In defense of Wright

[hdhntr1]

He’s behind Lausch, who could potentially start through ‘26. It’s rare to see a guy start for one season. He didn’t have any other P4 offers.

Just irrelevant speculation, like everything else.

He was rated as a 5.6 and at least had several MAC offers. Plus he was at the beginning of the cycle giving his verbal in FEB so he would seem to have been closer to an A lister than others and likely other offers truncated by his early commitment. Still a lot earlier in the commitment cycle and more and better better offers than Lausch who people this has promise. So really hard to tell on Gray but I would have to think he has some promise.

 

[hdhntr1]

Carl Richardson was famously Bajakian’s first recruit. There’s an article on this site from when he first committed

Well, we were sort of desperate when Jake got here as it was pretty late in 2019 and we did not have a QB recruit in the 2019 class or 2020 class when he arrived. Jake also likely had a lot to do with Ramsey coming here in the spring.

Certain people here like to bash Jake but the cupboard was pretty bare when he arrived and that had a lot to do with what happened

 

[FanatiCat]

Certain people here like to bash Jake but the cupboard was pretty bare when he arrived and that had a lot to do with what happened

Very true but he also had a few years, he couldn’t develop Johnson or Hilinski, couldn’t develop the guys already on the roster and couldn’t recruit HS QBs that were successful. He may have fallen into a success in Lausch if he pans out, who was a late plan B flyer of an offer. But his success would be attributable to Lujan working with him, as Lausch was not allowed to pass last year.

 

[hdhntr1]

Very true but he also had a few years, he couldn’t develop Johnson or Hilinski, couldn’t develop the guys already on the roster and couldn’t recruit HS QBs that were successful. He may have fallen into a success in Lausch if he pans out, who was a late plan B flyer of an offer. But his success would be attributable to Lujan working with him, as Lausch was not allowed to pass last year.

Take another look who (QBs)was on the roster. Aiden Smith was in the 2016 class (he was basically gone and Ramsey was being brought in) , Marty was brought in 2017 never showed he was much of anything, Whitiker was the 2018 guy. There was nobody from 2019. That is who he had to work with that you say he did not develop. Sorry but that cupboard was really, really bare. Especially when you understand OL issues and how they fit into the O he liked to run.

You can argue he could not get the job done with HJ or Hillinsky but HJ seemed to have some personal issues and Hillinsky is still here and Braun and Lujan have not used him either as the system needs more mobile QBs.

He showed that with Ramsey and Bryant (also guys he was instrumental in recruiting) he could get the job done with competent (not outstanding but competent) QBs. We see that Lausch seems to have some ability but he was more of a project coming in. Sullivan was the first real recruit he had (sorry but hard to count Richardson as anything) and he did show some potential and he got something out of him last year and looked like he would have been ready to potentially step up this year. This year would have been Jakes first real opportunity to have his guys (High Schoolers he recruited) to a level that they were really ready to step up and take the job.

Look Braun as a new HC is within his rights to want to have the OC that is best for what he wants to do. That said, I don't feel Jake deserved the bashing that we saw here. JON, absolutely but Jake, no.

 

[peatymeanis]

Well, we were sort of desperate when Jake got here as it was pretty late in 2019 and we did not have a QB recruit in the 2019 class or 2020 class when he arrived. Jake also likely had a lot to do with Ramsey coming here in the spring.

Certain people here like to bash Jake but the cupboard was pretty bare when he arrived and that had a lot to do with what happened

It’s still pretty bare now. He didn’t have a lot to work with but he also didn’t restock it and that’s a big reason for his departure.

 

[NUCat320]

He was rated as a 5.6 and at least had several MAC offers. Plus he was at the beginning of the cycle giving his verbal in FEB so he would seem to have been closer to an A lister than others and likely other offers truncated by his early commitment. Still a lot earlier in the commitment cycle and more and better better offers than Lausch who people this has promise. So really hard to tell on Gray but I would have to think he has some promise.

My assumption is that, because Fitz-Bajakian had failed on the A-List so frequently, they were more aggressive in offering Gray early. Basically, given his thin offer list, I didn’t think he would have been a top priority in previous seasons.

Again, idle speculation, based on my notably thin powers of inference.

