True, he does come from LSU, but you also have to look who he brought on his staff (Roderick, Sitake, and kept Clark) all of them has been former OC’s…
What gives me promise is when they interviewed Sitake on D-News he mentioned that Grimes did not bring in a play book and said “This is our plan”, instead every one around the table had the opportunity to give their ideas what should and should not be in the play book. As a group, they developed their offensive scheme.
That tells me we are not going to have an LSU type offense.
I am going to hold to my opinion on the QB issue this year as the simgle largest piece of the puzzle to a successful season. I watched practice yesterday and I will admit that I saw a few things that surprised me. First, Wilson is the real deal. I bet he starts at Arizona but if he doesn’t he will be in the game as fast as Tanner makes a glaring mistake. That will be before half time. The real battle for the QB position will be at the midway point of the season. The 2 best QB’s on this team are Wilson and Hall. Hall won’t be ready until mid year but BYU has 2 guys who have top notch talent and Tanner and Critch aren’t among them. Critch will be a back up for the foreseeable future behind these guys. Still think he is better than Mangum. But Tanner is gone after this year. BYU needs Critch to be a back up because Hall or a Wilson will be the starter for the future and the other one may transfer. Both these guys have the athletic ability to be prime time.
This season will see Tanner get some snaps but this will be a Wilson and/or Hall year! Mangum isn’t in the same zip code as these other 2 from an athletic QB viewpoint!
Really? That’s interesting and the first opinion I’ve heard from someone who actually watched a practice since the spring scrimmage. It really isn’t surprising when you think that Hall wasn’t even a mentionable but suddenly passes up Critchlow. Thanks
There are many that think Tanner is the starter. I still think he comes out the Starter for Arizona. Too much Exp. and he has worked hard to get in top shape. I do agree with your assessments on Wilson and Hall (I have heard a top about Hall and how he has really caught the coaches eyes. Having said that, I think Critch is gone after this year. Too bad…he will tear it up at SUU.
QB’s transferring from BYU to another school is nothing new… If Critch leaves to get PT, I am fine with that, in fact, I applaud his zeal to further his career. I know Sorensen (of KC Chief fame) is the one that turned Critchlow to BYU in the first place (as per Desnews article), but I am not sure if he would transfer to SUU. That would be kind of step down. Maybe go to Virginia (Closer to home) and play for Bronco… Who knows.
Here is what Sitake said yesterday, “Not only is Tanner the starter but he does not have to worry about being taken out of the game if he makes mistakes, he probably does not have to worry for the 1st 4 games”. (adlibbed)
I though this would happen and here are my thoughts: Tanner has like 29 games of experience. SAFE BET. I do like that Sitake told everyone that Tanner is the starter and does not have to worry about making mistakes. I just think that is good coaching. Way back in spring ball I was hearing about the re chiseled Tanner Magnum. That statement from Lamb about how Critchlow was going to go down in history as a great BYU QB still has me perplexed…I reviewed his HS highlights and noticed that Critch was very slow but has a great arm. Grimes may not like that. last though…Wilson is the future.
Yes Tanner has more experience than the other QBs
On the roster … but a big chunk of his experience is very poor quality performance. I am satisfied that when the going gets tough that Tanner won’t be able to win games. The good thing about starting Tanner is that everyone will see the performance on the field and there won’t be anyone to hide his slow decision making and inability to handle pressure situations and win against good teams. He has a strong arm but he gets way less accurate in games than practices. He also is slow. I don’t care how in shape he is.
I think too many people are thinking that Tanner’s performance was all his doing.
Here is a few things that helped make his performance poor:
Poor O-line, they could not hold open the holes, they had poor blocking technique and allowed the rush on the QB.
No Accountability on any of the offensive players - A receiver drops a ball? No problem, no accountability.
Absolutely rookie coaches - Not only was their game plan bad, but nothing them had enough D1 experience to adjust. With the new coaches staff, they have almost a 100 yrs of D1 experience.
Coaches were out coached.
Things Tanner was responsible for:
out of shape- from what I was told, he was not in the best of shape.
Mental aspect - Tanner went through a depression state, I do not hold him accountable, anyone who has ever been depressed to the point of having to take medicine to help correct understands what Tanner was going through.
Not accurate in his throws - this could be caused by WR’s running the wrong routes, but still, he was either behind, beyond of simply in the dirt with some of his throws.
Grimes is a no nonsense coach, he DEMANDS accountability, He demand Execution… So I think we will see a more polished Mangum this year.
This better be Grimes’s call and I can’t see him tossing 4 games just to prove a point. A sub-standard year and Sitake is gone. I hope the best for Mangum, but he has always been slow and made bad decisions and not particularly accurate-ever. Hopefully this is his year but I would have a short leash and if BYU starts 0-4 and plays lethargic, like last year, then This program needs a new face
I typically tend to agree with what thawk posts. Not all of it, but certainly most of it.
I believe that unless Tanner has made some miraculous recovery from what I saw last year and more, things aren’t going to change that much. He aims instead of throwing and that is a huge problem. I really hope he is a different player but I have my doubts and reservations.
Also, I can’t see blaming it on some “system” that Detmer was trying to implement. A good quarterback can adjust to any system and make something work. That never happened last year… nothing was working for Mangum, he looked awful regardless.
So Steve Young should have been able to overcome a bad system in Tampa Bay? where he sucked as the starting QB.
or Joe Montana should have done better at KC Chiefs?
or watch the game tonight, Arizona QB was suppose to a hesiman candidate, but the coach is trying to put him in system that does not use his talent. commentators were talking about it all night.
Sorry Jim, but this comment is simply wrong. I know you love Detmer and all but any logical person would tell you he was not ready to be an OC on the D1 level.
He was simply out coached every game, He tried to force Mangum into a system that he did not have the skill set for.
then BYU compounded the issue by hiring horrible assistants who had less coaching experience than Ty did.
Critch lives in Tennessee. I am not sure whether he is happy with the football QB situation at BYU or not. Also I didn’t see Hoge in the game vs. Ariz. Did he play at all on Sat?
No, Hoge did not play. Sure feels like Critch is out with Wilson ready to roll if something happens to Tanner.
Tanner may not of hit his long targets but he did a masterful job at many jobs a QB has such as timing, reads and just making sure the offense flows. I saw just one busted play out there. It is good to have a 25 year old senior out there as everyone in the nation is quick to point out complete with charts, diagrams and genealogy. Eat it ESPN. Tanner did not turn the ball over, in the 1st game of the season.
I have said it before and I will keep saying it…BYU used ALL of the fall camp running live game 11 on 11 drills. That was huge. I always thought we had talent at all critical positions and it showed at Arizona, who by the way will win some games and make BYU look good as the season progresses.
Cal. rotated 3 QBs throughout the game, I still can’t wrap my head around that. No way can that work long term. When BYU stops the run game, which they excel at, what will Cal do? all the sudden they will come out with an all pro QB? Good Times in Provo come Saturday.
One last thought…BYU will struggle against great QB play and two teams that have great QBs are USU and BSU…Utah is still a big ?
Don’t forget Jake Browning and Washington. Even though Auburn won, looking at his passes and their receivers, and running with Gaskins scares me to death. I hope not, but it looks like Washington is going to be u-g-l-y. Wisconsin, too, for different reasons (inability to do much on offense for BYU, getting steamrolled by Wisconsin’s OL).