QB Recruiting

[kLuo]

Not trying to start any coach bashing or anything negative here, but for the recruiting experts on the board - what is the reason why we have missed out on all of our top QB targets in the past 3 years? I find it hard to believe that a top QB recruit would be scared to come in and compete for the starting job just because we have a starter already. Is it because of the offense and how the passing game has fared recently? Or are we just going after more sought after recruits and were only able to land two stud QB recruits before that because they were local? Trying to rationalize why this is happening.

 

[nycat33]

My guess would be that offense and passing game has faded and it makes it less attractive for QBs/WRs. On the flip side, due to how well we are running the ball we now have a slew of running backs.

 

[Deeringfish]

Not trying to start any coach bashing or anything negative here, but for the recruiting experts on the board - what is the reason why we have missed out on all of our top QB targets in the past 3 years? I find it hard to believe that a top QB recruit would be scared to come in and compete for the starting job just because we have a starter already. Is it because of the offense and how the passing game has fared recently? Or are we just going after more sought after recruits and were only able to land two stud QB recruits before that because they were local? Trying to rationalize why this is happening.

I think this is a good question that only the guys who chose to go else where know the answer to. It wouldn't be very PC for them to say in public so I doubt we will ever know and it may be different for each kid.
One thing we have to remember is that a couple of our most productive QB's either transferred in from ND or hoped to go to Stanford but got slow played. So it's not like we won every QB recruiting battle for top guns for twenty years and then suddenly have come up short. I'm pretty sure Alviti and Thorson are the only 4 stars we have landed and they are still on the team.

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

I think all of our top QB targets took the time to visit campus, most of whom visited on multiple occasions. Except for Hunter Johnson, it seemed like we were finalists for each recruit, and they had their own unique reasons for deciding for the other school.

What were some of the reasons Thorson and Alviti cited for electing to matriculate at Northwestern versus Notre Dame, Penn St., etc? Is there anything missing now? Maybe the answer rests there.

As a final irony, I don't think the guy who ultimately committed has ever set foot in Evanston. Could be wrong. Maybe the answer rests there.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Marty visited Evanston back in March.

 

[shakes3858]

Well, last year we had a kid commit to hold his spot with little intention of coming here which caused another guy to go elsewhere. I think we found a good alternative to the original guy that we should've had, but that said, we didn't get him.

 

[Overly_Invested_Cat]

I'm actually very excited by Aidan Smith, the Ft. Wayne QB we got last year instead of Deuce Wallace. Good accurate passer with lots of poise who is already very tight with incoming WR Ben Skowrenek. I just hope he gets the reps he needs to develop through his RS Freshman year. I think he'll be our #2 when Thorson is in his final year. I would have liked to have gotten Coan this year or Sears, but I don't think Wisconsin in any more appealing as a passing team than we are. They just had a senior QB and receivers who caught the ball more often than not last year. I think they'll be relying pretty heavily on Corey Clement this coming year.

I think if Thorson has a better year in 2016, we'll see more WRs in the recruiting mix and may land a top QB...but there are lots of programs for the best players to choose from. It's hard to lure kids away from the southeast or west coast, which leaves Ohio and Texas as the most fertile recruiting territories. For both regions, Northwestern offers a unique mix of academics, quality program, and competitive football and has been successful in recruiting.

Marty seems like he has lots of upside. Now let's go get us some offensive tackles and stock up on wide receivers to complement Carr, McHugh, Vault, Nagel, Fessler, Green, Roberts and the rest.

 

[Purple is Forever]

Not trying to start any coach bashing or anything negative here, but for the recruiting experts on the board - what is the reason why we have missed out on all of our top QB targets in the past 3 years? I find it hard to believe that a top QB recruit would be scared to come in and compete for the starting job just because we have a starter already. Is it because of the offense and how the passing game has fared recently? Or are we just going after more sought after recruits and were only able to land two stud QB recruits before that because they were local? Trying to rationalize why this is happening.

It's a great question but one that has a seemingly obvious answer. The reason why we have not hit on any of our top targets in the QB position for over 3 years now is most likely directly related to the continual futility of our offense over the past 36 months. Prior to that, Fitzgerald showed no weaknesses in QB recruiting as he landed his top QB choice two years in a row with Alviti and Thorson. I also don't think those two are intimidating factors that are keeping QB's away.