I hope Lausch becomes an All-American and Gray gets to compete for the role as a senior (and maybe gets a win or two as a backup, because Zach Oliver’s boring-ass win over Penn State is *still* one of my favorite Cats wins).

Mostly, I hope Romain is a star. I hope O’Brian is a star. I hope Lausch is a star. I hope Gray is a star. I hope we are out of this cycle of needing to hit the portal.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

My assumption is that, because Fitz-Bajakian had failed on the A-List so frequently, they were more aggressive in offering Gray early. Basically, given his thin offer list, I didn’t think he would have been a top priority in previous seasons.

Again, idle speculation, based on my notably thin lowers of inference.

I hope Lausch becomes an All-American and Gray gets to compete for the role as a senior (and maybe gets a win or two as a backup, because Zach Oliver’s boring-ass win over Penn State is *still* one of my favorite Cats wins).

Mostly, I hope Romain is a star. I hope O’Brian is a star. I hope Lausch is a star. I hope Gray is a star. I hope we are out of this cycle of needing to hit the portal.

QB’s in the portal are here to stay. Very few high quality guys sit and wait their turn.

 

[hdhntr1]

It’s still pretty bare now. He didn’t have a lot to work with but he also didn’t restock it and that’s a big reason for his departure.

Sure about that? He did bring in Sullivan who did well enough in his opportunities and showed signs of being ready to step up (before he transferred which was after Jake was let go) and Lausch who we are now looking at as the starter. In addition, we do not really know that much about Gray but he did verbal pretty early in the cycle indicating that he was closer to being an A lister. That would appear to be leaving the cupboard in a whole lot better shape than when he got here. (He was able to flip Richardson at the last second but hard to give "credit " for that based on what happened after)

Just saying that in that area he was no where near as bad as some suggest and he was able to bring in the stop gap guys (Ramsey and Bryant) that led us to some success

 

[peatymeanis]

Sure about that? He did bring in Sullivan who did well enough in his opportunities and showed signs of being ready to step up (before he transferred which was after Jake was let go) and Lausch who we are now looking at as the starter. In addition, we do not really know that much about Gray but he did verbal pretty early in the cycle indicating that he was closer to being an A lister. That would appear to be leaving the cupboard in a whole lot better shape than when he got here. (He was able to flip Richardson at the last second but hard to give "credit " for that based on what happened after)

Just saying that in that area he was no where near as bad as some suggest and he was able to bring in the stop gap guys (Ramsey and Bryant) that led us to some success

Hey man if you you think that Bajakian did an acceptable job recruiting QBs to this program, then good for you for being a contrarian thinker

 

[FanatiCat]

Take another look who (QBs)was on the roster. Aiden Smith was in the 2016 class (he was basically gone and Ramsey was being brought in) , Marty was brought in 2017 never showed he was much of anything, Whitiker was the 2018 guy. There was nobody from 2019. That is who he had to work with that you say he did not develop. Sorry but that cupboard was really, really bare. Especially when you understand OL issues and how they fit into the O he liked to run.

You can argue he could not get the job done with HJ or Hillinsky but HJ seemed to have some personal issues and Hillinsky is still here and Braun and Lujan have not used him either as the system needs more mobile QBs.

He showed that with Ramsey and Bryant (also guys he was instrumental in recruiting) he could get the job done with competent (not outstanding but competent) QBs. We see that Lausch seems to have some ability but he was more of a project coming in. Sullivan was the first real recruit he had (sorry but hard to count Richardson as anything) and he did show some potential and he got something out of him last year and looked like he would have been ready to potentially step up this year. This year would have been Jakes first real opportunity to have his guys (High Schoolers he recruited) to a level that they were really ready to step up and take the job.

Look Braun as a new HC is within his rights to want to have the OC that is best for what he wants to do. That said, I don't feel Jake deserved the bashing that we saw here. JON, absolutely but Jake, no.

I acknowledge that Jake didn’t have much to work with but it’s equally so for Lujan. And Jake is much more experienced at this level. The fact is that Jake had 2 of the highest recruited QBs in their classes transfer in, and was not able to do anything with them.

