Is USU The New QB U?

BYU has Riley Nelson who still has not convinced many fans that he has not already reached his ceiling backed up by Jake Heaps who is still trying to get anywhere near his five star potential who is backed up by Lark and Munns who were both highly touted and perhaps four star guys in some books. Of course the latter two have done nothing to show that. And yet, Doman earned praise of Bronco Mendenhall as being the best QB coach in the country after seemingly getting John Beck and Max Hall to fully reach, if not overachieve, their potential. All those riches - and so fleeting the anticipated glory in 2010 and 2011. Call it a work in progress that is dripping with potential.



Then we have USU who has never had a high star QB recruit. Think of them as two star QB U - like BYU was back in the day.



USU starter Nelson transfers and starts at BYU in 2010 until injured and starts about 5 games in 2011 until injured.

USU starter in 2010 was very good. Better than Nelson according to many.

USU Chuckie Keaton comes out of nowhere in 2011 and woulda, coulda, shoulda beat Auburn, BYU, and others.

USU 2011 backup is better than Keaton according to many

UH has a backup QB on roster that transferred from USU - Jeremy Higgins

It seems that there was a USU transfer as a backup for one of our other opponents

And now Riley Nelson's gritty, too small, little brother has committed to the Aggies



If they only had the supporting cast to go with their QBs and Turbin at RB, USU might be pretty good.



Meanwhile BYU with relatively, an all-star cast, is still trying to reach it's potential.



Not that I want to trade QBs. Riley is probably as good as or better now than what they have this year. Jake is at times. Beyond Jake and Riley, we don't know if the guys can play.



USU has no Heisman QB, but they sure seem to get a lot of feisty playmakers for a WAC team in an isolated location.



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Chuckie Keeton is overrated and not that good. He was decent against an SEC Auburn team that clearly overlooked the Aggies (129 PER, 2 rushing TDs). He was phenomenal against Weber St & Wyoming (203 and 246 PER respectively).



But in the other five games he was poor:108 PER vs CSU, 119 PER vs BYU, 113 PER vs Fresno 103 PER vs Louisiana Tech, 89 PER vs Hawaii.



Let's not get crazy.

Passing plays make up only 35% of USU's offensive playcalling. USU is a team that lives and dies by the rush game - they ask their QBs to do very little in comparison to what BYU asks of their QBs.



I don't get where this sudden enamor with USU's QBs comes from. Are you guys watching their games or just reading their stat lines? Nelson wasn't great his one year with them. Keeton had ONE game where he had had both 200+ yards and a 136+ PER. Kennedy looked good, but he looked good against SJSU. Let's wait until they actually DO something before we anoint them with any title.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Chuckie Keeton is overrated and not that good. He was decent against an SEC Auburn team that clearly overlooked the Aggies (129 PER, 2 rushing TDs). He was phenomenal against Weber St & Wyoming (203 and 246 PER respectively).



But in the other five games he was poor:108 PER vs CSU, 119 PER vs BYU, 113 PER vs Fresno 103 PER vs Louisiana Tech, 89 PER vs Hawaii.



Let's not get crazy.

In other words - about like Jake Heaps?



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Cougarbib2 wrote:

Chuckie Keeton is overrated and not that good. He was decent against an SEC Auburn team that clearly overlooked the Aggies (129 PER, 2 rushing TDs). He was phenomenal against Weber St & Wyoming (203 and 246 PER respectively).



But in the other five games he was poor:108 PER vs CSU, 119 PER vs BYU, 113 PER vs Fresno 103 PER vs Louisiana Tech, 89 PER vs Hawaii.



Let's not get crazy.

In other words - about like Jake Heaps?



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At least this year.

Dcr36 wrote:
Passing plays make up only 35% of USU's offensive playcalling. USU is a team that lives and dies by the rush game - they ask their QBs to do very little in comparison to what BYU asks of their QBs.



I don't get where this sudden enamor with USU's QBs comes from. Are you guys watching their games or just reading their stat lines? Nelson wasn't great his one year with them. Keeton had ONE game where he had had both 200+ yards and a 136+ PER. Kennedy looked good, but he looked good against SJSU. Let's wait until they actually DO something before we anoint them with any title.

Which brings up the other point - given much fewer recruiting hurdles - they have a pretty good NFL caliber RB up there.



Not really anointing USU - they are still little brother even after they came within a whisker of beating us for a second year in a row - thwarted by our USU transfer.



I was just a little surprised how we have struggled with all of our QB recruiting riches and seeing Utah and USU seemingly make something out of nothing - hardly skipping a beat.



I think you are onto something. A great RB can do a lot to help ease in a new QB.



And yes - Hays, Keaton, or the latest USU guy and most likely even Riley Nelson will not be winning any trophies or playing on Sundays.