The question should actually be broadened to include the offense entire. Our entire offensive recruiting has struggled insomuch that we have recently had to shift defenders over to fill gaping holes on the offensive side of the ball. It's also hard for a QB to vision throwing the ball to no name wide receiver recruits. Not a whole lot of excitement inside our program over the offense and even few hardcore fans are excited about our offense, so why should a solid QB recruit be excited to play in this offense?

 

[pawildcat]

It's a great question but one that has a seemingly obvious answer. The reason why we have not hit on any of our top targets in the QB position for over 3 years now is most likely directly related to the continual futility of our offense over the past 36 months. Prior to that, Fitzgerald showed no weaknesses in QB recruiting as he landed his top QB choice two years in a row with Alviti and Thorson. I also don't think those two are intimidating factors that are keeping QB's away.

The question should actually be broadened to include the offense entire. Our entire offensive recruiting has struggled insomuch that we have recently had to shift defenders over to fill gaping holes on the offensive side of the ball. It's also hard for a QB to vision throwing the ball to no name wide receiver recruits. Not a whole lot of excitement inside our program over the offense and even few hardcore fans are excited about our offense, so why should a solid QB recruit be excited to play in this offense?

Well, if a kid feels he's not going to be the one to get it done at NU, it's probably better he doesn't go there.

 

[Gladeskat]

It's a great question but one that has a seemingly obvious answer. The reason why we have not hit on any of our top targets in the QB position for over 3 years now is most likely directly related to the continual futility of our offense over the past 36 months. Prior to that, Fitzgerald showed no weaknesses in QB recruiting as he landed his top QB choice two years in a row with Alviti and Thorson. I also don't think those two are intimidating factors that are keeping QB's away.

The question should actually be broadened to include the offense entire. Our entire offensive recruiting has struggled insomuch that we have recently had to shift defenders over to fill gaping holes on the offensive side of the ball. It's also hard for a QB to vision throwing the ball to no name wide receiver recruits. Not a whole lot of excitement inside our program over the offense and even few hardcore fans are excited about our offense, so why should a solid QB recruit be excited to play in this offense?

Because they know a lot less about NU's offense than we do. If they do, they may see this as an opportunity.

 

[Purple is Forever]

Well, if a kid feels he's not going to be the one to get it done at NU, it's probably better he doesn't go there.

I wouldn't think it to be a lack of confidence. I would suspect that most recruits have a sense of confidence but also want to vision a program that fits their style, puts the ball in their hands so they can have productivity, and could develop and increase their potential.

It's hard to imagine the pool of QB's available to Fitzgerald when the offense now has a lean towards a clear power running offense.

Everyone wants the ball in their hands, whether wide receivers, QB's, or RB's. The power running game had our running back carrying the ball more than any other running back in football. Top RB's obviously are very interested in coming here now, whereas Top QB's & WR maybe not so much. Given the offense, I'm not surprised that our RB recruits have been very good but other offensive positions are lagging. I'd like to see more balance and hopefully our offense gets to that.

And don't get me wrong, even a power rushing offense can still attract solid QB's but not when it is dead on arrival and grouped among the worst offenses in all of football.

 

[pawildcat]

I wouldn't think it to be a lack of confidence. I would suspect that most recruits have a sense of confidence but also want to vision a program that fits their style, puts the ball in their hands so they can have productivity, and could develop and increase their potential.

It's hard to imagine the pool of QB's available to Fitzgerald when the offense now has a lean towards a clear power running offense.

Everyone wants the ball in their hands, whether wide receivers, QB's, or RB's. The power running game had our running back carrying the ball more than any other running back in football. Top RB's obviously are very interested in coming here now, whereas Top QB's & WR maybe not so much. Given the offense, I'm not surprised that our RB recruits have been very good but other offensive positions are lagging. I'd like to see more balance and hopefully our offense gets to that.

And don't get me wrong, even a power rushing offense can still attract solid QB's but not when it is dead on arrival and grouped among the worst offenses in all of football.

At this point, you don't know whether Smith or Marty will be solid QBs or not. And we'll see about Thorson. I remember a lot of people on this board basically burying Kafka after his sophomore year. He turned out to be pretty good.

