Gee these guys are from the two most criticized positions on last seasons team. Could it be coaching? I'll duck and wait for your responses.
Yes and no.
Is it at all possible that Prater was injured for most of his college career and that as he healed near the end of his senior season he started to excel? Is it possible the Trevor was also injured and that his skill set was not ideal for NUs offense?
Prater really came on strong late in the season - catching for over 80 yds in each of the games against UM, ND and PU; and this was w/ a receiving group w/o the Shuler, who was the one speed threat.
Some of those catches were things of beauty - really tough, clutch catches on 3rd down.
Don't think it was a coincidence that Prater's production rose (his one other 80+ yds reception game was against NIU) once the coaches started moving the pocket and let Siemian buy time w/ his legs.
I disagree about Siemian's skill set in not being ideal for NU's O.
When healthy (meaning being able to move scramble/roll out), Siemian really got the O humming even w/ the deficiencies at O-line and receivers.
The renewed passing threat is also what got Jackson and Green their long runs towards the end of the season as opposing DCs would call a play against the pass and NU would counter w/ a delayed draw (Green's longest run of the season).
Actually, I recall the board being very positive with regard to Prater. He was hurt when he got to Evanston but was clearly the best of the bunch last year.
If Prater had Christian Jones on the other side to attract some attention and a healthy TS who could buy some time w/ his legs, think the 2 would have put up some big nos.
As to Siemian, it seems clear he got good coaching from McCall. That is why the Broncos people are already praising his "presence" and intelligence on the field. His occasional struggles at NU had little to do with his position coaching, IMHO. I'll leave it at that.
The 3 things they like (and not just from the 1 quarter in pre-season play but from camp) are Siemian's arm strength, touch/accuracy and poise.
As for
coaching, who know who gets the credit for that - probably a mix of Siemian's HS coaches, McCall, Jeff Christensen (the
Midwest QB Guru) and Baz (think Siemian got in on some of the workouts Baz had during his time tenure w/ the Bears, but Kafka and Persa getting the most work w/ Baz), but McCall didn't always do Siemian favors w/ his playcalling.
I agree that Trevor was coached well,has a strong arm and is adequately mobile. I also believe that he was not 100% last year and the O-line did not perform very well. What I dont understand is why we kept playing him under those circumstances and either did not put Oliver in...go to the spread with Alviti....or give THorson his baptism?
Did we have so little faith in the other 3 at that point that we kept playing an injured,immobile quarterback behind a mediocre O-line as our best option?
Basically speaks ill of the readiness of the QBs behind TS.
But even so, Siemian should not have been in the game against Western where TS was clearly in pain and really limited when it came to planting his leg for throws.
Also, in the 4th Q against UNL when the NU receiving corps had been decimated, there was little point in keeping TS in there - Siemian basically had little time to throw and had to throw precise darts (for not much gain) - a miss by few inches and would have resulted in an INT and probably a pick-6.
And when the coaching staff did finally put in Oliver against Iowa, didn't see the point as they had Oliver sitting back there like a statue - which is what Siemian could have done (but he took enough of a beating as it was).
Gocatsgo +1 I was a fervent backer of Trevor. I don't think many folks understand just how many of those dropped passes effected the outcome of games. Often when things like that happen, then the QB tries to make PERFECT throws so they get caught and not dropped. In these times they may try to guide the ball like a pitcher who is struggling does. The result is that instead of doing things innately (i.e.) gripping it and ripping it they try to be to perfect and then struggle.
Not surprisingly, saw the same struggles w/ Hackenberg and the PSU O last season and in both cases, the inexperienced receivers would run incorrect routes or run the routes poorly w/ the flack going to the QB from the less discerning fans (this is why Prater became Siemian's go-to guy - ran the correct routes).
Another factor was the line that was poor, but the coaching from McCall even worse. I believe the best example of that was the Michigan game when color commentator Ed Cunningham who was an offensive lineman in the NFL, all but said that McCall was an idiot. His comments that he felt sorry for Trevor and that the line was not meant to block the way it was being asked to. You'll recall that finally after Cunningham harped for three quarters about the line play, in the fourth quarter, McCall began moving Trevor and suddenly the offense started to move the ball and we should have won the game. The next game against ND we did win with more movement and an awesome game from Trevor. Purdue was more of the same until he got hurt.
Not going to expand on this since I've talked about it enough already.
So in a long winded answer because of injuries, a poor line, receivers who routinely dropped passes and an OC who appeared to be utterly clueless at times last year, Trevor struggled until the ND game when he really turned it up. As a point of fact, even in the ND game TJ dropped two sure TD passes.
But for dropped passes, TS would have had over 300 yds passing in both the Cal and NIU games as well.
And TS was healthy back then - one has to seriously wonder why the coaching staff didn't move the pocket/have TS roll out and put added pressure on the opposing D (while Jackson had some productive runs, had limited carries and Green averaged 2.8 and 2.6 ypc).
Even w/ the problems on the O-line and receiver, Siemian's leg injury really made things that much worse on O.
Still, would have been nice to have had say, Indiana's O-line from last year (despite no passing threat once Sudfeld went down and opposing Ds keying on the run, the IU O-line managed to open big holes for Coleman.
Imagine what Siemian and Jackson could have done behind that O-line (never mind that for UW, Minny, dOSU, MSU, etc.).
And once Jones went down, the WR group became real thin w/ 2 transfers, Prater and Shuler being key members (until they went down w/ injuries themselves).
These 2 positions in particular have had issues w/ recruiting and/or player development of late.
Previously, it had been the DBs and at RB w/ the DT position not getting the depth it needs (but that's been a long standing problem).
Anyhow, both IC (5 tackles) and Lawrence (3 grabs for 25 yds) had pretty good showings as well on Friday.
On a side note, Happ in his 2nd start for the Pirates pitched pretty well, giving up 1 ER in 5.1 innings against the Mets.