It’s a bit downplaying to serve your argument to say Ramsey and Bryant were just “competent” QBs. Ramsey was freshman all Big Ten and then HM all big Ten the year before he came to NU. Bryant was 9-2 as a starter for Cincinnati the year before he came to NU. They were much more than competent. They were proven FBS starting QBs. However, both Ramsey and Bryant had worse completion %, yds/attemp, yds/game and TD/INT ratio in their years at NU compared to their prior schools, so Bajakian/Fitz system led to a dip in productivity.

 

[hdhntr1]

My assumption is that, because Fitz-Bajakian had failed on the A-List so frequently, they were more aggressive in offering Gray early. Basically, given his thin offer list, I didn’t think he would have been a top priority in previous seasons.

Again, idle speculation, based on my notably thin lowers of inference.

I hope Lausch becomes an All-American and Gray gets to compete for the role as a senior (and maybe gets a win or two as a backup, because Zach Oliver’s boring-ass win over Penn State is *still* one of my favorite Cats wins).

Mostly, I hope Romain is a star. I hope O’Brian is a star. I hope Lausch is a star. I hope Gray is a star. I hope we are out of this cycle of needing to hit the portal.

As you say speculation, They still had to feel good enough to offer early and take his commitment. Even the guys (Obrien and Romain) you are embracing do not have a lot of other offers and they too were taken early in the cycle. Romain was taken a month later in the cycle than Gray and other than BC offer, his list is less impressive than Gray's but you are OK with it. Just saying

 

[CappyNU]

Sorry for the unwieldy list, but here's all the QBs recruited going back to Basanez, with the head coach and offensive coordinators at the time of their recruitment along with the stats they had at NU:

