Big news for the Cats as former Indiana QB Peyton Ramsey announces that he will transfer to NU. He is a grad transfer who will be eligible to play in 2020 and has one year remaining.
Cats land grad transfer QB Peyton Ramsey
- Thread starter lou v
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Great news. Going to be a fantastic competition for the starting QB spot. I’d have to consider Ramsey to be the favorite, just knowing what we know now.
I think this doubles our wins for next year. Sorry but I think most of us lost all confidence in all of our previously recruited QB's. And by accepting a grad transfer who only has one year, obviously the coaches weren't confident in the QB stock either. Bottom line. Great pickup for Mr Fitzgerald. Not sure if Hunter transfers again but it may be the end for him.
This new QB may be our answer to what Joe B did for LSU after OSU relegated him to second team. Let's hope. Getting excited about next year.
This new QB may be our answer to what Joe B did for LSU after OSU relegated him to second team. Let's hope. Getting excited about next year.
Our team was very solid except at QB. Ramsey changes everything. We are legitimate contenders for the western division crown once again. Go 'Cats!
Errr, wrong. You have not one ounce of a clue about any of the shit you just spewed
I had to look twice to see who posted this. I was sure it was GCG, who loves to heap scorn on Turk and aliases.
Still need the WRs to get open but huge step in right direction
if we stay healthy and can pull out close games as we’ve done in our up years.
Teddy weighs in w/his depth prediction:
@TeddyGreenstein
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3h
Predicted #Northwestern QB depth chart: 1) Ramsey; 2) TJ Green (or redshirt & get a 7th season); 3) Andrew Marty (NU’s Tebow ); 4) Hunter J (hang in there for 2021); 5) new kid from Cali; 6) dude who started during brutal losing streak
@TeddyGreenstein
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3h
Predicted #Northwestern QB depth chart: 1) Ramsey; 2) TJ Green (or redshirt & get a 7th season); 3) Andrew Marty (NU’s Tebow ); 4) Hunter J (hang in there for 2021); 5) new kid from Cali; 6) dude who started during brutal losing streak
Also don't see Marty over Johnson and feeling Smith could be gone. Green maybe if he's healthy.#6 tells us how much weight to give this uber-thoughtful hot take.
I think the Tebow comparison is an interesting one for Marty. I see some of it. I could see Marty having some special packages, maybe goal line packages, designed for him next year
I really liked Marty. That was the closest we had to an offense all year when he was out there.
No. Marty is not the same level of athlete as Tebow. At all. Not good enough to make a separate package.
Everybody has a clean slate with a new OC, I would imagine. If any of the returning guys think they better than Ramsey, then they need to go out and prove it with their preparation, practices, leadership, and work ethic. You want to be QB1, then go get it if you can!
I think this is terrific. Even though we have had great QB play (for the most part) until the end of 2018, the QB program has been coming apart for a while, as shown last year, big time, although a bit behind the OL and WR programs. Looks like Fitz and Bajakian have put out a net to stop the fall.
Whoever starts (and stays the starter) at QB still has to contend with the most underachieving position group currently on the 2020 'Cat roster - the damn OL!!!
Prior to the 2019 season, I truly believe that Fitz' new coaching pick-up, OL coach Kurt Anderson, would have been PF's best new coaching staff contributor to the 'Cats' bid towards maintaining their high level of competitiveness shown when they delivered the B1G West Division Championship in 2018... Man, were my expectations ever shattered. If given an honest, unbiased first year evaluation as one would receive for a job in the private sector, Mr. Anderson would have earned a definitive "Does Not Meet Expectation" rating, which conveys a standard message of "shape-up or ship-out." IMHO, NU's newbie OL coach lost contact with various members of his squad last season; and in this, his 2nd year, he'd better make vast improvements to resolve his poor communication issues, or we will witness more of the same crappola OL pass blocking failures that were commonplace in 2019.
