Are Dobbs' Mechanical Issues Fixable? - Article

#52
#52
GAVol said:
What's part time about being a GA?

So, one guy coaches QBs exclusively as a GA. Your guy coached QBs 10 years ago and is also going to spend time game planning. Neither situation is ideal, but that's just the way it has to happen with the number of coaches being limited. I'd bet that you guys have either a GA or Quality Control guy helping out with QBs so the OC can focus on being the OC.
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Speaking just of the Saban era, every Bama OC has run the QB meeting room. GA and QC guys might be out helping with mechanics, but they are not running film study. Maybe Bama's the outlier, but I doubt it.
 
#53
#53
Looks like the experts over there were trained like the ones here. The opinions vary wildly ...

"As Bill Walsh stated if you show me a QB footwork, I can tell you what kind of game he had. As the footwork improves, Dobbs accuracy improves, so the record shows Dobbs may be the best QB in this class. The coaches can work on his footwork, but he has one thing that most QBs do not have and that is a quick release. Dobbs remains me of Joe Montana.

Posted by Coach Thomas on May 6, 2017 | 1:06 PM"



"Nice Job with the mechanics but....
Dobbs is a huge, huge, project.

Prior to the draft I spent little time reviewing the QBs. But I’ve since looked at a whole lot of Dobbs…
A huge part of Dobbs passing numbers come from the screen game and single read passing.
His accuracy down the field is terrible…even with no pressure.
I saw no evidence he had any presnap responsibility…no audibles, no change of protection.
Even when there is a defensive alignment that screams blitz Dobbs would rather trust his legs then hit the checkdown.
I’m not going to call him a wasted pick…but I’ll be shocked if he beats LJ out for the deuce…and I’m no LJ fan.
I think to a large degree his speed and athleticism inhibited his growth as a pocket QB. UT was interested in winning games, not developing NFL ready QBs and he has alot to learn.I don’t mean to be overly negative…but Dobbs is a long term project.
Posted by DieselCarson on May 5, 2017 | 9:53 AM"
 
#56
#56
LA vol7 said:
Trust me I want to see JD succeed as much as anyone but I just don't see the accuracy for him to be in the NFL for long. Hope I'm wrong but I just don't see it. He made a living in Knoxville with his legs and you just can't do that as a pro. Tell me why I'm wrong.
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+1... Dobbs = Tebow 2.0! The mechanicals aren't there...He should start swinging a bat!
 
#57
#57
Comparisons to Joe Montana is high praise!

With all the strengths he already has and the drive he's shown us for years, I believe Joshua Dobbs is determined to work on those areas of perceived weakness and leverage that development in ways that make any credible analysis of him in the future a report of a complete NFL quarterback.

Now let's get ready to watch the results of him work his tail off on the footwork and prove just how much of a steal he was in the 4th round!

See the fundamentals must remain still. They're not a moving target. He can improve his footwork if that's the pro consensus of what needs development and elevate his whole game as the result.
 
#58
#58
Volle said:
+1... Dobbs = Tebow 2.0! The mechanicals aren't there...He should start swinging a bat!
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Tebow's release took about as long as a pitcher winding up for a fastball though. Going into the NFL, Tebow needed to make major changes to his basic throwing motion.

Dobbs has some mechanical things he needs to work on, but his release is NFL level already. If he doesn't make it in the NFL, it won't be for the same reasons as Tebow.
 
#61
#61
Best wishes to Josh Dobbs. Let's look at reality. A position coach can only do so much. They can see your weaknesses and work to correct them. However a QB coach can't turn a guy into the next manning, Brees, Marino etc. You have to have "IT", you can want it, you can get better at it but you have to have "IT"

The NFL and Tebow threw a lot of money on position coach instructions. No one wanted it more than Tebow, how did that pan out?

Just think how many young baseball pitchers could be Greg Maddox if it was only about a position coach.
 
#62
#62
Seems it was PM that went into an in-depth discussion of how he practiced the scramble drill.

