For any of you who followed the off season closely, especially those of you who may have had access to practices:
What made JG look so much better than BM and JTS?
Hard to say definitively without reading into and out of some coaches comments. But here's my take.
JG has ALWAYS had the arm strength and accuracy coaches drool over. He's a smart, tough kid. He works hard. He's "liked" by his teammates as best I can tell. If you were going to complain about his physical talent then it would be pocket movement, running ability, and delivering a tad on the slow side. NOTHING there fatal.
The disconnect was decision making and confidence. He thinks too slow. He is so risk averse that he doesn't lead guys open or hit plays downfield unless they're wide open. Even when they are pretty much wide open he seems to be a half count late and leaves passes short. He doesn't give guys an opportunity to run after the catch.
Three Maurer throws help illustrate.
The TD pass to Jennings should have been the definition of JG's career at UT. He has the physical ability to put balls in tight windows like that. But he won't take the chance. His doubt causes him to hesitate on what has to be an instinctive, split second decision.
The TD pass to Callaway is an easy one. JG has consistently left throws like that short with the exception of the one overthrow of DWA a few weeks back. He allows defenders to either make a play on the ball or else make the tackle before the receiver can gain YAC's.
The first completion by Maurer to DWA though probably rolls it all up. MSU showed pressure. Maurer anticipated pre-snap that DWA on that little seam would be open right after clearing the first defender but in front of the safety. At the snap, he didn't hesitate. If you go back and watch that play DWA was just breaking contact with a defender when Maurer threw to a spot just in front of him but where it could not be defended. BM read the D pre-snap then confirmed quickly post snap and threw with confidence to a spot.
Now why did JG look better? He apparently performs well in practice consistently. The vast majority of the time the guy who is better in practice is better in games.... then there's that small % that aren't. They spent the last 9 months trying to resolve the issues I noted above IMO. Pruitt said he had a great spring and summer which suggests they thought he was "fixed". But then when the games started... he reverted.
Trey Smith was his roommate. He has said multiple times in the media that he repeatedly told JG not to overthink... to let go and just play. As sad as it is, that just doesn't seem to work with JG's emotional and mental make up.
On the hindsite side of it BM just looks so much better. I know he was young but I have a hard time accepting the fact that he somehow just started clicking the week before they decided to make the change. How could his ability not have been noticed prior to the train wreck that we witnessed? I hope that the light bulb clicked for the coaches that said “we need better situational drills to identify who’s a gamer versus someone who is just good at drills”. I for one am generally pleased with the coaches. But this one was just a head scratcher.
The jury is still out on Maurer. There have been some sparks but to say he looks "much better" is premature. He's done some things that give us legitimate reason to hope... but he has to protect himself and has to stop throwing to the bad guys.
As for the timing, they reasonably wanted to give JG a shot and hoped the offseason work would click. You also have to realize that Maurer came in and had to learn the playbook, how to study film, how to read D's on an entirely different level, etc. He's probably NOT ready now.... but because JG was ineffective they've made the call to let him to develop OJT.
