...I recall him jumping up to celebrate the Iowa victory, landing, then clutching his leg and falling down.
It turns out he tore his Achilles. How is that not a celebration injury?
VOTE: Who was the best Northwestern QB over the last 25 years?
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It turns out he tore his Achilles. How is that not a celebration injury?
Rewatch it. He didn’t jump. He took a step after he threw it and tore his achilles
It was Valenzisi who got hurt celebrating, right? Like a kickoff that was taken out of the end zone and NU got a tackle inside the five? Or do I remember that wrong.
FTR, I voted for Thorson but you can’t go wrong with any of these picks, as well as Kafka. And Colter is still one of my favorites just for having a great nose for the first-down marker though he’s still behind these other guys. What an embarrassment of riches we’ve had the last 25 years!
FTR, I voted for Thorson but you can’t go wrong with any of these picks, as well as Kafka. And Colter is still one of my favorites just for having a great nose for the first-down marker though he’s still behind these other guys. What an embarrassment of riches we’ve had the last 25 years!
Tough to decide between Baz and Persa, but taking into account the amount of talent around them on O, the edge goes to Persa (who many a time, single-handedly moved the O; but extra credit to Baz in playing a significant role in Persa's development as a passer).
"Best" does not = "winningest" in my book as that's also predicted on surrounding talent, injuries, schedule, etc. - but rather how each QB would have fared leading the same amount of talent against the same level of competition.
Imagine what Persa would have been able to do if he had a stud back and a go-to receiver, much less a better O-line (Thorson played with both the best RB and WR in decades).
"Best" does not = "winningest" in my book as that's also predicted on surrounding talent, injuries, schedule, etc. - but rather how each QB would have fared leading the same amount of talent against the same level of competition.
Imagine what Persa would have been able to do if he had a stud back and a go-to receiver, much less a better O-line (Thorson played with both the best RB and WR in decades).
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Actually, I believe he did. He just threw the game winning pass against Iowa, jumped in the air in celebration and landed wrong and ruptured his Achilles.
One could also make an argument for Siemian - who had the misfortune of starting during 2 of the most injury-riddled seasons the program had seen of late, including his own leg/ankle injuries which limited his mobility, and hence, tends to get overlooked as the team didn't make a bowl either of those 2 years.
Like had stated before, one of the finest examples of NU QB play was during the 4th Quarter of the M00N game when Siemian brought the Cats all the way back and in position to tie game after TWO 90+ yards scoring drives (both drives should have ended in TD, but the refs didn't call what was a pretty evident penalty on 3rd down), using his legs (McCall finally set Trevor free) to escape the UM pass rush that had been brutalizing him for 3 quarters, to buy time for receivers to get open, and even running for a few 1st downs.
No big chunk gains, but a methodological movement down the length of the field - twice.
There haven't been that many NU QBs who could regularly use his legs to set up the pass - Persa and Baz being the 2 that most come to mind.
If McCall had set Trevor free earlier in the game (one of McCall's faults was being too slow in making adjustments) and/or if Fitz had opted to kick the PAT and go to OT, Trevor would have accomplished the rare feat of beating PSU, Wisky, the Domers and UM all in one season, and the team would've made a bowl game, irrespective of TS getting knocked out and missing the Illinois game.
If Trevor had been healthy, would have beaten the pumpkin heads and should have also beaten NIU as well (but for drops, would have had over 300 yds passing - so an 8 win season with a rag-tag team inundated with injuries.
Along with Bacher (who also tends to get overlooked), those 2 were the most polished passing QBs coming out of HS.
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Not sure why this bugs me but if that’s a celebration, then I celebrate every time I take a step
Give me a fricken break. He planted his back foot and his tendon gave out. What he was planning to do next is pretty irrelevant.
Evidence of what Persa was able to do with a bad team, is the 70-something thrashing by Wisconsin later that season after he tore his Achilles, on their way to the Rose Bowl. We were dark Ages Bad for a while after that.
Persa's my guy because of his mastery of the field and his precision. One thing that stood out to me, and I don't have the stats handy, is that his 3rd-and-long stats were outrageous.
Bacher gets the best single move of a QB with his pump fakes well past the line of scrimmage. Always worked.
Basanez was my favorite gamer. Had a good start as a freshman, terrible sophomore year, and finished strong. Epic at the end of games, and that Iowa finish might be my favorite.
Bacher gets the best single move of a QB with his pump fakes well past the line of scrimmage. Always worked.
Basanez was my favorite gamer. Had a good start as a freshman, terrible sophomore year, and finished strong. Epic at the end of games, and that Iowa finish might be my favorite.
Bacher was one of my favorite QBs to watch. He was fearless, and was a gunslinger type who never saw a route that he didn't like... sometimes resulting in interceptions to everyone's chagrin, but I loved his mindset anyway. I always felt he gave us a good chance to win, even when we were down big.
^ Wouldn't entirely blame those INTs on Bacher, as CJ knew he had to gamble at times in order to keep generating on O - to make up for the D.
If Bacher had a Hank D on the other side, wouldn't have had to be the gunslinger all the time.
If Bacher had a Hank D on the other side, wouldn't have had to be the gunslinger all the time.
He also had the most remarkable two game performance of any QB at NU. Against Michigan State and Minnesota one year, I think he threw for over 900 yards, 9 TDS and 0 INTs. Or something like that. Two big W’s of course.
To go from that kind of offensive production and the Basanez junior and senior years, where were equally an offensive juggernaut that could move the ball on anyone and put up big points, to what we saw under Colter and Thorson and having to hear people fawn over what frankly was simply mediocre offensive performance at best (and futility in moving the sticks and crossing the goal line at worst) and relying on the Hankwitz D to win has been maddening. How bad did it get? We actually had someone in a different universe defend the indefensible last year despite a dead last offensive performance in Division I and claim it wasn’t the OC. Just once, I’d like to see a potent offense to match a potent defense. I really don’t think that such a concept must be verboten for us and only allowed for the Ohio State, Clemson, and Alabama’s of the world. We have never seemed to have a capable coordinator on both sides of the ball since Ron Vanderlinden was opposite of Gregg Brandon. Hopefully, with the arrival of Mike Bajakian, the sun will rise again - but what scares me is that may be the cue for Coach Hank to just decide that with some help finally on the other side of the ball, it’s time for him to retire.
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Running backs were super thin, but receiver wise, Persa was throwing to Jeremy Ebert and Drake Dunsmore. No wonder he was productive in the air. And his own legs made up for the lack of RB support in giving a balancing run threat. Demetrius Fields, Tony Jones, and Charles Brown were solid too. After Springer came aboard in 2011, we’ve had a dearth of top notch receiver talent, outside of one walk-on named Austin Carr, which is almost as damning of our recruiting and development at that position as the OL that got Cushing pushed out. How Springer has survived after the years of mediocrity, I don’t know.
