementary downfield passing attack.

Have you ever considered the QB snap distribution by TD passes? I hope we throw 35+ tds as a team this year.

here is a staggering stat ~ total passing TDs since 2009:

2018 22 (Key had 6)
2017 17
2016 24
2015 33 (29 from Dak)
2014 31 (27 from Dak Attack)
2013 18 (tyler threw 5 & was injured game 1)
2012 28 (tyler threw 24 as 1st yr starter)
2011 19
2010 19
2009 18

hard to believe that in the last decade of cfb with such an emphasis on passing, the MSU high water mark is 33 total TD passes.

We can have another Dak. Our program is built for it.

The fact that Fitz was a senior coming off of a horrific injury absolutely affected how we managed our QB situation last year. In hindsight we should have gone out and gotten Minchew and gotten Nick a medical redshirt.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Fitz was better than Key. Im not sure why this is even up for debate right now bc Fitz is gone. I love KT and Im pulling for him. He is a winner and always has been, great intangibles and he is loved by the whole team.

But the team knows more than anyone Tommy Stevens is going to start at QB. And he is probably going to be better than anyone else we've had except for Dak Prescott

[Coach34]

The fact that Fitz was a senior coming off of a horrific injury absolutely affected how we managed our QB situation last year. In hindsight we should have gone out and gotten Minchew and gotten Nick a medical redshirt.

Fitz ran the football a career high 221 times in 2018. He didnt need a medical RS- he was fine. He didnt run as wide open as he did in previous seasons because he was worried about getting those legs rolled again. The only problems Fitz had last season were drops and inferior coaching.

Proof is in the pudding- Fla's QB got alot better while ours got worse. KT was the same QB in 2018 he was in 2017.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Fitz ran the football a career high 221 times in 2018. He didnt need a medical RS- he was fine. He didnt run as wide open as he did in previous seasons because he was worried about getting those legs rolled again. The only problems Fitz had last season were drops and inferior coaching.

Proof is in the pudding- Fla's QB got alot better while ours got worse. KT was the same QB in 2018 he was in 2017.

Our coaches did all they could with Fitzgerald. There is a reason he is virtually the only QB to struggle to complete passes in this system. His WRs did not help him but he didnt make them better. He improved a lot after the LSU game bc he was actually playing the position. He even played ok against Bama. For whatever reason after the Egg bowl he decided to go back to athlete fitz and just try to get by and it showed. He struggled mentally with the reads, pre snap, post, all of it. It was something he had never ever done. From english to spanish. Mullen runs the most QB friendly offense in the league probably. And I loved Fitz, there is a reason we stuck with him as well. He always played hard and left it all out there every single game. But Moorhead requires more mental ability than physical and its not bc Fitz is dumb, it was just too much for him to learn in the amount of time he had and in this league it was a recipe for some bad offense against better defenses

[Coach34]

Our coaches did all they could with Fitzgerald. There is a reason he is virtually the only QB to struggle to complete passes in this system. His WRs did not help him but he didnt make them better. He improved a lot after the LSU game bc he was actually playing the position. He even played ok against Bama. For whatever reason after the Egg bowl he decided to go back to athlete fitz and just try to get by and it showed. He struggled mentally with the reads, pre snap, post, all of it. It was something he had never ever done. From english to spanish. Mullen runs the most QB friendly offense in the league probably. And I loved Fitz, there is a reason we stuck with him as well. He always played hard and left it all out there every single game. But Moorhead requires more mental ability than physical and its not bc Fitz is dumb, it was just too much for him to learn in the amount of time he had and in this league it was a recipe for some bad offense against better defenses

We'll just disagree. I think you will see some QB struggles this Fall also. SEC defenses play man and force the issue on RPO's. JoVester turned a 55% career passer in his 5th year into a 50% passer. Thats not good coaching no matter how you try to spin it. Look at what Mullen did with Franks- made him carry the ball 110 times- double from the year before- but improved his completion percentage by 4%. JoVester's job is to improve his QB and tailor the offense to what he does best. He didnt do that. A 5th year Sr got worse under JoVester. I think it's more about JoVester adjusting to the SEC- not who the QB is. 2019 will be interesting

[BuckyIsAB****]

We'll just disagree. I think you will see some QB struggles this Fall also. SEC defenses play man and force the issue on RPO's. JoVester turned a 55% career passer in his 5th year into a 50% passer. Thats not good coaching no matter how you try to spin it. Look at what Mullen did with Franks- made him carry the ball 110 times- double from the year before- but improved his completion percentage by 4%. JoVester's job is to improve his QB and tailor the offense to what he does best. He didnt do that. A 5th year Sr got worse under JoVester. I think it's more about JoVester adjusting to the SEC- not who the QB is. 2019 will be interesting

Moorhead could have given Fitz more key screens and bubbles to help is percentage (some of that is on Fitz for not making the right read bc every play has a backside bubble or shoot route usually, as I said) Mullen did a good job of this, especially against us if you remember. They hurt us that game with key screens.

[maroonmania]

Additionally, by redshirting him, you're doing KT right. He keeps two years to play &, if he doesn't win the QB job next Spring, he's got 2 years to transfer to ULL or Tulane, both of which schools he'd likely get immediate eligibility

Guess I'm not following. Would seem the only reason for KT to redshirt this season would be if he wants to transfer this season. Unless he somehow gets a "hardship" that allows him immediate eligibility somewhere else next year, if he redshirts here this year, then he would burn a year sitting out next year. Seems like whatever he does, redshirt or not, if he stays at MSU this football season and has to sit out a year he will only have one year of eligibility left at another FBS program. Am I missing something?

[Coach34]

Moorhead could have given Fitz more key screens and bubbles to help is percentage (some of that is on Fitz for not making the right read bc every play has a backside bubble or shoot route usually, as I said) Mullen did a good job of this, especially against us if you remember. They hurt us that game with key screens.

Exactly. Where was the tunnel screen with Guidry or Mitchell? Where was a key or bubble screen with our quick slots? How do you not inject those into the offense? Where were the TB screens? This is why he is JoVester

[Coach34]

Guess I'm not following. Would seem the only reason for KT to redshirt this season would be if he wants to transfer this season. Unless he somehow gets a "hardship" that allows him immediate eligibility somewhere else next year, if he redshirts here this year, then he would burn a year sitting out next year. Seems like whatever he does, redshirt or not, if he stays at MSU this football season and has to sit out a year he will only have one year of eligibility left at another FBS program. Am I missing something?

If Stevens is our QB in 2019- it would be stupid to not to RS KT. We wont be ahead enough to burn his 4 game RS- especially after KT's suspension

[ShotgunDawg]

Guess I'm not following. Would seem the only reason for KT to redshirt this season would be if he wants to transfer this season. Unless he somehow gets a "hardship" that allows him immediate eligibility somewhere else next year, if he redshirts here this year, then he would burn a year sitting out next year. Seems like whatever he does, redshirt or not, if he stays at MSU this football season and has to sit out a year he will only have one year of eligibility left at another FBS program. Am I missing something?

Redshirting KT this year gives him two years to start.