Thoughts Heading Into Spring Practice

Mess ran SR like he hated him. SR and GR both look like capable QBs they just need a real OC to coach them. I'm a Bears fan, I've seen what a real offensive coach can do with talent, that OCs before him made look so mediocre.
 
We still ran them both. We didn't completely stop running the QB Zone Read, clearly you didn't watch the West Virginia game where Rohach broke a 54 yard TD run off of the designed zone read play. And obviously we didn't run Rohach as much, because we had no one else to play if he went down. It would be the exact same if Rohach and Richardson switched roles at the beginning of the season, the only reason we limited running the QB is we only had Creekmur to play if Rohach went down. So please don't tell me I didn't watch the games. Rohach ran the ball nearly 50 times, and you don't always have to run the ball to get hit. Richardson was listed 5 different times on the injury report for different injuries, and not once for his ankle. It isn't possible to prove it in a debate, which I do respect your opinion, and in my opinion Lanning is by far the most durable of the 3.


Grant got a 54 yard TD because ISU had nearly abandoned the zone read up to that point. If there was a decision to make on the read they were going to sell out on the RB. There is a reason everyone, including ISU's radio team, was surprised Grant had the ball.

Good for you that you recognized that they didn't run Grant as much and a very legitimate reason for doing so. I agree with you. But the fact remains that they didn't call Grant's number as much so it is impossible to take away meaningful conclusions about comparative durability.
 
We still ran them both. We didn't completely stop running the QB Zone Read, clearly you didn't watch the West Virginia game where Rohach broke a 54 yard TD run off of the designed zone read play. And obviously we didn't run Rohach as much, because we had no one else to play if he went down. It would be the exact same if Rohach and Richardson switched roles at the beginning of the season, the only reason we limited running the QB is we only had Creekmur to play if Rohach went down. So please don't tell me I didn't watch the games. Rohach ran the ball nearly 50 times, and you don't always have to run the ball to get hit. Richardson was listed 5 different times on the injury report for different injuries, and not once for his ankle. It isn't possible to prove it in a debate, which I do respect your opinion, and in my opinion Lanning is by far the most durable of the 3.

Here's a game by game breakdown of QB runs with sacks removed. Obviously this doesn't include hurries or when they got hit after throwing, or whether it was a scramble out of bounds vs a called run. It also doesn't include when a zone read was called and there was a handoff (or whether they made the right read to keep vs hand off). This is just when they actually ran the ball for whatever reason.

[TABLE="width: 192"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"][/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Rohach[/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Richardson[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]UNI[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]17[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Iowa[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tulsa[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Texas[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tech[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Baylor[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Okie State[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]7[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]11[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]K State[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TCU[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Oklahoma[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Kansas[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]WVU[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]29[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]83[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Rohach was never asked to run anywhere near as much as Richardson, and even when Rohach had the starting spot Richardson was still put in and took the hits on obvious running situations.

As far as why they stopped running as much when Rohach went in... when Richardson was injured Rhoads came out every week in his press conference and said that a running QB was essential to our offense and Sam was just going to have to suck it up. Then Rohach comes in and they just kind of stop running the QB. So you can't say that one is more durable than the other since they were played in totally different ways. It very well might have been that the coaches felt they needed to keep him healthy. But "not getting hurt" doesn't automatically equal "more durable" when the hurt guy got run through a meat grinder and the not hurt guy was treated with kid gloves.
 
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Here's a game by game breakdown of QB runs with sacks removed. Obviously this doesn't include hurries or when they got hit after throwing, or whether it was a scramble out of bounds vs a called run. It also doesn't include when a zone read was called and there was a handoff (or whether they made the right read to keep vs hand off). This is just when they actually ran the ball for whatever reason.