Recruiting Year	Quarterback	Head Coach	Off. Coordinator	Stats	Years playing QB at NU
2001	Brett Basanez	Randy Walker	Kevin Wilson	47 G, 913-1584 10,580 yds, 44 TD, 36 INT, 118.4 Rating, 391 rush, 996 yds, 18 TD	2002-2005
2002	Alexander Webb	Randy Walker	Kevin Wilson Mike Dunbar	6 G, 18-39 250 yds, 0 TD, 2 INT, 89.7 Rating, 16 rush, 37 yds, 0 TD	2002-2003
2003	Chris Malleo	Randy Walker	Mike Dunbar	4 G, 2-3, 10 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, 7 rush, 26 yds, 0 TD	2004
2004	CJ Bacher	Randy Walker	Mike Dunbar	34 G, 664-1105 7,319 yds, 43 TD, 43 INT, 120.8 Rating, 198 rush, 252 yds, 8 TD, 1 rec, 25 yds, 0 TD	2005-2008
2005	Mike Kafka Andrew Brewer	Randy Walker	Mike Dunbar	30 G, 408-637 4,265 yds, 19 TD, 20 INT, 123.9 Rating, 268 rush, 887 yds, 11 TD, 1 rec, 24 yds, 1 TD 10 G, 37-74 344 yds, 0 TD, 4 INT, 78.2 Rating, 72 rush, 208 yds, 3 TD, 1 rec, 48 yds, 0 TD	2006-2009 2006
2006	Joe Mauro	Randy Walker	Mike Dunbar	3 G, 0-0 0 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, 2 rush, 6 yds, 0 TD	2006-2009
2007	Dan Persa	Randy Walker Pat Fitzgerald	Garrick McGee	30 G, 460-633 5,181 yds, 34 TD, 13 INT, 155.0 Rating, 292 rush, 718 yds, 10 TD, 1 rec, -7 yds, 0 TD	2009-2011
2008	N/A	Pat Fitzgerald	Garrick McGee Mick McCall	N/A	N/A
2009	Evan Watkins	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	7 G, 36-70 378 yds, 2 TD, 5 INT, 91.9 Rating, 24 rush, 63 yds, 2 TD	2010
2010	Trevor Siemian Kain Colter	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	44 G, 550-934 5,931 yds, 27 TD, 24 INT, 116.6 Rating, 142 rush, -23 yds, 6 TD, 1 rec, 17 yds, 1 TD 39 G, 222-320 2,160 yds, 18 TD, 9 INT, 139.0 Rating, 449 rush, 2,180 yds, 28 TD, 63 rec, 683 yds, 4 TD	2011-2014 2010-2013
2011	Zack Oliver	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	14 G, 55-114 648 yds, 3 TD, 8 INT, 90.6 Rating, 22 rush, -2 yds, 2 TD	2012-2015
2012	N/A	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	N/A	N/A
2013	Matt Alviti	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	15 G, 15-30 169 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 108.3 Rating, 29 rush, 144 yds, 2 TD	2014-2017
2014	Clayton Thorson	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	53 G, 991-1696 10,731 yds, 61 TD, 45 INT, 118.1 Rating, 362 rush, 408 yds, 27 TD, 2 rec, 24 yds, 0 TD	2015-2018
2015	Lloyd Yates TJ Green (walkon)	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	3 G, no stats 12 G, 27-47 236 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, 16 rush, 32 yds, 1 TD	2015-2016 2017-2019
2016	Aidan Smith	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	9 G, 86-171, 760 yds, 3 TD, 9 INT, 82.9 Rating, 72 rush, 211 yds, 1 TD	2019
2017	Andrew Marty	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	16 G, 80-132 857 yds, 8 TD, 8 INT, 123.0 Rating, 108 rush, 317 yds, 5 TD, 1 rec, 12 yds	2019, 2021
2018	Jason Whittaker	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	2 G, 2 rush, 3 yds, 0 TD	2019
2019	Aidan Atkinson Hunter Johnson (transfer)	Pat Fitzgerald	Mick McCall	N/A 12 G, 95-183 856 yds, 5 TD, 8 INT, 91.5 Rating, 72 rush, 42 yds, 1 TD	N/A 2019, 2021
2020	C*** R********* Peyton Ramsey (transfer)	Pat Fitzgerald	Mike Bajakian	6 G, 5-13 58 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, 60.6 Rating, 2 rush, 0 yds, 0 TD, 1 coach fired 9 G, 172-282 1,733 yds, 12 TD, 8 INT, 121.0 Rating, 84 rush, 247 yds, 3 TD	2021-2022 2020
2021	Brendan Sullivan Ryan Hilinski (transfer) Cole Freeman (walkon)	Pat Fitzgerald	Mike Bajakian	13 G, 134-195 1,303 yds, 10 TD, 5 INT, 136.6 Rating, 129 rush, 257 yds, 3 TD 20 G, 241-438 2,710 yds, 10 TD, 11 INT, 109.5 Rating, 44 rush, -69 yds, 3 TD 3 G, 22-45 178 yds, 0 TD, 5 INT, 59.9 Rating, 18 rush, 66 yds, 0 TD	2022-2023 2021- 2022
2022	Jack Lausch	Pat Fitzgerald	Mike Bajakian	12 G, 26-42 305 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, 133.9 Rating, 32 rush, 139 yds, 1 TD, 2 rec, 9 yds, 0 TD	2022-
2023	Aidan Gray Ben Bryant (transfer)	Pat Fitzgerald	Mike Bajakian	No stats yet 9 G, 173-277 1,807 yds, 13 TD, 6 INT, 128.4 Rating, 60 rush, -33 yds, 4 TD	N/A 2023
2024	Ryan Boe Mike Wright (transfer)	David Braun	Ryan Lujan	No stats yet 3 G, 38-66 354 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, 99.6 Rating, 18 rush, 84 yds, 1 TD	N/A 2024

 

[hdhntr1]

I acknowledge that Jake didn’t have much to work with but it’s equally so for Lujan. And Jake is much more experienced at this level. The fact is that Jake had 2 of the highest recruited QBs in their classes transfer in, and was not able to do anything with them.

It’s a bit downplaying to serve your argument to say Ramsey and Bryant were just “competent” QBs. Ramsey was freshman all Big Ten and then HM all big Ten the year before he came to NU. Bryant was 9-2 as a starter for Cincinnati the year before he came to NU. They were much more than competent. They were proven FBS starting QBs. However, both Ramsey and Bryant had worse completion %, yds/attemp, yds/game and TD/INT ratio in their years at NU compared to their prior schools, so Bajakian/Fitz system led to a dip in productivity.

HJ had issues in 2019 under McCall and was replaced. Then he got another chance with Jake but just couldn't seem to get through the personnel issues. He got a shot in subsequent years under Jake and it was much the same. Hillinski was brought in but he was a statue back there and with OL issues and the O requiring a more mobile QB...

Ramsey and Bryant were experienced and solid but not superstars. That is more like top 50% but not top 10% of QBs. That is what I mean by competent