Heaps' Progress

I thought it might be nice to track the focal point of this rebuilding season: Mr. Heaps. Obviously, this is all my opinion and I didn't get to see the 4th quarter tonight although I did hear it on the radio.



Let's start with the obvious weakness in his game.



Current Weaknesses:

Pocket Presence--he seems to get rattled at times and reacts to a collapsing pocket too soon.

Slow legs--None of us knew if he could scramble but the answer appears to be, yeah but he has Kurt Warner speed.

Deep Ball--This one has been ugly. Most throws go out of bounds and 3 that I saw tonight were a good 5 yards past wide open receivers (Jacobsen 2x). Although I did hear that Ashworth dropped a beauty late in the game.

Zip--He throws short routes a little too hard, but it did look like he softened up tonight.

Mid-range Accuracy--A number of crossing pattern throws have been right at or behind receivers instead of leading them.

Sideline throws--not happening for the kid.



Current Strenghts:

Arm strength--obviously he can sling it

Vision--for all his accuracy issues he is at least seeing Jacobsen streaking open downfield. I like his quick progressions and he has shown the ability to check down wisely.

Middle of the field throws--so far anything NOT to the sidelines has been his bread and butter.

Reading the blitz--at least tonight I thought he read the coverage well and got rid of the rock quickly and found open players.



My biggest hope for improvement in 2010: the deep ball. We need points badly and as long as MJ stays on the outside he'll be burning DB's this season and hopefully for TD's. Why is Heaps not connecting? I have no idea. Some people (Locker) never make it work so I hope Heaps can get it figured out.



Feel free to add anything as I'd like to see this thread evolve along with him this season.

All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

MTM wrote:
All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

There's a reason why true freshmen dont' play. Matt Barkley would have looked bad in this offense last year. This team is ridiculously young and we could be scary by the end of the season; much like Boise State of 2 years ago.

craigoscarson wrote:

All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

There's a reason why true freshmen dont' play. Matt Barkley would have looked bad in this offense last year. This team is ridiculously young and we could be scary by the end of the season; much like Boise State of 2 years ago.

Agreed.



I just expected a little more based on the hype that's all. I didn't expect a 150 passer rating but he is making simple mistakes (throwing behind receivers, over throwing them, etc.) His efficiency rating and yards per attempt are terrible.

MTM wrote:

MTM wrote:
All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

There's a reason why true freshmen dont' play. Matt Barkley would have looked bad in this offense last year. This team is ridiculously young and we could be scary by the end of the season; much like Boise State of 2 years ago.

Agreed.



I just expected a little more based on the hype that's all. I didn't expect a 150 passer rating but he is making simple mistakes (throwing behind receivers, over throwing them, etc.) His efficiency rating and yards per attempt are terrible.

I'm one of the few on this board that said early on (before the season started) that if they did burn Heaps redshirt, that I'd be willing to sacrifice this season to ensure dominance in the future. Heaps has the tools, just not the experience or the confidence. I'm sure it's scary to let it fly when you fear interceptions, etc. but eventually he'll get the timing and the confidence... then of course we have to lean on our receivers to catch the ball. :roll:



In the years where BYU has been great, we've had several players leave for the NFL (Max, Pitta, George, Unga, etc.)(2001 Hoke, Keisel, Nua, Denney, Doman, Staley)(1996 was loaded with pros and those that got tryouts) This year we have one player that would be considered for the NFL draft if it were held this minute Matt Reynolds... and personally I think that maybe Matt should stick around and help his dad win (maybe Pendleton, who is still very very raw at LB)

Once VanNoy, Heaps and crew put on their big boy pants, this team will be scary. It might happen as early as November; it might not happen until spring, but it will happen.

We need to remember he is a true freshman who went through all of fall camp and the first 3 weeks of the year getting half as many practice reps as a normal starting QB should be getting. He is behind, because of the coaches and becuase he is a true freshman. He'll be fine.

kfilly20 wrote:
We need to remember he is a true freshman who went through all of fall camp and the first 3 weeks of the year getting half as many practice reps as a normal starting QB should be getting. He is behind, because of the coaches and becuase he is a true freshman. He'll be fine.

I'll second this in a big way. I think he's going to look pretty impressive next week and Utah will fear him by the time that game rolls around.

I don't know if it is Heaps or the OC, but someone is in love with the fade pass to the corner. At some point, you have to pass over the middle to get a TD pass from inside the 15. Other than that, I thought Heaps looked decent. I also liked that the receivers remembered to catch the ball this week.

Not only is he a true freshman, but he's only had half the number of reps (this last week excluded) to get up to speed with his receivers and the offense. Give the guy a break.



Not only that, but his o-line certainly isn't as dominant as previous years. Still a good o-line, but not as good as the ones Hall had in front of him.



Plus, Heaps isn't throwing to a Collie, Reed, Pitta, Unga or George. Hall would "zip" passes just as strong if not stronger than Heaps and those guys had no problem coming up with them. Unfortunately, unless a pass is right on the numbers, you can bet our receivers this year aren't coming up with with ball.

SDSU pummelled USU tonight and this should lift the spirits of our team and give them hope and some confidence that they can win. BUt that game was in San Diego and we play USU in Logan. So, we still have to prove that we dan play 4 quarters on the road. I am more optimistic about the USU game than I was two weeks ago. USU is starting to look more beatable, if not typical and BYU did improve in several areas this week. Part of me wishes BYU had taken two more field goals instead of going on 4th to show how close and winnable this game was. Then maybe on that last opportunity they somehow will a TD and 2-point conversion and go to OT.



