To complete a pass, everything has to go right. If anyone makes a mistake, the pass is usually not completed. Peyton Manning had days where mistakes caused him to be ineffective at Tennessee. He couldn't beat Memphis for example. Tee Martin on the other hand could pull the ball down and run when the play broke down. Tee was a competent passer but not in the same league as Manning. However, Tee was more of a winner at Tennessee than Manning. Tee went undefeated as a quarterback in 98 and only lost two very close games to Florida and Arkansas in 99. He was literally a play or two away from playing for another title. Manning on the other hand always had an off game or two, most memorably against the Gators. I can remember so many dropped passes and bobbled balls that resulted in interceptions. Manning is more effective in the pros than in college. Pro players don't make as many mistakes. The pro-style requires a high level of execution. Tee, while he didn't put up nearly the stats that Manning did, was a more effective college player due to his ability to improvise when mistakes were made. Look at Cam Newton. If you put Tom Brady on Auburn's team last year instead of Cam, how many games do they win? They would probably struggle to have a winning record in the conference. Cam's ability to make something out of nothing when the play broke down made all the difference. I can see why the pro-style works at Stanford. I can see why it would work on a team that has a lot of seasoned seniors. I can't however understand why anyone would expect it to work with a team as young as ours. Our best receiver is a sophomore who didn't start last year. Our quarterback is a sophomore who only started half the games last season and missed considerable time this year. Our O-line is young. Inexperienced players make mistakes. If you put Tee Martin on this Tennessee team (or Cam Newton), I think they'd be pretty good. When mistakes are made, they could improvise. Bray has a lot of tools that make him a likely pro, but it's tough to be effective as a pro-style passer in college unless everyone around you is capable of executing at a high level of proficiency.
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