I think it is safe to say this season is over in terms of Conference Championship hopes or anything meaningful like that. Now what we are looking at is how to maximize our chances of attracting immediate impact personnel for the Offensive line thru the portal or recruiting. With that said, my open question to the staff (primarily Joey) is how are we going to pick a starting QB for next year? Morton will be a senior and Hammond will be a sophomore. I understand the protection of Hammond's red shirt this season even with his above average performance coming cold in Ft Worth after Behren's injury. Admittedly, the work sample for Hammond is relatively small with North Texas and TCU, but to the naked eye the kid seems to simply be better than Morton. That begs the question, are we going to have a truly open competition for next year? Joey and the Kittley (assuming he still has a job here) are going to have a very difficult decision in front of them. At least it appears that way to me based on what we have seen. Clearly we are not in the weekly practice sessions and off season activities, but even then Joey has made it a point to praise what Hammond does behind the scenes. I guess what I am really asking is will Joey have the sack to start a sophomore over a senior? If he does and if Hammond is gonna be the guy, do we let Behren know that now or soon so he can go play somewhere his final year? This is what separates the great coaches from the average or sucky ones.......they have to make really hard decisions that impact kid's lives.
It is super easy to sit behind these keyboards and bloviate about what we'd do, but quite another to have to sit a kid down and say "hey look kid, we gotta go another direction for the best chance of winning". I'd like to hear thoughts around this and hear competing views or challenge the premise. I am sure that Behren is a good kid and he has given his best for the University, but there is way too much riding on the next couple years for Joey. He absolutely has to generate results if he wants to remain the leader here. So far we are achieving essentially the same kinda results we have gotten used to around here. With the amount of money and focus that's been lavished on this program recently, 6 and 7 wins seasons and a trip to the Twinkie Bowl ain't gonna get it done. This program has toiled in mediocracy for far too long with an occasional bump up during the Leach years. That situation still hangs sideways in my craw as we were at least relevant with our offense every season. Now even that is gone.
I love Tahj Brooks and can sincerely appreciate what the kid has done, but that in and of itself caused us to change our Air Raid Identity which allowed us to either stay in games or come back when down. Anyway, I could type for hours about this topic so I will close with a restatement of the question: Do we have a truly open and legitimate QB competition next year?
Yes, I am quite aware this does nothing to address the defense. That will be covered in another post later.
It is super easy to sit behind these keyboards and bloviate about what we'd do, but quite another to have to sit a kid down and say "hey look kid, we gotta go another direction for the best chance of winning". I'd like to hear thoughts around this and hear competing views or challenge the premise. I am sure that Behren is a good kid and he has given his best for the University, but there is way too much riding on the next couple years for Joey. He absolutely has to generate results if he wants to remain the leader here. So far we are achieving essentially the same kinda results we have gotten used to around here. With the amount of money and focus that's been lavished on this program recently, 6 and 7 wins seasons and a trip to the Twinkie Bowl ain't gonna get it done. This program has toiled in mediocracy for far too long with an occasional bump up during the Leach years. That situation still hangs sideways in my craw as we were at least relevant with our offense every season. Now even that is gone.
I love Tahj Brooks and can sincerely appreciate what the kid has done, but that in and of itself caused us to change our Air Raid Identity which allowed us to either stay in games or come back when down. Anyway, I could type for hours about this topic so I will close with a restatement of the question: Do we have a truly open and legitimate QB competition next year?
Yes, I am quite aware this does nothing to address the defense. That will be covered in another post later.
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