Hopefully all the people that didn't like the 4th and 4 call saw a glimpse of why it was made on that last 4th and 5 sack. The pasing game is just not consistent enough yet.



Maybe Friday.

runbyu1 wrote:

We need to remember he is a true freshman who went through all of fall camp and the first 3 weeks of the year getting half as many practice reps as a normal starting QB should be getting. He is behind, because of the coaches and becuase he is a true freshman. He'll be fine.

I'll second this in a big way. I think he's going to look pretty impressive next week and Utah will fear him by the time that game rolls around.

Heaps will (should) improve as the season goes on but this made me laugh

Let's take note. You may be right, but there is a lot of time until the Utah game. We'll see in November. For the sake of the team, I hope you're wrong.

runbyu1 wrote:
Let's take note. You may be right, but there is a lot of time until the Utah game. We'll see in November. For the sake of the team, I hope you're wrong.

In theory every player/team should improve throughout a season.



I'm on record many times on this site that the Utah-BYU game is coin toss most years but I was referring specifically to the idea that Utah will "fear" Jake Heaps or anyone for that matter. Respect? yes. Fear? I don't think so.

Cougarbib2 wrote:
USU is starting to look more beatable, if not typical and BYU did improve in several areas this week.

While I agree that BYU improved in several ways this week, USU never plays typical USU football against BYU. We get their best effort every year. I expect this game to more resemble the USU vs OU game than the USU vs SDSU game.

craigoscarson wrote:

craigoscarson wrote:

All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

There's a reason why true freshmen dont' play. Matt Barkley would have looked bad in this offense last year. This team is ridiculously young and we could be scary by the end of the season; much like Boise State of 2 years ago.

Agreed.



I just expected a little more based on the hype that's all. I didn't expect a 150 passer rating but he is making simple mistakes (throwing behind receivers, over throwing them, etc.) His efficiency rating and yards per attempt are terrible.

I'm one of the few on this board that said early on (before the season started) that if they did burn Heaps redshirt, that I'd be willing to sacrifice this season to ensure dominance in the future. Heaps has the tools, just not the experience or the confidence. I'm sure it's scary to let it fly when you fear interceptions, etc. but eventually he'll get the timing and the confidence... then of course we have to lean on our receivers to catch the ball. :roll:



In the years where BYU has been great, we've had several players leave for the NFL (Max, Pitta, George, Unga, etc.)(2001 Hoke, Keisel, Nua, Denney, Doman, Staley)(1996 was loaded with pros and those that got tryouts) This year we have one player that would be considered for the NFL draft if it were held this minute Matt Reynolds... and personally I think that maybe Matt should stick around and help his dad win (maybe Pendleton, who is still very very raw at LB)

Once VanNoy, Heaps and crew put on their big boy pants, this team will be scary. It might happen as early as November; it might not happen until spring, but it will happen.

I was also one of the few that said, and actually wanted that. I had a feeling this year could be bad, (I didn't think it would be 1-3 bad) but Air Force and Nevada were much better than expected. I actually wanted Jake to play for what was in my opinion as a better chance to be great the next couple of years. So here's to hopin'!

MTM wrote:
All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

Not sure what freshman you have been seeing but he looks better than just about any true freshman drop back passer that I have seen in quite some time.

I see it as Jake is a month or two behind. Had he been taking reps since the start of fall camp I am quite certain we would have won yesterday. They would not have had the ball as often and we would have scored on nearly every drive. That said I have two thoughts about the effect that the two QB system had on our team.



First thought is that had Heaps been given the reigns from the beginning of fall camp we would have won at least the Nevada game. The AF would probably had been a loss still but may have been more competitive. FSU might have been a closer game so we may have had better chances of winning either of those games.



But I lean more to the idea that had Bronco chosen a starter it would have been Riley. Which in effect would have reduced the number of reps that Jake actually did receive which would mean he would be even further behind than he is now. So in my opinnion it actually turns out to be a struck of good luck that Bronco went with the two qb's since Riley went down for the season. I do expect that after this season barring some sort of incredulous mental breakdown, the Heaps era is now here and Riley will be the situational QB the next couple of seasons (if he is eligible for an NCAA exemption).



I think Heaps is going to do some very magical things the rest of the season and the rest of his career. I hope we get to play Nevada in the next couple of years so we can repay them with a beatdown. Same goes for AF, although I don't want to play them because I don't like the way they play.

MTM wrote:
All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

Don't watch much college football?

Italics wrote:

All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

Don't watch much college football?

enough to have this opinion.



The only pass I've seen him complete with regularity is the 0-12 yard crossing route or dump routes to the flat. I haven't seen him hit a single deep ball and he has not demonstrated that he can consistantly throw an out either.



I'm not ripping the kid. True freshmen usually don't succeed but the way he was hyped I thought he'd be better sooner. That's all I'm saying.

imuakahuku wrote:

All I'll say is that he is not nearly as close to being ready as I thought he would be.



For being the #1 pro-style QB in the 2010 class, and listening to all the hype, he simply looks like any other freshman.



He'll get better but he is far behind what I was expecting to see.

Not sure what freshman you have been seeing but he looks better than just about any true freshman drop back passer that I have seen in quite some time.

I'll reserve judgement for a few more weeks but I can think of one right now that was better.