Does anyone on this board remember that Hunter Johnson sustained a near season-ending injury on the 'Cats first offensive series of 2019 via his uber-porous OL? From that point going forward over the course of the 2019 campaign, he was nothing more than damaged goods & truly never quite recovered his superior quarterbacking skills because he constantly was looking-out for which OL position had failed to sustain contact with his pass protection blocking assignment on any given pass play. Add to that scenario that his mother was diagnosed with advanced cancer, and, consequently, there was little wonder why the most talented individual in the QB film room never "had his head right" for the remainder of the season & subsequently was given a kitchen pass to tend to his mom and afford him the needed time to get his head back into the game by a compassionate Fitz. And what made this bad situation worse when he did return to active duty w/in the last couple games of 2019, he once again got clocked for another serious injury via a slobber-knocker shot sustained from yet another missed pass block on the 3rd offensive series he piloted. It was a travesty in the making, especially since Mr. Anderson was supposedly earmarked as the definitive answer to all the under-performing woes of NU's OL. N-O-T!!!
Very strong suggestion here, people...
Don't toss HJ into the 6 foot hole and start throwing dirt on him quite yet... In his NCAA-dictated 1-season transfer hiatus, I went to several practices on the lakefill practice field & witnessed his remarkable ability to make utter fools of what had been the best defensive secondary NU had fielded in more than a decade during those practices as he QB'd NU's scout team against Doc Hankwitz' DB corps. Why/how do you think that NU was able to exercise the "next man up" protocol when 3 of NU's 4 starting secondary were sidelined with various injuries over the 2018 season... and never missed a beat as the 'Cats went undefeated against their B1G foes? It was the direct result of those 2nd string DBs trying their damnest to cover the WRs composed of the 2nd team & scout team players as HJ threw frozen rope darts to his target receivers time after time after time. And when the injury bug bit NU's 2-deep receiving corps in their collective azzes, those same 2nd string & RS receivers who were the recipients of those scout team darts thrown by HJ had the experience to continually gain separation & make the consistent catch as replacements to NU's sidelined 2-deep WRs - all because of Mr. Johnson & his arm.
I, for one, remain a steadfast true believer in Hunter Johnson as NU's next premier QB - especially since he is now mentored by Fitz' new, dynamic OC, Mike Bajakian, rather than deal with an unsupportive Mick McCall, who Fitz allowed to coach well beyond his OC expiration date. I just hope that Mr. Bajakian keeps an open mind to allow HJ to do his thing rather than feel obligated to spread the 1st unit passing reps to those 7 other QBs. I truly believe that Hunter Johnson still has the goods to succeed. Time will tell...
Prior to the 2019 season, I truly believe that Fitz' new coaching pick-up, OL coach Kurt Anderson, would have been PF's best new coaching staff contributor to the 'Cats' bid towards maintaining their high level of competitiveness shown when they delivered the B1G West Division Championship in 2018... Man, were my expectations ever shattered. If given an honest, unbiased first year evaluation as one would receive for a job in the private sector, Mr. Anderson would have earned a definitive "Does Not Meet Expectation" rating, which conveys a standard message of "shape-up or ship-out." IMHO, NU's newbie OL coach lost contact with various members of his squad last season; and in this, his 2nd year, he'd better make vast improvements to resolve his poor communication issues, or we will witness more of the same crappola OL pass blocking failures that were commonplace in 2019.
Does anyone on this board remember that Hunter Johnson sustained a near season-ending injury on the 'Cats first offensive series of 2019 via his uber-porous OL? From that point going forward over the course of the 2019 campaign, he was nothing more than damaged goods & truly never quite recovered his superior quarterbacking skills because he constantly was looking-out for which OL position had failed to sustain contact with his pass protection blocking assignment on any given pass play. Add to that scenario that his mother was diagnosed with advanced cancer, and, consequently, there was little wonder why the most talented individual in the QB film room never "had his head right" for the remainder of the season & subsequently was given a kitchen pass to tend to his mom and afford him the needed time to get his head back into the game by a compassionate Fitz. And what made this bad situation worse when he did return to active duty w/in the last couple games of 2019, he once again got clocked for another serious injury via a slobber-knocker shot sustained from yet another missed pass block on the 3rd offensive series he piloted. It was a travesty in the making, especially since Mr. Anderson was supposedly earmarked as the definitive answer to all the under-performing woes of NU's OL. N-O-T!!!
Very strong suggestion here, people...
