Jake's improvement

How much has Jake improved? To me, he was waiting longer and more often. On some of his passes, he put some air under it. Yes, he did throw a pick, and he overthrew Zed Mendenhall.



So how is he doing? What do you think?

I still felt like he locked onto his first read, the majority of the time. But I thought that was a great play on the offsides where he went deep to McKay. Even though he underthrew Mckay, he gave him a chance to catch the ball (should have been caught), it looked like McKay was the second read he made on that play.



After some low throws early, some of his throws on the slants to Cody and Ross were right on the money and in stride which allowed for nice yards after the catch.

Hard to say. Like Spiff said, most of the time he still locked onto his first/pre-snap read which is one of the reasons for his struggles earlier this year. The Idaho pass defense was bad, but even so, Heaps accuracy was improved from what it has been earlier this year. Except for the Int, he wasn't throwing super high or into the dirt. It's probably been discussed before, but why does the O slow so much between snaps when Heaps is in? Is it just Heaps taking his time with his read? I feel that he is a lot more confident and plays better when he runs a quicker offense.

I think the offense slows down because Jake isn't confident/comfortable making post-snap reads. So he's trying to take as much time as he can before the snap to see what the defense is doing. He's deciding before the play what the defense is and is going to the read that will be open first. He's not going through his progression because he's trying to do that progression pre-snap.



Just my opinion.

I absolutely loved seeing Jake come off of the bench and take full advantage of his chance to prove himself. He knew what he had to do and did it.

I thought jake played well, but I don't feel like you can read much into it since the defense was so poor. I think Riley would have done great as well, but I would still be hesitant to say he was on the rise either against this Idaho team.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

BYULV wrote:
I thought jake played well, but I don't feel like you can read much into it since the defense was so poor. I think Riley would have done great as well, but I would still be hesitant to say he was on the rise either against this Idaho team.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Similar to how tons of fans watched Colorado St and thought Jake would dominate for the rest of his career, but then he plays some decent/good teams early this year and struggles slightly?

I put "not much" but I should change that to "none." Last year he looked off safeties and made good reads. This year he got worse and did neither of those things. However, last night he actually looked off a safety again. Can this actually be considered improvement? Over this year's performance? Sure. Over last year's? Nope. He might be the Plaisted of BYU football when it's all said and done.

I watched the 2006 Tulsa/BYU game Saturday and it was interesting to remember back to John Beck and his style. Purely a pocket passer who was very, very sucessful his senior year once he got the confidence in his ability and was actually calm in the pocket. In watching Jake yesterday, I still see him not being as comfortable as he needs to be in standing in the pocket, but I think it can be learned.



Someone said that it was boring to watch Heaps after Riley, I do agree. When it's 3rd and 7 or less, there's more of a confidence that Nelson can make it happen through running or passing. I still have never gotten over just thoroughly enjoying the style of Steve Young where he could successfully do both. Riley brings me back to that style more than Heaps, but Heaps can be very successful at BYU. I believe that.

I will know that Jake has improved when I see him perform under real pressure. I wonder if that comes with maturity, or if it is just something some guys have, and others don't. I really want to see him get worked up and show a fierce side. Too bad he is married, or they could have him room with Van Noy. That would fix him up. Is there such a thing as reverse anger management?

Jake looked much more confident and had better touch last night than he had against Idaho State. I hope he continues to progress and becomes the QB we all thought he would.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Graph looks like a middle finger. I chose some because too soon to evaluate was not an option.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

cougarnerd wrote:

I thought jake played well, but I don't feel like you can read much into it since the defense was so poor. I think Riley would have done great as well, but I would still be hesitant to say he was on the rise either against this Idaho team.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Similar to how tons of fans watched Colorado St and thought Jake would dominate for the rest of his career, but then he plays some decent/good teams early this year and struggles slightly?

"Struggles slightly" is a slight understatement.

I may be missing something... Jakes play was tempered because this was a bad defense... A bad defense that knocked Nelson around for two series and broke his ribs?



I thought Jake looked good, but to simply chalk it up to a bad defense is a bit skewed



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Dwight wrote:
I will know that Jake has improved when I see him perform under real pressure. I wonder if that comes with maturity, or if it is just something some guys have, and others don't. I really want to see him get worked up and show a fierce side. Too bad he is married, or they could have him room with Van Noy. That would fix him up. Is there such a thing as reverse anger management?

He hangs with KVN all the time. Besides KVN is pretty chill off the the field. he'd be better off watching his arch nemesis play on the field--oh wait, that might get Jake injured too. ;-)

I was very encouraged to see Jake Heaps come out improved from earlier this year where he was having sub 100 pers against defenses that were about on par with Idaho. He had a couple of very nice passes. And I think we can finally kill the idea that the receivers don't try as hard for Heaps as for Riley once and for all. A lot of Jake's success was receivers making difficult shoelace catches.



Jake still needs to improve on getting the football to a place where the receiver can catch the ball in stride. He has a tendency to put it too low or too high. He also still needs to be better at seeing the field, there was one incompletion where Jake threw to the sideline but had 2 guys wide open in the middle of the field, one in the endzone.



Overall, I was pleased with the progress, but there's still more I'd like to see.

That must have been the pass to Apo on the roll out.

I thought he improved some. IMO he didn't seem as locked onto targets.



However, he still had several passes down at receviers' ankles and others that sailed right over wide-open receivers. Those should be money passes.



And I still don't get his down field throws. He lobes it so high in the air everyone has a chance running to it. Throw the ball! With his supposed superior arm, he shouldn't have to rely on lobbing it so high to get it down the field.

scott715 wrote:
That must have been the pass to Apo on the roll out.

Yes, it was a roll out, I couldn't see from my angle who the intended target was, just that he was well covered, and I haven't rewatched it on the DVR yet. Could you see from the tv angle the 2 wide open guys?