[TABLE="width: 192"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64"][/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Rohach[/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Richardson[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]UNI[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]17[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Iowa[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tulsa[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Texas[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tech[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Baylor[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Okie State[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]7[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]11[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]K State[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TCU[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Oklahoma[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Kansas[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]WVU[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]29[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]83[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Rohach was never asked to run anywhere near as much as Richardson, and even when Rohach had the starting spot Richardson was still put in and took the hits on obvious running situations.

As far as why they stopped running as much when Rohach went in... when Richardson was injured Rhoads came out every week in his press conference and said that a running QB was essential to our offense and Sam was just going to have to suck it up. Then Rohach comes in and they just kind of stop running the QB. So you can't say that one is more durable than the other since they were played in totally different ways. It very well might have been that the coaches felt they needed to keep him healthy. But "not getting hurt" doesn't automatically equal "more durable" when the hurt guy got run through a meat grinder and the not hurt guy was treated with kid gloves.

Good stuff. The rhetoric concerning the running of our QB is confusing. I still don't understand the logic in putting SR into the game to obviously run the zone read and get the crap knocked out of him. I don't care whether it is a thumb or not. If you are injured then you are injured. And find it amazing that SR was forced to play on one leg earlier in the year because he was deemed to be our only real choice at QB. Baffling.
 
There has been much talk about the misses on the recruiting trail, but there has been minimal talk about Meeks. He was down to Iowa State, Michigan State, and Florida State out of high school.


Wait, so Meeks decommitted from Cincinnati and committed to us the next day, never visited Michigan State or Florida State, but it was down to us, Florida State and Michigan State? Florida State had 5 LB's in the class, 3 of whom had already committed and visted. That includes 2 4-stars and a 5-star, #2 overall LB in the country. Not sure they were still waiting on Alton. Didn't do the same for Michigan State, but did see they had 2 4-star LB's committed before Meeks flipped.

I like the guy and think he'll turn out to be the best recruit in last year's class, but not sure this is 100% correct. I think I recall we beat Cincinnati for him.
 
Wait, so Meeks decommitted from Cincinnati and committed to us the next day, never visited Michigan State or Florida State, but it was down to us, Florida State and Michigan State? Florida State had 5 LB's in the class, 3 of whom had already committed and visted. That includes 2 4-stars and a 5-star, #2 overall LB in the country. Not sure they were still waiting on Alton. Didn't do the same for Michigan State, but did see they had 2 4-star LB's committed before Meeks flipped.

I like the guy and think he'll turn out to be the best recruit in last year's class, but not sure this is 100% correct. I think I recall we beat Cincinnati for him.

He never considered Cincinnati to play LB, he committed there as a QB and when he decided he wanted to play LB he opened up his recruitment and ended up committing to us shortly after. He visited Florida State as well. Ultimately decided to come here because he grew up in Iowa City and liked Ames. I've met the kid.
 
Because he didnt seem too happy with the way things were handled.

I have a feeling Sam was more injured than we all were lead to believe all season. My gut feeling is saying the reason CPR announced Rohach the #1 going into spring ball is because Sam will be healing from surgery still and they are just keeping it under wraps.
 
Keep CPR as far away from the offense, the QBs and new OC as possible.
 
May not be the sexiest position and it may not be figured out until the fall, but punting is a concern.
 
With Budgrage and the additions of Lazard and Montgomery along with some young guys who played pretty well this past season, whoever is quarterback will have plenty of solid (to say the least) options. That hasn't been the case for the past few years.
 
This is how I know you didn't actually watch the games. We basically stopped running designed QB runs and the zone read once Rohach became the QB. Once you take out sacks he ran about 1/4 of the number of times that Richardson did. Its certainly possible that Rohach is more durable than Richardson, but I have no idea how you would think that based on what we saw. Rohach just wasn't ran into the ground. Who knows how Rohach would have held up running as much as they had Richardson run, and who knows how Richardson would have held up if he'd only run 1/4 as often.

Good point. Additionally, you have to take into account the games in which Richardson played last year without getting injured.