The 2009 season will be memorable for the quarterback position. Coming back to their respective schools will be Colt McCoy of Texas, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, and Tim Tebow of Florida. One can only image the NFL teams drooling come next April to draft one of these uber quarterbacks. If you look at these three, you will find that Bradford to be the most technically sound quarterback of the three and the most NFL-ready player. Tebow is the most passionate leader of the three and the most mobile, and has the drive and athleticism to play either tight end or fullback, if needed. McCoy has the fire and passion of Tebow but it is tempered, but one should not doubt his toughness or drive to win; he is ultra-competitive. Just think, if Crabtree did not make that catch to seal the win against Texas, we could have seen McCoy in the national championship against Tebow. But we ended up seeing Oklahoma in the big dance against Florida; even though, Texas beat them head-to-head. This was a result of the wacky rules of the Big 12 which I will save for another discussion.
Looking at Tebow’s resume during his three year stint at Florida it is highly impressive. He already has two national championships, a Heisman trophy, and is a two-time Maxwell award winner (best college football player in the nation). Last year, Tebow did not have the statistical breakout season like the 2007 season where he threw for 3,286 yards with 32 touchdowns and also rushed for 895 yards with 23 touchdowns. In 2008 Tebow passed for 2,746 yards with 30 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, while rushing for 673 yards with 12 rushing touchdowns. These stats are still impressive for any other quarterback but not Tebow who set the bar for himself in the 2007 season. This upcoming season, Tebow and Florida will try to capture a consecutive national championship; Tebow, himself, will try to close out his collegiate career with another Heisman trophy to his name and national championship.
The Florida Gators are stacked with a lot of their defense and offense in place for another run to the championship game. One thing for sure this season is that Tebow will not be the only SEC quarterback that will be talked about. He has competition in Jevan Snead from Ole Miss that beat Florida last season. Snead is probably the purest pocket-passer in the SEC. Sitting down with Kirk Herbstreit Tebow talks about how winning the national championship for him in 2008 was a big thing. He believes that “you are judged by being a winner and winning games that’s more important than stats” and covets the 2008 season more for winning the national title than his Heisman victory of 2007.
McCoy is back this season with passion and grit, trying to get to the national championship. Texas fans feel cheated out of the opportunity last year by the BIG 12 after having one loss to Texas Tech and beating Oklahoma head-to-head competition. McCoy will not complain about what happened last year but is motivated for this upcoming season and hoping there will not be any missteps to their goal. In the 2008 season, he passed for 3,859 yards with 34 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He had the highest completion percentage of the three quarterbacks with 76.67 rate per game and the highest in NCAA football. He made a gentleman’s bet with Kirk Herbstreit that he can improve on that greatly for this upcoming season. McCoy feels that his completion percentage suffered when he went to this second to third check down for receivers. But he said that his first check down is near a hundred percent most of the time. He also rushed for 561 yards with 11 touchdowns. He had more rushing yards than any other running back on their roster.
The Longhorns hope to find a running back that will carry load to allow McCoy to continue to improve as a quarterback. He will miss his trusted receiver in Quan Cosby, but he has emerging star Malcolm Williams and Jordan Shipley. There is no doubt that the University of Texas All-time total touchdown career leader will have success in the upcoming season and will make an impact whether it is in the regular season or in the off season towards a BCS bowl or the national championship. He tells Herbstreit that he wants to be remembered as a great team player and a better person off the field to the people he comes in contact with.
Bradford returns to Oklahoma for his junior season, hoping to repeat the success of last season. He not only won the Heisman, but Oklahoma averaged 51.14 points per game which was 1st nationally. Bradford averaged 349.36 yards passing per game, and also the team averaged a total offense of 547.86 yards per game. Statistically in 2008, Oklahoma’s production mirrored the production of New England Patriots of the 2007 NFL season. But like the Patriots all the stats was not enough for the Sooners to overcome a stingy defense and Tim Tebow in the 2008 national championship. From sports writers, to analysts, to NFL personnel has deemed Bradford to be the first quarterback taken in the 2010 draft and number one overall pick. The 2009 upcoming college football season will see Bradford playing with an offensive line that will be young and inexperienced and also losing his impact wideouts Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson, who entered the NFL.
Oklahoma has not had the greatest success at all, losing in the last two Fiesta Bowls and recently the national championship game. Bob Stoops and his squad will look to turn the tide in their favor whether it is a win in the national championship game or win in a BCS bowl game. In a interview with Kirk Herbstreit, Bradford said that he wants to be remembered as tough competitive player that did everything right and a example to kids on and off the field.
The Heisman voting played out with McCoy coming in second, Tebow placing third and Bradford winning it all. For this upcoming season, we will see more awe-inspiring plays from all three quarterbacks as well as emerging stars around them that will grow after these respective quarterbacks have moved on. The general consensus is that Florida has the leg up as repeating national championship winners out of Texas and Oklahoma.