Don't toss HJ into the 6 foot hole and start throwing dirt on him quite yet... In his NCAA-dictated 1-season transfer hiatus, I went to several practices on the lakefill practice field & witnessed his remarkable ability to make utter fools of what had been the best defensive secondary NU had fielded in more than a decade during those practices as he QB'd NU's scout team against Doc Hankwitz' DB corps. Why/how do you think that NU was able to exercise the "next man up" protocol when 3 of NU's 4 starting secondary were sidelined with various injuries over the 2018 season... and never missed a beat as the 'Cats went undefeated against their B1G foes? It was the direct result of those 2nd string DBs trying their damnest to cover the WRs composed of the 2nd team & scout team players as HJ threw frozen rope darts to his target receivers time after time after time. And when the injury bug bit NU's 2-deep receiving corps in their collective azzes, those same 2nd string & RS receivers who were the recipients of those scout team darts thrown by HJ had the experience to continually gain separation & make the consistent catch as replacements to NU's sidelined 2-deep WRs - all because of Mr. Johnson & his arm.
I, for one, remain a steadfast true believer in Hunter Johnson as NU's next premier QB - especially since he is now mentored by Fitz' new, dynamic OC, Mike Bajakian, rather than deal with an unsupportive Mick McCall, who Fitz allowed to coach well beyond his OC expiration date. I just hope that Mr. Bajakian keeps an open mind to allow HJ to do his thing rather than feel obligated to spread the 1st unit passing reps to those 7 other QBs. I truly believe that Hunter Johnson still has the goods to succeed. Time will tell...
I didn’t think the oline was the problem last year. In fact I thought they were much improved under Anderson with regards to run blocking. Pass blocking wasn’t great, but it’s been bad for sometime now.
Last years issues involved historically inept playcalling, bad QB play, and bad skill position guys (superback and wide receiver).
If Northwestern got decent QB play and everything went right maybe they could have sneaked in 6 wins (Stanford, Nebraska, and Purdue), but this was a bad team across the board and problems went deeper than a couple of position groups. Even the defense had its fair share of stinkers (OSU, Minnesota, Purdue, Indiana).
True, but a) that's like the tallest midget analogy, and b) I'm not sure we should try to run the power I with a QB as the primary ball carrier against the rest of the B1G.
I think Marty earned the chance to win the job as much as anybody last season. He deserves a look.
I'm not anointing anyone and I'm definitely cheering for Hunter to break through. But I am grateful to Marty for beating our rival, winning our only Big Ten game, and keeping the HAT. Although he didn't put up huge passing numbers, he DID make some nice throws along the way. He sort of reminded me of Kafka's junior season, and then we saw what happened with Kafka's senior season. Why would you want to dismiss Marty so quickly?
GCG... I view football games via binoculars and specifically watch the OL at the snap EVERY PLAY because they will be a primary indicator of what play is going to be executed on approximately 90% of the offensive plays. I'm a former MLB and I've retained my ability to scan an offensive set and predict with a high degree of reliability where the point of attack is located on rushes and/or which plays are passing attempts - all from viewing the field play nuances of the OL.
And sir... the field play of the OL throughout most of the 2019 season was routinely putrid, with blocking breakdowns and plain dumb penalties from EVERY position across the LOS - with the lone exceptions being the Ill-Annoy game and portions of the UNLV contest. Constant holding penalties are usually the result of getting beat physically and/or losing one's head regarding identifying the called play's correct blocking target and employing the appropriate technique to neutralize that target over the execution of said play. Pass blocking breakdown causes are much more complex, but most are due to getting your azz whooped or failure to position yourself to complete the required block - especially when setting-up to execute the necessary pass protection technique.
And much of Hunter Johnson's QB field play foibles during passing attempts in 2019 was the direct result of frequently trying to make a positive play while running for his life following a missed pass protection block. Watching the 'Cat OL's consistent crappola field play on pass plays became a point of constant frustration for me throughout 2019 - to the point that I often was ready to exit Dyche's Ditch in mid Q4... something I normally would never do, but all I was accomplishing by continued attendance was to get seriously upset at what I viewed. It was that apparent. And routine failure to correct those constant field play gaffes among the OL is a matter of communication between the individual player and the coach who is, first & foremost, a teacher. I categorically cannot identify what the causes of those communication breakdowns were, but the fact that the failures continued throughout the game underscores the point that someone either isn't transmitting the correction message across to the player or the player has a major problem receiving & assimilating the correction message from his coach. Either way, in the end, it's the responsibility of the position coach to improve that message transfer.