 

[DaCat]

I wouldn't think it to be a lack of confidence. I would suspect that most recruits have a sense of confidence but also want to vision a program that fits their style, puts the ball in their hands so they can have productivity, and could develop and increase their potential.

It's hard to imagine the pool of QB's available to Fitzgerald when the offense now has a lean towards a clear power running offense.

Everyone wants the ball in their hands, whether wide receivers, QB's, or RB's. The power running game had our running back carrying the ball more than any other running back in football. Top RB's obviously are very interested in coming here now, whereas Top QB's & WR maybe not so much. Given the offense, I'm not surprised that our RB recruits have been very good but other offensive positions are lagging. I'd like to see more balance and hopefully our offense gets to that.

And don't get me wrong, even a power rushing offense can still attract solid QB's but not when it is dead on arrival and grouped among the worst offenses in all of football.

I don't buy this line of thinking. If you're a highly recruited and successful high school QB, you have to believe you can step into a program and make a difference. We still run a spread, and the running game should theoretically open up some passing opportunities. I think we actually had a situation the past few years at QB that was less encouraging for kids who dream of stepping in and playing as either a true freshman or RS freshman. Colter and Siemian had the position locked down, with two young 4 stars in Alviti and Thorson waiting in the wings. This round, for a kid like Coan, he sees Wisconsin with a graduating senior compared to NU with a starter with 3 more years left, and even though Wisconsin has more of a power running game than NU, they suddenly seem more attractive for him personally. For other recruits, there were other reasons, with our mediocre offense being far down the list I believe. I also think we happened to pick up two QBs in Aidan Smith and Andrew Marty who may be better than the guys who were recruited ahead of them. It's time some of us admitted Fitz knows what the hell he's doing.

 

[Aging Booster]

I think this is a good question that only the guys who chose to go else where know the answer to. It wouldn't be very PC for them to say in public so I doubt we will ever know and it may be different for each kid.
One thing we have to remember is that a couple of our most productive QB's either transferred in from ND or hoped to go to Stanford but got slow played. So it's not like we won every QB recruiting battle for top guns for twenty years and then suddenly have come up short. I'm pretty sure Alviti and Thorson are the only 4 stars we have landed and they are still on the team.

I am not sure that I understand your point, though I think you are attempting to detract from the success of NU QBs. Be careful with recruiting ratings of HS students. Lloyd Abrahamson was one of the highest rated recruits in the country and a top 2 or 3 QB prospect. He washed out and Steve Schnur took us to the Rose Bowl. We have had some great QBs at NU, starting perhaps with Otto Graham. Remember Meyers in the '60s, Daignuea (sp?) and Dean in the '70s? Our best QBs were not always the highest rated. I do not remember a transfer other than Kustok, nor a guy Stanford rejected other than Colter. Kustok was very good, but not as good, in my opinion, as the guys who preceded or followed him and Colter is best known not for his skills at QB but for his union organizing efforts.

 

[Trigatos]

Perhaps the QB recruits are scared to practice against our vaunted defense!

 

[hdhntr1]

I am not sure that I understand your point, though I think you are attempting to detract from the success of NU QBs. Be careful with recruiting ratings of HS students. Lloyd Abrahamson was one of the highest rated recruits in the country and a top 2 or 3 QB prospect. He washed out and Steve Schnur took us to the Rose Bowl. We have had some great QBs at NU, starting perhaps with Otto Graham. Remember Meyers in the '60s, Daignuea (sp?) and Dean in the '70s? Our best QBs were not always the highest rated. I do not remember a transfer other than Kustok, nor a guy Stanford rejected other than Colter. Kustok was very good, but not as good, in my opinion, as the guys who preceded or followed him and Colter is best known not for his skills at QB but for his union organizing efforts.

An awful lot of a QBs success is how much time he has on the field. They take time to develop. Hard to get those reps when you are behind a guy for 2-4 years. The next two years are when we are in the best position to land our top targets. Next year because the kid would think he had a chance in open competition to start as a RS Frosh and the following year as a true Frosh in both cases because it is likely very little will have been seen of the guys behind Thorson.

I think Thorson and the WRs will make pretty good strides this year and that will further enhance the desirability of the position. Improved OL and WR play will also help in the sale as will continuing to win.