Being able to set his feet or step into a throw didn't happen all the time during live action, so he would practice throwing from awkward positions so when the need would arise he would have made the throw before, resulting in better results during the game.
 
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#63
#63
VolFreakJosh said:
Dobbs was rated a 4* on most recruiting sites.
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He was, but he also was not extremely highly recruited. His other SEC offers were from Arkansas, Miss St, Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Vandy, and his best non-SEC offer was probably North Carolina or Arizona State.

Certainly not a lightly recruited guy, but it wasn't like every SEC school wanted him plus some elite non-SEC schools like Ohio St, Florida St, etc.
 
#64
#64
interesting how this thread went in a qb coach debacle.

not sure why that's such a point of contention at this point. as to the original topic...i don't think there's any doubt that Dobbs' mechanics, footwork specifically, have been questioned. it was one of the first things Deboard talked to him about when he was hired.

i think the article was fairly spot on in that mechanics like that can be trained and repped to form new habits. put him in a situation with some of the weapons he should have available, and a good o line, and a running game that's not reliant on Dobbs' legs, then who knows what he's capable of. and as the article stipulates, he has time to develop in to that.

as for the qb coach question, water under the bridge, and the truth is that in regards to our qb coach situation, it's a mixture of all of it. Deboard was titled with it, Sheridan did the work day to day, and i don't think anyone would argue that having a sure fire, f/t qb coach would have helped.

and guess what, apparently CBJ agreed. so time to move on and see what happens from here. same w/O line and WR, and D line and DB coaches. and s&c.

so yeah, there were obviously issues...structurally and from a quality standpoint, and changes were made.
 
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#65
#65
jakez4ut said:
interesting how this thread went in a qb coach debacle.

not sure why that's such a point of contention at this point. as to the original topic...i don't think there's any doubt that Dobbs' mechanics, footwork specifically, have been questioned. it was one of the first things Deboard talked to him about when he was hired.

i think the article was fairly spot on in that mechanics like that can be trained and repped to form new habits. put him in a situation with some of the weapons he should have available, and a good o line, and a running game that's not reliant on Dobbs' legs, then who knows what he's capable of. and as the article stipulates, he has time to develop in to that.

as for the qb coach question, water under the bridge, and the truth is that in regards to our qb coach situation, it's a mixture of all of it. Deboard was titled with it, Sheridan did the work day to day, and i don't think anyone would argue that having a sure fire, f/t qb coach would have helped.

and guess what, apparently CBJ agreed. so time to move on and see what happens from here. same w/O line and WR, and D line and DB coaches. and s&c.

so yeah, there were obviously issues...structurally and from a quality standpoint, and changes were made.
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My intent in posting this article was from a positive viewpoint - that the Steelers think that Dobbs can be a good QB for them once the footwork issue is fixed.

OTOH, I knew the negative viewpoint would arise as well. If his footwork is so easy to fix, why couldn't Tennessee's coaches fix it in four years?

So many Tennessee football issues can be viewed from both a positive & negative side. The resulting discussion is what makes VolNation so entertaining! :)
 
#66
#66
bamawriter said:
All I stated, declaratively or no, was that DeBord was UT's QB coach. This is a fact. I know this because I am capable of reading the English language. If you believe that I am incorrect in stating this fact, take that up with UT's SID for printing it on all programs, media guides, and UT's athletics website.



So, did he run the QB meeting room or was he simply present?



So you're saying that the QB meeting room was run by a GA for two years? Follow up question: why is Butch Jones still employed?
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I normally agree with most of what you write in here, certainly when you're smacking down D4H. But you have no idea what you're talking about here. Your "question" has been answered but you keep persisting. We have not had a full-time qb coach on staff since Jones has been here until now, year 5....and many like me have questioned it even now, since he just hired his good buddy Canales, who comes to us from Utah State as their RB coach, to fill the role.

I laid out very specially what Debord's role was at Tennessee. He was our offensive coordinator, but he DID NOT coach our QBs, period. The QB side of his title of OC/QB coach was exactly that, a title, and nothing more. Not sure why you keep arguing this. You're a bright guy, this is pretty straightforward, provable/factual stuff.