And sir... the field play of the OL throughout most of the 2019 season was routinely putrid, with blocking breakdowns and plain dumb penalties from EVERY position across the LOS - with the lone exceptions being the Ill-Annoy game and portions of the UNLV contest. Constant holding penalties are usually the result of getting beat physically and/or losing one's head regarding identifying the called play's correct blocking target and employing the appropriate technique to neutralize that target over the execution of said play. Pass blocking breakdown causes are much more complex, but most are due to getting your azz whooped or failure to position yourself to complete the required block - especially when setting-up to execute the necessary pass protection technique.
And much of Hunter Johnson's QB field play foibles during passing attempts in 2019 was the direct result of frequently trying to make a positive play while running for his life following a missed pass protection block. Watching the 'Cat OL's consistent crappola field play on pass plays became a point of constant frustration for me throughout 2019 - to the point that I often was ready to exit Dyche's Ditch in mid Q4... something I normally would never do, but all I was accomplishing by continued attendance was to get seriously upset at what I viewed. It was that apparent. And routine failure to correct those constant field play gaffes among the OL is a matter of communication between the individual player and the coach who is, first & foremost, a teacher. I categorically cannot identify what the causes of those communication breakdowns were, but the fact that the failures continued throughout the game underscores the point that someone either isn't transmitting the correction message across to the player or the player has a major problem receiving & assimilating the correction message from his coach. Either way, in the end, it's the responsibility of the position coach to improve that message transfer.
Back to the topic of the OP.......here's is how PR became a Cat.
https://dailynorthwestern.com/2020/...t-of-grad-transfer-quarterback-peyton-ramsey/
https://dailynorthwestern.com/2020/...t-of-grad-transfer-quarterback-peyton-ramsey/
Well, according to some of the McCall defenders, in McCall's complex offensive schemes, it is the QB's responsibility to call out the blocking assignments to the OL, so in their telling, it was Hunter's own fault for always running for his life because he wasn't calling out the correct blocking assignments to his OL. I know what my opinion is about this, but I'm curious about your take.
From what I could tell from watching OL pre-play communications & gestures in Mick McCall offensive schemes over the past 10 seasons, the OC was the "captain" of the OL who is solely responsible to make the call identifying the defensive set, then make the follow-up call of the blocking strategy (like position blocks, reach blocks or zone blocking schemes) to be executed for the called play. The only OL blocking assignment calls that a QB MIGHT make deliberately are on QB read option runs or roll-out/counter-action pass plays where he is moving from behind his OL into one boundary zone or the other - and most certainly NOT on standard drop-back passes. I'm certain that if the QB heard an incorrect defensive set call or an incorrect blocking scheme call by the OC, he would have the go-ahead to make the corrective defensive set & blocking scheme calls on his own... but to do so on a regular basis is counterproductive because it puts undo pressure on him, most especially in hurry-up offensive schemes that are common strategy in today's college football offenses.
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But if you watched Thorson, he was making adjustments all the time pre-snap. Maybe at least 50% of the time it seemed. That was one area that HJ seemed to struggle with, while TJ had 4 years and some game experience to learn that system.
No disagreement that the OL was overall pretty poor, especially the guards. But there’s no evidence that Anderson “lost contact” with his group. I just think Urban, Gerak, and the rest of those guards were physically overmatched.
The Minnesota and Wisconsin plays you referenced were a direct result of predictable blocking schemes and calls, not OL play.
The only real blocking adjustment the QB made in McCall’s scheme was to flip the blocking scheme based on defensive alignment.
I am grateful for his performance against the Illini. However, I believe that running the ball from behind center 40 times a game is gonna get him killed and isn’t the key to a winning season. He is not the answer. I’ve always always hated one dimensional offenses and believe them to be ineffective. I don’t ascribe to the theory you have to have a shitty offense to support a great defense, and vice versa. A great offense and a great defense are not mutually exclusive.
Forgive me if I hail from the school of Air Coryell. You run to set up the pass. I’d prefer to see us gunning and putting up 400 yards passing a game and 40 ppg then having to grind out wins on the ground. I still like the defense holding teams to less than 3 scores a game, but prefer to win by 30. After all, we will need the style points to get votes for CFP positioning.
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