Florida’s schedule plays out well with away games against LSU, a neutral site game against Georgia, and South Carolina. They do not play Ole Miss who beat them last year. Their road to the SEC championship will be an easy one. Who knows maybe they will meet Ole Miss in the SEC Championship game.
The Longhorns have tough away games against Oklahoma in the annual slugfest between the two teams on the 17th of October and later they will face a good Oklahoma state team. They must also watch out for a game Kansas team in late November. There are two potential losses for Texas, facing the Sooners and the Okie St. Cowboys.
The Sooners will start their season against a BYU team that will test this 2009 Sooner team. They also have Texas on their schedule, away games against the Miami Hurricanes and Kansas, and they end the season against a well-balanced Oklahoma State team at home.
The Sooners have the toughest road to the Big 12 Championship game, considering their losses on offense and defense. You will not see that explosion of offense that we all witnessed in ’08. No more games in a row where they scored 60 points or more. I have a feeling that we might see another Big 12 and SEC matchup in the national title game. This time insert Texas instead of Oklahoma. But time will tell, we have plenty of time before the season kicks off.
There is no doubt that Tebow, Bradford and McCoy will be in a heated race for the coveted Heisman trophy unless one of them gets injured. And also that each one of them wants to win the national championship title. Most importantly, the Heisman trust can be happy having each one of them as a winner to join the Heisman family. Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy are passionate about continue to play hard and be respected for a being good individuals on and off the field. Get ready for a good slobber-knocker this season for the Heisman.
Monday, June 1, 2009
A Three-Way Dance for the Heisman
The 2009 season will be memorable for the quarterback position. Coming back to their respective schools will be Colt McCoy of Texas, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, and Tim Tebow of Florida. One can only image the NFL teams drooling come next April to draft one of these uber quarterbacks. If you look at these three, you will find that Bradford to be the most technically sound quarterback of the three and the most NFL-ready player. Tebow is the most passionate leader of the three and the most mobile, and has the drive and athleticism to play either tight end or fullback, if needed. McCoy has the fire and passion of Tebow but it is tempered, but one should not doubt his toughness or drive to win; he is ultra-competitive. Just think, if Crabtree did not make that catch to seal the win against Texas, we could have seen McCoy in the national championship against Tebow. But we ended up seeing Oklahoma in the big dance against Florida; even though, Texas beat them head-to-head. This was a result of the wacky rules of the Big 12 which I will save for another discussion.
Looking at Tebow’s resume during his three year stint at Florida it is highly impressive. He already has two national championships, a Heisman trophy, and is a two-time Maxwell award winner (best college football player in the nation). Last year, Tebow did not have the statistical breakout season like the 2007 season where he threw for 3,286 yards with 32 touchdowns and also rushed for 895 yards with 23 touchdowns. In 2008 Tebow passed for 2,746 yards with 30 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, while rushing for 673 yards with 12 rushing touchdowns. These stats are still impressive for any other quarterback but not Tebow who set the bar for himself in the 2007 season. This upcoming season, Tebow and Florida will try to capture a consecutive national championship; Tebow, himself, will try to close out his collegiate career with another Heisman trophy to his name and national championship.
The Florida Gators are stacked with a lot of their defense and offense in place for another run to the championship game. One thing for sure this season is that Tebow will not be the only SEC quarterback that will be talked about. He has competition in Jevan Snead from Ole Miss that beat Florida last season. Snead is probably the purest pocket-passer in the SEC. Sitting down with Kirk Herbstreit Tebow talks about how winning the national championship for him in 2008 was a big thing. He believes that “you are judged by being a winner and winning games that’s more important than stats” and covets the 2008 season more for winning the national title than his Heisman victory of 2007.
McCoy is back this season with passion and grit, trying to get to the national championship. Texas fans feel cheated out of the opportunity last year by the BIG 12 after having one loss to Texas Tech and beating Oklahoma head-to-head competition. McCoy will not complain about what happened last year but is motivated for this upcoming season and hoping there will not be any missteps to their goal. In the 2008 season, he passed for 3,859 yards with 34 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He had the highest completion percentage of the three quarterbacks with 76.67 rate per game and the highest in NCAA football. He made a gentleman’s bet with Kirk Herbstreit that he can improve on that greatly for this upcoming season. McCoy feels that his completion percentage suffered when he went to this second to third check down for receivers. But he said that his first check down is near a hundred percent most of the time. He also rushed for 561 yards with 11 touchdowns. He had more rushing yards than any other running back on their roster.
The Longhorns hope to find a running back that will carry load to allow McCoy to continue to improve as a quarterback. He will miss his trusted receiver in Quan Cosby, but he has emerging star Malcolm Williams and Jordan Shipley. There is no doubt that the University of Texas All-time total touchdown career leader will have success in the upcoming season and will make an impact whether it is in the regular season or in the off season towards a BCS bowl or the national championship. He tells Herbstreit that he wants to be remembered as a great team player and a better person off the field to the people he comes in contact with.
