In the past UGA comes to Tiger Stadium with a freshman QB and passes for over 300 yds. Auburn comes in with a freshman QB and shines as well. There have been a couple more and most recently Florida. These QB's have continued to shine after leading their teams to wins over LSU. Why is it that some use the excuse that our freshman don't have the experience to start and so forth. Let me make it clear, I do not think either of our Fr. QB's should be starting. I'm really going by a post I made well before this season started and we were all certain that Mauck was going to be ready. I really don't want to name the person(s) or site but there was so much jargan about a freshman QB seldom being able to perform. I don't understand why many others have done it and people think LSU can't do it. I'd like to read your thoughts! Again, this is not about me believing one should have started over Matt. It's more of, what if Matt could not have returned situation. Those folks believed Randall should have started in that situation.
We have 3 games left in the season. Saban is not going to bust a red shirt now unless Randall goes down. Saban would just keep the offense simple and the D would keep us in it.
Which Auburn freshman QB are you referring to? Craig was a senior QB when he beat us in Tiger Stadium in 1997. I'm sure we can sit here and think of a handful of successful true freshman QBs over the years in college football ... but I believe there are many more true freshman starting QBs who weren't very successful their first year.
for the record TE.... I did not start this thread, and I do not want Jamarcus starting this year. Next year though........
While it is true that some FR QB's have started and played well, how many have done so for a top 10 team. FL is NOT in top 10. GA was NOT in top 10 with Carter, etc. It come down to wether you are developing for the future or is your team good now.
Chuck, My take is its an "odds" thing. Given two choices, there is a set of odds that one will be better than the other, and it is our experience that lets us set the odds and make a decision. Can a freshman QB be wildly successful? Yes. What are the odds? Not high, IMO. When you look at the change in the talent level of the players from high school, the size and enthusiasm of the statium, being in a totally new situation, the sophistication of the defenses, the blitzes, a new offensive scheme, not knowing the tendencies of the players around you, there are a lot of reasons why a frosh QB could lose his composure. This raises the odds of not succeeding. Experience is good. If you look at Leak, the frosh QB at Fl., they struggled through first 5 games, while he got better and better, and they are HOT now. Could one of our Fr. step in and play well in an emergency. It might happen, but the odds are low in my opinion, of that happening on a consistent basis over a 4 game stretch. Experience is good.
While I really do not want to see one of the freshman give up a redshirt this year, if Mauck were to leave I'd want to see one of them starting next year. Maybe that's because I'm just really anxious to see how good JaMarcus is. In fairness to Randall, it's really hard to show a lot of improvement when you get thrown into the game in mop up duty with a lot of second stringers. But, I agree with most people, Randall hasn't dazzled me this year, or last year for that matter. I don't believe a lot of the games last year would have been as close as they were if Mauck were still healthy.
