Why I Always Supported Riley Nelson

And why I am glad Heaps is gone even though I wished he had stayed.



First and foremost, RIley Nelson is a BYU player. That is it in a nutshell. But I can embellish it.



Let's start with my vision and dream for Jake Heaps. He was also a BYU player. Was. I envisioned Jake Heaps breaking all kinds of records at BYU and getting national acclaim and big-time NFL achievements. I really did. Because he was a BYU player. I wanted to see it on the field rather than just assume it, but I wanted him to get his shot and to succeed - when it was time and his turn. That was my issue with Jake Heaps. Timing. He wasn't ready. Nobody is at that ripe young age unless on a team where everything else is stable and veteran and talented around him including coaches and scheme. Even then it is a long shot unless the schedule is accomodating. It was just a timing issue. It was not his time or his turn.



I wanted the same thing for Riley, Lark, and Munns - in that order and all ahead of Jake Heaps. If they got their shot - and could not step up. Then they got their shot and we move on. We get to Jake in due time. Maybe that would have meant two years for Riley, one for Lark, and one for Munns, but they all get their shot. If Jake went on a mission, then he would have had a lot of gas left in the tank - if not, with a redshirt - he still gets a shot. And I do not care if our players choose not to serve a mission. For NFL caliber players - I think a couples mission or a stint as a mission president would be a reasonable alternative - later. But a mission is OK too.



Odds always are - that although I always want every single BYU player to succeed beyond even their wildest dreams, it does not always work out that way. So we make tough choices and move on.



But we never mail in a game or a season in the name of Potential over Experience unless the experienced guy is not getting it done and the Potential guy shows that he can. You try to win every single game. That is all anyone will ever remember - wIns and losses.



Now as to why I am now ok that Jake is gone even though I think he should have stayed and wish he had stayed - he made a choice. He is now an ex BYU Player. Not a former one. An ex one. I am OK with that. Put him in the category of Ben Olson, and any other former player who could have contributed but chose to go for a bigger platform. GO ahead and lump the basketball player that snubbed us for Duke and Manti Teop that snubed us for ND and Schwenke and those kind of guys too. Not ex BYU players. Just not BYU players - but players BYU wanted. I don't hate any of them. And it bugs me when they succeed at a very high level - Teo for example.



Now as to why I do not hope that he suceeds beyond his wildest dreams now that he is an ex BYU player - nothing personal. Not even to say I told you so - I thought he could succeed and still think he might succeed elsewhere even though it will be a tougher go than he realizes. He might. He might. He might not. Same if he stayed. If he stayed - I would have hoped for wild success. Now I just cannot.



Why

It will not be in the best interest of BYU if his performance creates the appearance that BYU does not know how to develop great players. That pans out better if he goes somewhere like USC or So. Carolina with a legendary coach and proves that he is not a great player.



Secondly - if he does turn out to be a great player. Then I will feel very bad that he left and hold our coaches accountable for letting a great player slip through their fingers. I will hold the great player accountable for being so impatient, as well. It will be much easier to accept if Jake proves that we didn't lose anything we could not easily replace.



It is not personal. I do not dislike him. I hope he does fine - just not phenomenal. Well even phenomenal is OK as long as the BYU QBs - Nelson, Lark, Munns, and the next guys in line all do as well or better. Then I would be OK with discovering that we lost one almost as good as the ones we kept. Almost as good. I hope Jake has that success. Almost as good as the Guys that play here during the time that Jake could have been playing here, including their back-ups. Almost that good.



Aloha

I support RN in his capacity as the BYU QB, despite all of the problems that he has caused or fueled. He is a BYU guy, just not the type of BYU guy you're thinking of. He's a combination of intramural ref, annoying TA and Testing Center Nazi.



Also, I hope he leads us to a BCS bowl next year.

I supported Riley because all through spring ball and fall camp in 2010, I saw nothing from Jake that showed me he would be the only QB who could have gotten the job done. Nor did I see anything from Riley that showed me he could have gotten the job done.



I did not think the QB position mattered last year and that our record would have been the same whomever the coaches chose as the starter. Unfortunately they didn't chose a starter and our record suffered for it.



I wanted to be patient with Jake and let him maximize his potential. But neither Jake nor the coaches wanted to be patient.



The rest is history and the current story is now irrelevant. Jake is gone. He is no longer a Cougar. He may succeed elsewhere. Unfortunately, I don't think he will. In fact, I suspect his next destination won't be his last. Once you've opened the door to chasing opportunities, you may spend a lot of time chasing those opportunities and always seeing a "better" door outside of your current situation.



I supported Riley because he could always move the ball. He convinced me of this when he moved the ball down the field against Florida St in 2009 - granted it was late in the game, but FSU didn't have their entire team since it was a road game - against their backups.



Riley has always been talked of positively by the coaches about what a great leader he was and how well liked he was on the team and how guys wanted to follow and play for/with him. It's too bad injuries and missed reps - due to coaching indecision - have hindered his progression.



With all the reps he's getting now, we're really seen some great improvement in both his throwing and decision making ability.



Lastly, I support Riley now because he is the starter and gives BYU their best chance to win immediately and next year.

I admit, I wasn't a fan of Riley's prior to this season. Watching him tuck and run every other play was painful. I wasn't impressed with his passing at the time.



I also thought Heaps should redshirt his freshman year, but after many a post on here about how awesome Heaps was I admit I compromised my beliefs. I justified it by convincing myself if Heaps was the future better to get him up to speed sooner rather than later and no better way to get him going then by throwing him into the deep end. Looks like I made the same mistake as the coaches, probably for different reasons, though.



