Being objective about Hunter (truce, Corbi?)

[freewillie07]

Yesterday was rough.

I have been an outspoken advocate of Hunter since he was named the starting QB. Suffice it to say that for personal reasons, I have not been entirely objective when it comes to evaluating him in particular.

However, as strongly as I've rooted for Hunter, at this point, that has to come second to the success and the upward trajectory of the Northwestern football program as a whole. I'm no longer confident he has the capability to "put it all together," regardless of how much more game experience he gets. To quote @corbi296 from another thread, I reluctantly have to agree that he won't play another down of football for NU:

Hunter’s Play at MSU was good enough to justify starting him against ISU. ISU was bad but could have been an anomaly. Given what had transpired to date this season, I would have started HJ against Duke so i am not sure you can blame Fitz for pulling the trigger too late. Maybe he waited a possession too long but that is really splitting hairs because Fitz knew that once you pulled Johnson that was going to be the end of him. Barring injuries to the other two guys, Hunter won’t play another down of football for NU and I don’t blame Fitz for not taking that decision lightly.

It's a stunning turn of events, to say the least. Relative to 2019, Hunter seemed to have everything going for him. Consider that:

• He had two years of experience in Coach Jake's system and saw first-hand how Ramsey was a leader
• His receivers openly expressed confidence in him (Stephon Robinson and Bryce Kirtz in particular)
• Fitz: “When he’s confident and he lets his talent go out there it’s as good as we’ve had.”
• He was named a captain by his peers
• His personal life off the field is much, much better

Against Michigan State, he was not the core problem. Against ISU, he struggled at times, but that's not unusual for NU against an FCS opponent. And yet, several things went wrong in the first half against Duke that were simply inexcusable.

• His mechanics: While we can't know for sure, it does seem like he's afraid to get hit. Does he throw off his back foot like that in practice? My guess is no. But when he reverts to that during games, that's how turnovers happen. It should have been corrected after Michigan State. It hasn't. That's a bad sign.
• His inability to bounce back: Ramsey wasn't perfect, but the one thing he was great at was not letting a mistake or two get him down for the rest of the game. Hunter spiraled downward after his first two turnovers. That's a bad trait for a QB, plain and simple. It's how you lose the faith of the rest of the offense.
• His hesitancy to run: Again, maybe this is a question of getting hit. But we know Hunter has speed. Why won't he use it? Ramsey (and Marty) were willing to tuck it and get a few extra yards when things broke down to keep the chains moving. Against Stanford in 2019, he looked like a "baller" to me. Where did that instinct go?

NU has now only won two games with Hunter as the starter: UNLV in 2019 and Indiana State in 2021. There is, unfortunately, enough gameday evidence to move on.

Yesterday, in frustration with what were likely to be Hunter's final few plays as a college QB, I made some unnecessarily snarky and targeted posts. In a sign of goodwill as all us Cats fans move forward to hopefully better days, I've deleted my signature, which had memorialized Corbi's erroneous view that McCall wasn't going anywhere.

I was wrong about Hunter. I wish I weren't, but here we are. Go Cats.