ESPN article on Heaps and QB race

Lawboy wrote:
If he wins the job, I will cheer wildly for his success.

Agree, or any of the others.

Lawboy wrote:
I did not love was his pocket presence, and instinct to pull it down and run quickly.

You are correct here, perhaps he still has a little bit of the USU memories locked away in his brain that causes him to get "happy feet" in the pocket and want to run away. Maybe some reps with the 1's could change that.

Lawboy wrote:
End of the day, just want to beat UW game one and keep rolling from there, regardless of who starts.

Well said, ditto 1000%.

Mars wrote:
http://byu.scout.com/2/954794.html

Thanks for the link, Mars. Great read. Love to see the QBs grow together with the WR position. If we can improve that, I like our chances of being able to attack TCU better. BSU sure took that approach and did it well.

Practice stats are mostly meaningless, but Heaps went 5-6 for 49 yards and a TD at practice on Thursday. That's 4 TDs in 3 scrimmages now.



Lark and Nelson combined to go 1-4 for 4 yards and an INT. That's 2 1/12 interceptions for Lark 4 days in...



http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700017807/BYU-football-Gridders-watch-Cougar-victory-on-TV.html?s_cid=rss-28

Mars wrote:


Practice stats are mostly meaningless, but Heaps went 5-6 for 49 yards and a TD at practice on Thursday. That's 4 TDs in 3 scrimmages now.



Lark and Nelson combined to go 1-4 for 4 yards and an INT. That's 2 1/12 interceptions for Lark 4 days in...



http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700017807/BYU-football-Gridders-watch-Cougar-victory-on-TV.html?s_cid=rss-28

Ahh - interesting stuff. Jake really is a rising star. I'd love to be a "fly on the wall" and be able to watch these practices. I'm glad the competition is healthy & all 3 are god friends. It will really be interesting to watch as the summer practices evolve & who emerges as the "go to QB." I'm suspicious that Riley & Jake will emerge as the front runners. We shall see.

Lawboy wrote:

snoscythe wrote:

USU, although not great when he was there, he didn't exactly make them too much better, did he.

USU in 2006 under Leon Jackson III = 21 points in 4.75 games (that's less than 4.5 points per game) with 3 shut outs.



USU in 2006 under Riley Nelson = 108 points in 7.25 games (14.8 ppg) with one shut out.





I would say Riley Nelson made them significantly better---not good----but significantly better. If you can put one player on the field that's going to make your team 10 points better on average, that kid has something working for him.



His passer rating of 115 was by no means great, but it was better than that of fellow freshman QB Matt Stafford at UGA that season, as well as better than Tom Brandstater at Fresno State, and Reggie Ball at GT.....all of whom seemed to turn out pretty okay despite having worse seasons with less to work with than Riley Nelson.

I agree with you Sno and this was the point I was trying to make, but let me take it one step futher, the 21 points scored with Jackson III at QB one of the scores was a pick 6 so he only accounted for 14 points as his time on the field, so makes it less than 3 ppg.



Riley made USU much better than they were and yes they are playing in the WAC but one person can not compete against 11 and expect to win no matter what type of players are on the field.



Was I impressed with Riley in his mop up duty last year? Just about as impressed as I have been with any back up who's responsibility is to hand off the ball with an occassional pass. I still don't know how someone can say a QB is a horrible passer when he only threw it 10 times and completed 7 of them. I guess those 3 incomplete passes must have been extremely crappy to say the other 7 were completed dispite the fact Riley was throwing them. Sorry I don't get it.

Perhaps I am wrong about Riley. If he wins the job, I will cheer wildly for his success. And perhaps it is not fair to base my opinion off mop up duty and USU stats. I just know that the one thing I did not love was his pocket presence, and instinct to pull it down and run quickly. I know that is his strength, but it is also not the way the BYU offense is set up. But again, it worked for Steve Young just fine. And perhaps Anae could accommodate that that with his play calling. I know Doman could if he was calling the plays.



End of the day, just want to beat UW game one and keep rolling from there, regardless of who starts.

You are not wrong about Nelson or Heaps,and Heaps will make us forget that there was ever a competition for the starter's job by the time he's done.