I've not heard who "ran the qb room" from the former players and damn near every single member of the media who covered the team while Debord was here.....the same former players and media who stated over and over and over again that Debord all but ignored the QBs during practices and worked exclusively with the OL. I would certainly assume he had some role in the room working with the QBs since he was coordinating the offense, discussing/teaching schemes and game plans.

But as far as teaching and coaching qb techniques, footwork, etc, etc, that was not Mike Debord...it was grad assistant Nick Sheridan.

As far as Jones' handling of the qb coaching situation or lack thereof.....again, it's why you've seen all the questions about was Dobbs' passing development hurt by not having a full-time actual qb coach on staff when he was here under Debord.
 
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#67
#67
82_VOL_83 said:
Bama, I'm not sure that the $$ were turned loose until recently for him to hire as he wanted to. I have to believe this because to believe anything else is to believe in the tooth fairy and the easter moose.
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If that's true, those pulling the strings are dumber than previously thought.

Not sure that's possible, or what happened.
 
#68
#68
bamawriter said:
Speaking just of the Saban era, every Bama OC has run the QB meeting room. GA and QC guys might be out helping with mechanics, but they are not running film study. Maybe Bama's the outlier, but I doubt it.
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Perhaps one of many reasons why Saban is one of the best head coaches in college football history and Jones is.....let's just say Jones isn't.
 
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#69
#69
I believe Dobbs will benefit from being able to devote his entire focus on football and perfecting his game. He has the smarts, just needs to work on mechanics. Good luck to him and I will be pulling for the Steelers.
 
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#70
#70
Orange_Vol1321 said:
Great, doesn't change the fact that just because your drafted in the first round means you will be successful nor that if your drafted in the 4th round that you will suck.
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No one even hinted anything to the contrary. You said his work ethic was light years better than a first rounder, which may be true of a couple but not the norm.

Sorry. Grow up
 
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#71
#71
Where on earth is D4H? We need someone to assure us that Dobbs has no problem with accuracy and that any perceived problem is part of a racist conspiracy.
 
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#73
#73
sjt18 said:
Where on earth is D4H? We need someone to assure us that Dobbs has no problem with accuracy and that any perceived problem is part of a racist conspiracy.
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I've already made my opinion on this subject clear. I won't be wasting anymore time discussing.

Dobbs is a few months away from playing in his first NFL game. When he steps on that field in August he will show his greatness as an NFL QB.

He'll be a superstar from the first preseason game.
 
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#74
#74
TNHopeful505 said:
Dobbs will be just fine, but it does beg the question, how much better could he have been if he had a QB coach in his 4 years here? I'm hoping and thinking Dobbs is going to have an absolutely awesome NFL career. He's in a great situation.
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I think of how Dobbs looked from his junior to his senior seasons. The improvement in his accuracy in the first half of the season was night to day. So I feel who we had working with Dobbs helped him to a degree. But when line injuries caught up, old bad habits with his footwork cropped up again.

Dobbs had a QB coach, but he was a grad assistant. However, most are in the camp that believes you get what you pay for, and the QB coach should be an actual assistant coach. If Canales proves his worth, it will be hard to argue with success. But I wish Butch had invested in a full time QB coach. It is the most visible and impactful position on the roster. But I feel the Steelers will help Dobbs address his relatively minor issues.
 
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#75
#75
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
I've already made my opinion on this subject clear. I won't be wasting anymore time discussing.
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It isn't a waste of time... it is good sport to see you embarrass yourself.

Dobbs is a few months away from playing in his first NFL game. When he steps on that field in August he will show his greatness as an NFL QB.
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I hope he does. But his problems throwing the ball on the college level will only be magnified on the pro level unless someone can get inside his head and enable him to properly place the ball with consistency.

He'll be a superstar from the first preseason game.
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Like he won the Heisman, SEC, and NC, right? Doesn't it ever embarrass you to be as wrong as you are?
 
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