Well it's about to get going ... 1. Bill O'Brien to the Houston Texans...followed by Al Golden to Penn State..and somebody to Miami. 2. Somebody to Texas, leaving an opening somewhere that needs to be filled. 3. People are trying hard to promote the rumor that Brian Kelly is being considered for the Detroit Lions. I don't see it myself. There is the rumor as well that Jets LB coach, Brian Van Gorder, who was Kelly's DC at GVSU will be the next ND DCoord. 4. ???
Nah Golden is not going to P State mark my word...He just went through NCAA purgatory with Miami and made it to the other side. Nothing but the best recruiting in the front yard with no NCAA hitches to hold him back. He will be competing with the best of them as the Canes coach for the crystal trophy in three years. His team is getting their ass kicked at the moment but 2014 is really his first true recruiting year since becoming the coach.
Kelly lived in Michigan most of his adult life and must know that becoming a coach of the Lions is a career killing job. With a nice bowl win to end the year and Goulson back next year, I cannot envision him leaving ND to coach the friggen Lions.
I agree with Bobda. I'll go one further. I'm not sure that the Lions will make a coaching change. They've been known to ride a dead horse for years.
I hear reports that O'B has told recruits he's not leaving, but around here I'm hearing from the beat writers that OB and Bob McNair the Texans owner are in negotiations and that O'B. I have no doubt that there are a lot of things about the Miami job that make it more attractive than the Penn State job, the chief amongst them is that really the Miami coach can get 80% of his team from within 100 miles of the campus. But the facilities and support at PSU are so much more than at Miami. At PSU his teams will play before 100K+ fans every saturday at an on campus stadium with one of the top student sections. The facilities are as good as anywhere and he's one of them, he's a PSU guy. If he doesn't go, then I wonder if Greg Schiano will take the job...he would have crawled over glass when he was at Rutgers for the Penn State job. I'm on pins and needles as to who will be the next Texas coach. It won't be the home run hire that Longhorn fans wanted, but I think we'll get a good coach and then it's up to that guy to take advantage of all the things that being the HC at Texas presents him with.
Browns reportedly interested in Gus Malzahn. I read some place where management want to draft Johnny Football and that Rob Chudzinski didn't want JFF so he was canned after 1 year. Gus would know what to do with Johnny Football that's for sure.
As much as I like JFF as a Qb and as an exciting player to watch he could easily fall in to the same fate as Tebow. An effective leader who doesn't fit the "NFL mold".... isn't the dropback guy that say a Teddy Bridgewater is and carries with him a little bit of a circus. The more I think of it he can't play Qb in the NFL with his jitterbug style I don't care how many games he could help his team win.... :wink: 8)
One aspect of going with Manziel is that the offensive personnel will have to be tailored to fit his style of play. Fast (lighter?) OL, running backs who are really WR's, and WR's. If anything happens to Manziel, then the 2nd string QB had better be in the same mold as Manziel. If not the fast paced, scrambling type offense will have to transition to a dropback passer type. So can you pay 2 Johnny Footballs and have one of them ride the bench?
JFF is 6'1" on his tiptoes and 210lbs. Those are hardly Tebow measureables. The biggest problem all these college QBs face is no longer throwing to wide open targets.
Good points Kp. Could be why Tebow has failed to get another shot.... teams do not want to revamp what they are doing to suit his skills.... which do include running so maybe they think they would be left high and dry in the event of injury.
lol Ya know, JFF always reminds me of Fran Tarkenton. I was a little kid when Fran played in the NFL, but the crazy scrambles and improbable throws on the money just remind me of the guy. He made it in the NFL. There's a place for guys like that. A&M has had some NFL caliber OTs with JFF there. I don't know if all their linemen are smaller and faster. One thing I could see working is that play action is so important in the NFL. The ability to run is a huge plus for a young QB until he gets older/smarter. I think it'll get down to where he gets drafted. I could see the guy doing well.
I think he will do well..... but only if they let him be JFF and not try to mold him into something he's not..... and give him credit for producing wins no matter how he gets the job done. I can see Rex Ryan after a scrambling 20 yard run for a first down in a preseason game.... "On the bench Manziel!... that's not how we do it around here!!" 8)
Mr. Obvious here, but one of the things that is SO important for the NFL QB's is the ability to read the whole field. JFF seems to do this pretty well, but it is so much harder at the pro level than the college level that many QB's just don't pan out and you just don't know until they get there. Watching JFF, I thought about Fran Tarkington as well, Corey...but you must have been REALLY little because I was pretty young when he played.
Corey was watching NFL films... :lol: Forget needing a different kind of line. The guys A&M runs right now are ALL huge NFL style players. Heck Joekle was #2 last year, Matthews will go top 5 this year, and the other tackle is pondering going early because he has been told he could be first round as well. I think Stu is right. JF has plenty of arm... and he can scramble like no one else. BUT... if he can't read a defense at the NFL level it will be a short ride.
First, I'm old enough to remember Tarkington. He was fun to watch if he was playing for your team. I think that JFF's best asset is his vision. Great athletes have a view of the field that others just don't have. Their mind processes not only where other players are but where they will be. Wayne Gretzky could see passing lanes that others never could. Barry Sanders not only could stop and start like a jackrabbit but he also could see running lanes that others could not find. JFF in the broken field is incredible. I would think that his vision also helps in reading coverages and finding receivers. Depending on what coaches ask of him, he could be really successful in the NFL.
The speed of the game at the pro level is far, far beyond college. You hear rookies all the time saying they had no idea how fast the game is in the NFL. If Manziel can adjust to that and can allow the game to "slow down" in front of him, he'll do well. There are many highly successful college players who have not done well in the pros because they cannot adapt to the incredibly faster pace of play.
I think that looking at the success that Russel Wilson has had at Seattle with less talent than JFF will make a lot of GM's think long and hard about Manziel. Not to mention that they will work him out at his Pro day and get to measure him at the combine (unlikely he'll throw at the combine top QB's don't do that anymore). JIF's classmate from Brown, Bill O'Brien, is supposed to be a QB guru so since the Texans are in the market and have the #1 pick I'll be curious as to what he wants to do with that pick. Personally I want them to take Jake Matthews and then take somebody in the 2nd round at QB.