Bradford returns to Oklahoma for his junior season, hoping to repeat the success of last season. He not only won the Heisman, but Oklahoma averaged 51.14 points per game which was 1st nationally. Bradford averaged 349.36 yards passing per game, and also the team averaged a total offense of 547.86 yards per game. Statistically in 2008, Oklahoma’s production mirrored the production of New England Patriots of the 2007 NFL season. But like the Patriots all the stats was not enough for the Sooners to overcome a stingy defense and Tim Tebow in the 2008 national championship. From sports writers, to analysts, to NFL personnel has deemed Bradford to be the first quarterback taken in the 2010 draft and number one overall pick. The 2009 upcoming college football season will see Bradford playing with an offensive line that will be young and inexperienced and also losing his impact wideouts Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson, who entered the NFL.
Oklahoma has not had the greatest success at all, losing in the last two Fiesta Bowls and recently the national championship game. Bob Stoops and his squad will look to turn the tide in their favor whether it is a win in the national championship game or win in a BCS bowl game. In a interview with Kirk Herbstreit, Bradford said that he wants to be remembered as tough competitive player that did everything right and a example to kids on and off the field.
The Heisman voting played out with McCoy coming in second, Tebow placing third and Bradford winning it all. For this upcoming season, we will see more awe-inspiring plays from all three quarterbacks as well as emerging stars around them that will grow after these respective quarterbacks have moved on. The general consensus is that Florida has the leg up as repeating national championship winners out of Texas and Oklahoma.
Florida’s schedule plays out well with away games against LSU, a neutral site game against Georgia, and South Carolina. They do not play Ole Miss who beat them last year. Their road to the SEC championship will be an easy one. Who knows maybe they will meet Ole Miss in the SEC Championship game.
The Longhorns have tough away games against Oklahoma in the annual slugfest between the two teams on the 17th of October and later they will face a good Oklahoma state team. They must also watch out for a game Kansas team in late November. There are two potential losses for Texas, facing the Sooners and the Okie St. Cowboys.
The Sooners will start their season against a BYU team that will test this 2009 Sooner team. They also have Texas on their schedule, away games against the Miami Hurricanes and Kansas, and they end the season against a well-balanced Oklahoma State team at home.
The Sooners have the toughest road to the Big 12 Championship game, considering their losses on offense and defense. You will not see that explosion of offense that we all witnessed in ’08. No more games in a row where they scored 60 points or more. I have a feeling that we might see another Big 12 and SEC matchup in the national title game. This time insert Texas instead of Oklahoma. But time will tell, we have plenty of time before the season kicks off.
There is no doubt that Tebow, Bradford and McCoy will be in a heated race for the coveted Heisman trophy unless one of them gets injured. And also that each one of them wants to win the national championship title. Most importantly, the Heisman trust can be happy having each one of them as a winner to join the Heisman family. Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy are passionate about continue to play hard and be respected for a being good individuals on and off the field. Get ready for a good slobber-knocker this season for the Heisman.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I knew these three QBs were great, but wasn't aware of the scope of their ability until reading this breakdown. It forces me to reconsider Mark Sanchez' desicion to leave college football. He threw for 3200 yards, 34 TDs, & rushed for only 16 yards on the ground - for one year. If he did stay for one more year statistically it seems probable he would have been competing for the Heisman. What's not clear to me is (1) Would he have won it against such tremendous competition? & (2) Doesn't it seem like 1 or more of these players will outplay Sanchez in the NFL in the future?
ReplyDeleteWell Dan, Pete Carroll was not happy when Sanchez declared for the NFL. He actually stormed out of the press conference and later apologized to Sanchez. Carroll most likely found out from the NFL talent evaluators that Sanchez needed to stay in school and that would have helped him in his draft position. But as we saw, he went 5th overall, to the Jets, in the draft because of attitude and work ethic and good showing at his pro days and individual team workouts.
ReplyDeleteI really think that Tebow is the weakest fundamentally of the three quarterbacks, but he is a player. There is no denying at.
If Sanchez stayed I doubt that he would of been more successful because teams would have studied his tape and gameplanned more against him. I do like Sanchez because of his tireless work in the filmroom and just being a student of the game and trying to absorb everything regarding the quarterback position.
I personally love Bradford and I think he will be an excellent pro. But he needs to get a little bit bigger and tougher. Colt is decent as well but needs to work on tightening his deep throws.
I do not know if Sanchez will end up being more successful in the NFL than these three quarterbacks, but he has the edge because of learning under Pete Carroll and his own exhaustive work in the filmroom.
As you know, stange things happen in the NFL. Quarterbacks that fly under the radar or that are drafted in the 7th round, end up being the superstars at that position. However, we will see how all this plays out.
Bravo Matt!!!
ReplyDeleteexcellent writing...you may turn me into a football fan!!!
Keep writing.
Kim aka cookieMOM-ster
Kim