I
imuakahukuI will admit that when Heaps came to town I was pulling for him to succeed big time. And when the Heaps vs Riley competition started I wanted Heaps to win. I kind of figured he was in the best position to skill wise and noteriety wise to lead us to a BCS bowl game and a possible NC while even getting close or winning a Heisman.
I've rewatched a couple games lately and especially the USU game. It still bothered me how plays were made for Riley that were not made for Heaps. As I mused over this it finnaly struck me. What I was seeing happen was a guy with instinct beating out a guy with more talent. I replayed the Heaps throws and they were usually technically very good throws while Riley's seemed to be borderline "ducks". It occured to me the difference was that Riley seemed to have an instinct for the game that Jake didn't have. Although Riley's throws were borderline bad he still put the "bad" throw in a place where his player could still make the play. If they had been well thrown they would have been even bigger gains or TD's but they still resulted in important plays (1st downs etc. and a couple of TD's for that matter against USU). I noticed Heaps throws were thrown better but they didn't end up in a place where the guy could make the play that was needed. Riley's play reminded me of Montana. He didn't have the best arm in the NFL, he didn't make the best passes but they seemed to be at the right place for his guys to make a play. "The Catch" is a great example. It was not a good pass and if anyone but Clark had been back there it would never had been caught. I think Riley plays along this same line but on the college level. He just has that instinct to make the play at the right time at the right place more times than not. I believe Heaps could have honed this same instinct with another year under his belt, but he was definitely not there the last two years. I even pondered the other side of it with Riley, his game vs TCU. I came up with the same conclusion only that his instinct on a few plays were overturned by his inablilty to ever give up on play. That to me has been the crux of his problem but I don't think it is a serious problem because it doesn't rear its head that often.
So, I am feeling much more confident in Riley. I am still disappointed that Heaps is gone and hoped he would redshirt and then come back with a vengance but that is not to be. And although I was VERY skeptical about RIley being able to be a D-1 QB (especially after the AFA game), I am a solid supporter because to me he has developed that instinct that allows "football players" to beat "athletes".
I've rewatched a couple games lately and especially the USU game. It still bothered me how plays were made for Riley that were not made for Heaps. As I mused over this it finnaly struck me. What I was seeing happen was a guy with instinct beating out a guy with more talent. I replayed the Heaps throws and they were usually technically very good throws while Riley's seemed to be borderline "ducks". It occured to me the difference was that Riley seemed to have an instinct for the game that Jake didn't have. Although Riley's throws were borderline bad he still put the "bad" throw in a place where his player could still make the play. If they had been well thrown they would have been even bigger gains or TD's but they still resulted in important plays (1st downs etc. and a couple of TD's for that matter against USU). I noticed Heaps throws were thrown better but they didn't end up in a place where the guy could make the play that was needed. Riley's play reminded me of Montana. He didn't have the best arm in the NFL, he didn't make the best passes but they seemed to be at the right place for his guys to make a play. "The Catch" is a great example. It was not a good pass and if anyone but Clark had been back there it would never had been caught. I think Riley plays along this same line but on the college level. He just has that instinct to make the play at the right time at the right place more times than not. I believe Heaps could have honed this same instinct with another year under his belt, but he was definitely not there the last two years. I even pondered the other side of it with Riley, his game vs TCU. I came up with the same conclusion only that his instinct on a few plays were overturned by his inablilty to ever give up on play. That to me has been the crux of his problem but I don't think it is a serious problem because it doesn't rear its head that often.
So, I am feeling much more confident in Riley. I am still disappointed that Heaps is gone and hoped he would redshirt and then come back with a vengance but that is not to be. And although I was VERY skeptical about RIley being able to be a D-1 QB (especially after the AFA game), I am a solid supporter because to me he has developed that instinct that allows "football players" to beat "athletes".