Tyson Helton talks about Guarantano's play

[Smokey'sHandler]

Chryst had options. I think Pruitt is a pretty straight shooter... so I don't think he promised him anything but a legitimate shot at winning the job.

I agree with you that he was more than likely promised a legitimate shot at winning the job. I mean heck why in the world would he leave Stanford (purely for football reasons) if he at least wasn't given a legitimate opportunity. The issue is how many folks twisted this common practice into Chryst is immediately crowned the starter because Pruitt brought him in, he's a winner look at his record, and JG is not because of his record and performance. Although in football the QB can have a significant impact on the game you can not view a QB's performance solely on wins vs. losses like you can a baseball pitcher. All 22 players must execute on offense + defense in football to get the job done. When you are playing on a team with a historically bad defense, a horrendous run game, an offensive line that started 2 walk ons and a tight end who has had 2 ACL tears at the end of the season and a terrible offensive scheme you are not being set up well for success.

Although the team was not successful (1-7) due to a multitude of reasons there were a couple of performances from JG that I would call successes and showed he had great promise. He did grade out per Pro Football Focus as the best QB in the SEC the week of the Kentucky game. To me that is one heck of an accomplishment with all that was going against him. Did he have his faults that he could clean up? Absolutely but from what I saw he showed potential and made significant progress during the season that provided a glimpse into what we could/are seeing this season with continued growth.

Going a little further back... I irritated these guys by accurately predicting that Dormady was the starter based on the info that had leaked out. They were emotionally committed to JG and got their egos bruised when QD became the starter. They hated him and nitpicked him constantly. Everything was his fault.... even when coaches laid blame squarely somewhere else. I defended him while admitting he had his share of mistakes. I even pointed to specific ones.

I think the Dormady/JG QB battle was so mismanaged by Butch that it threw a lot of people for a loop. Given Butch's history I believe it was very apparent which way Butch would go. Now Dormady might have been great in practice but when it game to the games I personally believe JG performed leaps and bounds ahead of Dormady. Although Dormady may have been ahead in his knowledge of the offense his mechanics had significant breakdowns when pressured and even in a clean pocket (I had a couple of write ups on this last year). Even though he had a good 2nd half in the GaTech game there were multiple instances where even the thought of pressure severely disrupted his throwing base. Now some he was somehow able to overcome this and be successful but more times than not he wasn't. This trend stayed the same in the games to follow and it finally caught up to really bite him in the rear against Florida. This was inevitable and clearly was not something was able to be coached out of Dormady. Due to that he had little to no chance of being successful. That would have been tough to defend. The thing I really liked about JG last year is even though early on it appeared things were happening very fast around him his mechanics and footwork did not break down. As he progressed within the terrible offensive scheme he had a greater chance to be more successful due to his mechanics holding up (I also had a write up on this after the SC game) vs. Dormady.

I will have to admit holding onto the Dormady argument would have been a tough one.

 

[butchna]

I don't agree that is true... and honestly think they chose the right guy... at least to start with. JG has great physical talent. He's behind where a 3rd year player should be in mental development. That's been the sum of my argument. That's not personal. It isn't "hate" for JG. Just an opinion based on his play compared to others.

There you go again. No amount of countenancing or multi-quoting on your part is going to make JG’s REDSHIRT year the PLAYING variety. He’s at the beginning of his second year of PLAYING. The sooner you quit trying to shoehorn that fallacy into your narrative, the sooner others can take your “logical” quest for fire seriously. Nothing in his redshirt season replicated actual PLAYING time.

 

[johnrlansford]

There you go again. No amount of countenancing or multi-quoting on your part is going to make JG’s REDSHIRT year the PLAYING variety. He’s at the beginning of his second year of PLAYING. The sooner you quit trying to shoehorn that fallacy into your narrative, the sooner others can take your “logical” quest for fire seriously. Nothing in his redshirt season replicated actual PLAYING time.

Goes with his agenda!