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SpiffCoug wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:
Chuckie Keeton is overrated and not that good. He was decent against an SEC Auburn team that clearly overlooked the Aggies (129 PER, 2 rushing TDs). He was phenomenal against Weber St & Wyoming (203 and 246 PER respectively).



But in the other five games he was poor:108 PER vs CSU, 119 PER vs BYU, 113 PER vs Fresno 103 PER vs Louisiana Tech, 89 PER vs Hawaii.



Let's not get crazy.

In other words - about like Jake Heaps?



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At least this year.

I don't know if I'd even give Keeton that much credit. Heaps flat-out sucked in the first 5 games of the season, but he sucked while being the undeniable focal point of the offense. He averaged exactly 40 pass attempts in his first 4 games and was well on pace to do it again when he got yanked against Utah State. Keeton averaged 22.8 attempts in his first 7 starts. In fact, Heaps threw the ball 160 times in those first 4 games, the exact same number of Keeton in those 7.



If Heaps was asked to run the offense Keeton does, I suspect his numbers would present him as an efficient QB. Keeton throws a lot of short stuff, screen passes, etc. Keeton's numbers look okay, but the offense USU has him run tells me everything I need to know about his limitations as a QB.

Dcr36 wrote:

Cougarbib2 wrote:

Chuckie Keeton is overrated and not that good. He was decent against an SEC Auburn team that clearly overlooked the Aggies (129 PER, 2 rushing TDs). He was phenomenal against Weber St & Wyoming (203 and 246 PER respectively).



But in the other five games he was poor:108 PER vs CSU, 119 PER vs BYU, 113 PER vs Fresno 103 PER vs Louisiana Tech, 89 PER vs Hawaii.



Let's not get crazy.

In other words - about like Jake Heaps?



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At least this year.

I don't know if I'd even give Keeton that much credit. Heaps flat-out sucked in the first 5 games of the season, but he sucked while being the undeniable focal point of the offense. He averaged exactly 40 pass attempts in his first 4 games and was well on pace to do it again when he got yanked against Utah State. Keeton averaged 22.8 attempts in his first 7 starts. In fact, Heaps threw the ball 160 times in those first 4 games, the exact same number of Keeton in those 7.



If Heaps was asked to run the offense Keeton does, I suspect his numbers would present him as an efficient QB. Keeton throws a lot of short stuff, screen passes, etc. Keeton's numbers look okay, but the offense USU has him run tells me everything I need to know about his limitations as a QB.

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U may be on to something else - did you hear the commentators multiple times say how much more effective Jake was on the short plays getting the ball out quickly before havingvtime to think too much. Maybe Doman and Heaps were just trying too hard to show off the canon earlier this year instead of committing to the run and high percentage passing plays.



The main point of this thread is how Utah and USU seem to be able to make something out of seemingly nothing - coaching and lack of entitlement probably both factor in.

Is Sandusky the new scout master?

Cougarbib2 wrote:

U may be on to something else - did you hear the commentators multiple times say how much more effective Jake was on the short plays getting the ball out quickly before havingvtime to think too much. Maybe Doman and Heaps were just trying too hard to show off the canon earlier this year instead of committing to the run and high percentage passing plays.

I didn't feel like Heaps took that many deep shots until Utah, UCF and USU - in fact, one of my biggest frustrations with Heaps/Doman in the Miss/UT games is how FEW shots we took down the field. Of course, my understanding of what kind of commodity we had on our hands with Heaps at the time was inaccurate.



Still, your point is well taken - Based on the 90% and 75% comp ratings in Heaps' last two outings, I think Doman has a better idea of what he can do with Heaps, as does Heaps himself. It'll be interesting, a la Nelson, to see how Heaps does next week against a defense that is 100% anticipating him.



Sorry for the off-topic tangent. :D

I nominate this as the least worthwhile thread of the year. Restart this topic again after a USU QB wins, or at least is nominated for, some kind of award, acclaim, stat leadership, player of the week or something on the national stage, anything.



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Dcr36 wrote:
Passing plays make up only 35% of USU's offensive playcalling. USU is a team that lives and dies by the rush game - they ask their QBs to do very little in comparison to what BYU asks of their QBs.



I don't get where this sudden enamor with USU's QBs comes from. Are you guys watching their games or just reading their stat lines? Nelson wasn't great his one year with them. Keeton had ONE game where he had had both 200+ yards and a 136+ PER. Kennedy looked good, but he looked good against SJSU. Let's wait until they actually DO something before we anoint them with any title.

honestly? Just watching stat lines unless they are playing BYU. But i thought that Keaton was more fun to watch than Heaps in the USU game and the other handful of times that I've seen him play. And that's my objective opinion.