Two games into this season I realized we were in trouble (see first installment of Heaps Sucks thread:http://www.cougarcorner.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9648).



At the time, I wasn't eager to see Riley take the field as I assumed once again we would see lopsided passes and tuck'n run ball, but knew we didn't really have any other option. Thankfully I was wrong and gladly ate as much crow as I could regarding Riley. Guy can play and I'll take him any day over the lots 'o-potential Heaps.

I wanted Heaps to Redshirt his first year. I didn't care who started. In fact I was hoping someone would come out and make a clear statement so the coaches would have to redshirt him. I am behind Riley now because it is really clear that he gives us our best chance at winning.

byutx wrote:
I support RN in his capacity as the BYU QB, despite all of the problems that he has caused or fueled. He is a BYU guy, just not the type of BYU guy you're thinking of. He's a combination of intramural ref, annoying TA and Testing Center Nazi.



Also, I hope he leads us to a BCS bowl next year.

:roll: byutx, usually I take what you say as gospel but you've been on one lately bro.



How about all the problems that Heaps caused or fueled? From the sounds of it, he was at least partly responsible for the "entitlement" attitude of the younger players last year which directly, in my opinion, affected the first half of the year very negatively. Unfortunately, I think the success the team had later in the year only fueled such entitlement with certain players (like Heaps who felt he could do private workouts).



How about his issues with many players on the team, including Chamber. I don't think Chambers was without blame, and I was pretty critical of him at times, but it sounds like he knew what he was talking about and was at least proactive enough to do SOMETHING about it. I have to wonder if the different backgrounds of O' Chambers and Heaps collided.



I know that Heaps got a lot of good recruits to come to provo but If they were a clique when they got to campus and did not put the time and effort that the upperclassmen wanted to see out of them, it's no wonder last years team had such huge locker room issues that are probably still not completely resolved.



So you say that Riley is a "combination of intramural ref, annoying TA and Testing Center Nazi". I could put up with those clowns. It was the popped collar abercrombie, "my dad just bought me a subaru impreza STI" and "psychologically unstable if a girl dumped them" crowd that drove me nuts while I was BYU. And that's the group I'd probably put Heaps (and Riley too perhaps, I don't know either of them though) in if I was some guy who stereotyped people on a regular basis. :D



I expected Heaps to be good to great this year. He wasn't. But I was still in his corner. Now, I almost think it would be healthy for him if his dream of playing in the NFL didn't happen. There's more to life than starting for a football team. I don't think it's fair to say it was Riley Nelson who did Heaps in. From what I've gathered, Heaps was doing a good job himself, and really pushed himself out of the running with his playmaking on Saturdays.

Gunk wrote:
I admit, I wasn't a fan of Riley's prior to this season. Watching him tuck and run every other play was painful. I wasn't impressed with his passing at the time.



I also thought Heaps should redshirt his freshman year, but after many a post on here about how awesome Heaps was I admit I compromised my beliefs. I justified it by convincing myself if Heaps was the future better to get him up to speed sooner rather than later and no better way to get him going then by throwing him into the deep end. Looks like I made the same mistake as the coaches, probably for different reasons, though.



Two games into this season I realized we were in trouble (see first installment of Heaps Sucks thread:http://www.cougarcorner.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9648).



At the time, I wasn't eager to see Riley take the field as I assumed once again we would see lopsided passes and tuck'n run ball, but knew we didn't really have any other option. Thankfully I was wrong and gladly ate as much crow as I could regarding Riley. Guy can play and I'll take him any day over the lots 'o-potential Heaps.

Sometimes works for swimming, seldom works for quarterbacking. I was always among those who advocated for Heaps to redshirt and learn for at least a year (and probably more) before becoming the man. The QB position is a fragile position, because it is so much mental. If a QBs mental state is not right, he will continue to spiral down (as we saw this year in Heaps) until his game is a shambles. Spending a rookie season (or more) holding the clipboard helps to stabilize a QBs mental state, because it gives him time to become automatic with the job.



The mental aspect of QBing can also be used to make one better ie. Joe Namath. Joe played his college ball at Alabama (Bear Bryant-- three yards and a cloud of dust), where he threw the ball approximately three times during his career. He had an arm, but nobody really knew whether he could run a passing offense. He was drafted by the hapless NY Jets, where the coach immediately began to teach him how to be a passing QB, and simultaniously tout him to the world as the greatest passer since sliced bread (or... something......). Well, the rest is history. Broadway Joe was one of the most confident, and one of the most sucessful QBs in history. sucessful quarterbacking is one part having talent, one part workng very hard, and one part having the head on straight.

In short:



Riley would chop Laban's head off without hesitation.



Jake would rub chamomile on Laban's face scabs.

When did your trust in Heaps die?



Mine was utah, for several reasons. But my wife pointed out after a play, well after a play, a ute lineman was slowing down and jogging towards him after a pass, the ute player wasn't going to hit him late, and you could tell he was stopping. Well, Jake saw him in and cowered like a little girl. That moment I knew the game was over (I had hope after his backwards pass) and his starting job gone. I didn't even know Riley played in the utah game until just days ago since I got back to studying early.



If JH seriously is wondering when everything went wrong it's when he couldn't beat teams, win with teammates, or complete passes. Pretty sure he's not going to get better WRs anywhere else.