Breaking down 2017 UH football: Quarterback
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Who’s back: Kyle Allen, Jr.; Kyle Postma, Sr.; Bowman Sells, RsFr.; D’Eriq King, Soph.; Bear Fenimore, Sr…
Who’s gone: Greg Ward Jr.
2017 recruits: Bryson Smith, Tyler John Tyler.
Competition. Let the best QB win his starting job. Let’s hope that Kyle has improved greatly on his mechanics. What is on paper is just that…paper. Again, no starting job should be a given. Cliche but a great Team is made of competitors.
I think JD does a good job but I disagree when he says Allen will be “an upgrade as a passer” over Ward. We don’t know this. When Allen averages 300 yards passing per game while completing near 70% of his passes and a 2:1 TD interception ratio, then yeah. But right now, we have no clue. Allen really didn’t impress me much in his time at College Station, granted he was young. Hopefully Applewhite and Johnson “coach him up.”
Agree, his mechanics were all over the place. That is not a coincidence that he did not make it at atm. He is offered a second chance. That is a huge “gift” Let’s all hope that he has “matured” through that experience and being in our program for a year now.
Don’t be fooled by the 70% completion rate. 1/3rd of his throws were easy bubble screens or flips to the jet sweep.
GW Jr was accurate in the short and intermediate area, but sailed way too many deep passes. The receivers also dropped a couple which is not his fault. He threw a perfect back shoulder pass.
Hopefully KA can hit Stevenson/Johnson/Lark/Samples for big gains and keep defenses honest.
Wait a minute…you guys think Greg Ward is a better passer than Kyle Allen…#jiveturkeys 
Greg Ward is not a better passer than Kyle Allen. Greg Ward had good stats and all, but most of his throws ended up being possession passes. What I mean by that is we didn’t gain much yards after catching the ball (we finished ranked 114 in yards per completion with a 10.94 avg). How else do you think we were able to have such long drives during games? Definitely wasn’t our running game, aside from the few good ones and Ward scrambles.
I think Kyle Allen will do a lot better at throwing the ball to spots where our receivers will be able to catch and gain more yards after. With our o-line being more experienced and new o-line coach, I believe Kyle will have more time in the pocket than Greg.
Agreed!
The only complaint I had about Ward as a passer was his deep ball. His accuracy fell off drastically when he threw the ball more than 20 yards down field. Kyle Allen will definitely bring the deep ball back into play, but honestly I have no idea how accurate he will be with it. If you can’t put it on a receiver, it doesn’t really matter how far you can throw it (see Jamarcus Russell). One of the things I miss the most about Keenum was he could drop a ball right over the shoulder of a streaking receiver 35-40 yards down field. He was one of the most accurate passers I have ever seen at the college level. I’m really hoping Allen or Sells can bring that deep ball accuracy back. We’re going to need it to keep defenses honest since neither will be in the same solar system with Greg when it comes to mobility.
I think you guys are missing my point. I’m not saying Allen won’t be a better passer in time, but as of this moment, no he’s not. His stats on the field thus far have proven that out. At A&M his numbers weren’t that great. Ward completed 68 percent of his passes while averaging nearly 40 attempts per game this season. He averaged almost 300 yards per game. And as someone mentioned earlier, his back shoulder fades were almost undefendable. He did lack a little on deep posts, but he still connected on enough to keep free safeties playing deep.
As far as the short passing game, yes a lot of his completions were bubble screens, swing passes, etc. But how soon we forget those throws aren’t automatic for a college QB. Anybody remember the curve balls JOK threw in the dirt to his receivers just a few short seasons ago. What about Piland before that?
All I’m saying is let’s not anoint Allen as our savior just yet. He hasn’t even won the starting job. And yes I realize we haven’t even begun spring ball much less Fall camp. Those combined 35 or so practices will determine who wins it. This is all fun discussion though. What message boards are created for. Before Spring ball starts I’ll interview Rod Grace, the S&C coach, to see how winter/spring workouts are going. Only 220 days until UTSA!
Kyle Allen only played 2 series in last years spring game. Even with the small sample size he outplayed Postma. He has an NFL arm.
Any talk of a QB competition is lip service IMO.
I’m all for the job being Allen’s to lose, as long as he loses it if he’s not the better QB. I don’t want to see the better QB sitting on the sideline or playing a different position for 1.5 years ala JOK and Greg Ward again.
Biggest arm in the world can’t help if you can’t go through your progressions. Hopefully he has the football IQ to match.
If the next QB can convert 3rd downs at the rate that Ward did, then we’ll be in pretty good shape.
I think the RJr with 2 years of playing experience has a better understanding of playing QB than our other options.
Postma can’t throw past 30 yards accurately.
Sells is a RFr with zero game experience.
King is a SO with a couple of garbage time snaps.
Smith is a true freshman.
Allen had decent numbers at TAMU. He has spent a year learning the system. Our offense will be clicking this year with improved o-line play, healthy receivers, depth at rb, and a QB that can push the ball downfield.
KA stats in 2 years:
58.5% comp pct, 7.4 ypa, 3532 yards
33 TD 14 INT
I want 2 years of Allen and then 3 years of Smith. I’d settle for 1 year of Allen and 4 years of Smith though.
Sells may be better than Smith…I really have no idea, but having a 4 year starter would be nice for us.
Maybe King has resigned himself to being a receiver/KR since he won’t be ready to compete for the QB job in the Spring. Maybe Sells is willing to sit for another year and is confident he can beat out Smith. This would assume that Allen is one and done at UH.
If not, you could have one or both of them transfer out at the end of the Spring semester if Allen wins the job. Allen will certainly be gone if Sells is named the starter after spring practice.
I don’t know why that would be an assumption at this point. If he wanted to go to another school he could graduate early and do it this year. He would be draft eligible but I would guess he’d have to have a MONSTER season to be looked at in the first few rounds.
Allen will definitely be an upgrade as a passer. If Ward passed as well as Allen and still had his running ability, he’d be Lamar Jackson or Deshaun Watson. He threw something like 10 interceptions in our last few games and missed receivers all year. In his defense, he had a bad shoulder that got reinjured around mid-season. But Allen is an excellent passer, and I think you’ll see us hit big pass plays a lot because open downfield receivers will be able to catch the ball.
Couldn’t agree more! Well written.
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