Poll - How much will Riley improve in 2012?

Explain your vote. Faith in Riley's work ethic? In developing better chemistry with more snaps? Lack of faith in our coaches to develop him? Has he hit his ceiling?



Keep in mind I'm talking purely in terms of Riley's abilities, not his projected wins/stats. It's entirely possible that Riley will be a better quarterback next year but have worse numbers, given that the SOS should be stronger next year.

Riley showed improvement each and every game during the regular season in which he was the starter culminating with a masterful performance vs HI.



Obviously a drop off vs TU as there were timing issues with the receivers, shoddy OL blocking due to a different D scheme that caught them by surprise, miss-throws - all of which led to a poor % completion. But, we won and Riley inspired the team to victory.



Things that won't disappear - his grit, determination, desire and capability to will the team to win.



He will improve by receiving more reps during practice, having a season as a starter under his belt, leading the team in workouts during the off-season, and Doman tailoring the offense to his skill set.

Have to remember we're talking about the #16th most efficient(? effective? can't remember) QB in the NCAA last year.



he did exceptionally well with TO: TD ratios and YPA. He's not going develop an arm that throws 30 yards longer this year, he's not going to run faster; so I think his improvement will be marginal



he doesn't hold the top NCAA spot and no one thinks he's a heismann candidate so there's room to improve, but we already have a very good QB on our hands. Stay healthy Nelson!

He improves significantly. First year where he'll have the majority of reps during practice. He'll be healthy. He won't have to deal with drama and he has the entire team behind him.



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Mars wrote:


Didn't people say Riley reached his ceiling last year?



People are stupid. Also, I am people. Though I didn't say this gem myself.

You are people? I thought you are Legion. ;)

I think we'll see marginal improvement. He already completely dominated the bad teams he played. He played poorly against some of the better defenses. But I didn't feel like he was poor in those games because of his physical skill set, but because of his mental decisions. And even then, it was only a handful of decisions in those games at that.



If he can clean up those decisions, he'll be much better in thsoe games.

I think he's poised to have a Doman-like senior year. Not as good as Beck's senior year. But I think that he'll have more talent around him than Beck did in his senior year. 2012 will be a good if not great year.

I think he improves marginally. I hope significantly, but other than polish and cleaning

Up things, timing w receivers, all marginal,but notable improvements, what would constitute significant improvements? Arm strength? That won't happen. Size? Maybe he can beef up a little to better handle punishment. Mental? Yes, if he can limit his mistakes, namely interceptions, and just become the coy ,clever, strategic player that he is starting to show, as Seniors are likely to do, that could improve as well.

My sense is the best chance for Riley to improve is to have his supporting cast improve and the O improve together overall.

If all these things come together to improve, I suppose there could be what would be labeled as significant improvement, which would be awesome. Throw in some signature wins over tougher teams and maybe it would look significant. Otherwise I believe marginal is the best poll option.

And what is JohnBeck like improvement? Something more than significant? Would that be miraculous? I think that option is a bit bogus. John may have improved significantly, but anything beyond that might be overstated.



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SpiffCoug wrote:

If he can clean up those decisions, he'll be much better in thsoe games.

Which would mean "significant improvement" in the way the fanbase views him. Right?

Typically the biggest improvement for a Qb comes between his first year starting to his second year.

hawkwing wrote:
Typically the biggest improvement for a Qb comes between his first year starting to his second year.

Kind of like biggest improvement for a team is between week one and two??? ;)



And I don't think Beck's Sr. season was as dramatic of a change as some believe. It was more a matter of the players finally buying into the system, getting rid of some of the Crowton baggage, players growing into their roles, more leadership on the defense, etc etc etc. Beck was a solid QB his Jr year as well.



I think the same think could well happen with Riley this year. He may not improve as much as the perception of his improvement does. His OC will/should be better, he'll have tons of options for receivers, the team will undoubtedly be behind him from Jan.-Jan., that awesome sophomore class will be upperclassmen next year and some of them are going to be superb. All of these things are going to make Mr. Nelson look like he's improved more than he probably has. That's my prediction anyway.

Mars wrote:


Didn't people say Riley reached his ceiling last year?



People are stupid. Also, I am people. Though I didn't say this gem myself.

+1 Riley is solid. He will improve - especially if his Offensive line improves & gives him better protection.

declocoug wrote:
And I don't think Beck's Sr. season was as dramatic of a change as some believe. It was more a matter of the players finally buying into the system, getting rid of some of the Crowton baggage, players growing into their roles, more leadership on the defense, etc etc etc. Beck was a solid QB his Jr year as well.

Beck's JR Year: 331 of 513 (.645) for 3,709 yards with 27 TDs and 13 INTs w/ a PER of 137.55.



Beck's SR Year: 289 of 417 (.693) for 3,885 yards with 32 TDs and 8 INTs w/ a PER of 169.05.



Completions went down, attempts went down, completion percentage went way up and yards went way up (about 2 yards more per attempt & per completion). The 5 more TD passes is nearly 20% more TDs as well. His PER rose 23% as well.



Beck was a solid average QB his JR year, but he was very good his SR year.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Beck was a solid average QB his JR year, but he was very good his SR year.

Thanks for the stats. Beck was phenomenal his Sr. year. But I think the team chemistry and mindset had a lot to do with that. Much like the team he lead in Miami made him look like a joe shmoe. That 06 TEAM was good and made Beck look like a much better QB. The 05 team was so-so and made Beck look slightly above average.

It depends primarily on how much he improves his decision making. Thankfully, it's a lot easier to improve your decision making with practice than say your speed or arm strength or accuracy. So I put he improves significantly.



Plus it's his last shot, I don't see him putting in anything less than every bit of effort he's got.



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I think decision making can greatly improve accuracy.

SpiffCoug wrote:
I think decision making can greatly improve accuracy.

Lol...yes, it does greatly improve some of the bigger accuracy problems



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He can't be improving on the scale of Beck since he only lost one game his Jr season, while Beck lost 6. Even so, I think the improvement will be great. With Heaps out of the picture, he is the guy. This should be a good year for him. Even if he goes down Lark could have his opportunity to shine. Both led their HS teams to the same state championship. QB looks solid next year.

I think it will be significant improvement due to more reps and better team chemistry with Heaps gone. My fear though is how long will it take him to get hurt? What makes him great makes him vulnerable and that makes him risky to use him as our starter. This year he could play like a wild man because he had nothing to lose. Next year when the team is depending on him I hope he is smart enough to slide or try and avoid running into line backers if he already has a first down.