If Pete Carroll can name true freshman Matt Barkely to start for USC, why can't BC do it with Mike Marscovetra who has best arm in camp
In his breakdown on boston.com, he expounded on the QB depth chart a bit. He predicts Shinskie will be the starter, but adds "When he arrived at BC in June, he was almost anointed the starter. Only problem is he hasn't shown anything special, yet."
This lines up with everything I've heard about Shinskie. So why is he getting the benefit of the doubt? Why would Spaz stubbornly try to redshirt Marscovetra if he's the best of the QBs? I am not saying the sky is falling but I will be very disheartened if Spaz doesn't play the best QB now. Redshirting should not be an issue. When you are building for something long term and have an adequate substitute, redshirting makes sense. That may not be the case now. Spaz needs to win and win now. Even with the low expectations around the program, any drop off will be magnified given how we ended the Jags era and our safe hire of Spaz. Don't worry about Marscovetra's eligibilty. Four years from now we will have a different offensive coordinator and perhaps a different head coach. You have three QBs with four years of eligibility now. You have two more QBs coming in next year. Play the best. Win now. Redshirting is a luxury we don't have now. And if Mascovetra struggles as a true freshmen, try something else. Don't get married to the idea of one guy over another. That is very TOBish. Age, pedigree, even practice performance shouldn't make a difference. Whoever does the best under live fire needs to be our QB.
Posts
17 comments:
I agree with the overall point. Spaz shouldn't anoint a guy the starter the second he steps on campus. However, using USC to demonstrate the point is a stretch. Barkley was the national high school player of the year as a junior. I believe Marscovetra didn't have any other D-1 offers.
Eagle in Atlanta...normally your blog is pretty good, but your blind love for Jags and hatred of all things Spaz is annoying. Shinskie may not have shown anything yet, but neither has anyone else. Not to even mention that a STARTER HASN"T BEEN NAMED YET and you are comparing Spaz to TOB. Marscovetra threw more picks than TDs in high school, yet you think its a mistake to redshirt him. Let's wait until a game is played before we condemn the new head coach, huh?
Not only was Barkley a national player of the year, he also entered school in January so he was able to participate in spring ball.
As a Marlins fan (the one) I have seen this many times before. The team takes on a player they see as the savior (often times for us a closer - Jorge Julio, Armando Benitez, Renyel Pinto), and they simply aren't the best man on the roster for the job. However, because of how they were ushered in, the team refused to admit fault and keeps trotting them out there.
I do not think Shinskie is the answer after seeing some practice and reading scrimmage recaps, but I also don't think its fair to compare our situation to Barkley or annoint Marco Polo.
If Marco Polo is the best, yes, he should play, but his completion % and interceptions in scrimmages was not impressive. He has a lot of potential but needs to be polished - that doesn't make him the best for this season.
Tuggle has steadily improved with the reps he has taken with the 1st team offense and I think he is the man for the job, plus he gives us a running dimension to the game.
Other than that, I think the 2 position on the depth chart should belong to Boek or Shinskie. Boek, because he has at least played in games lately and he has looked decent.
Shinskie, age or not, has not looked good and not put up good numbers in any game. Age does not equal the best option. The man hasn't seen live action in 6 years and is only doing this as a fall back. There is no reason for him to see a snap vs. NE if he doesn't practice heavily with the 1st team next week, and show improvement, and there is no reason for him to see a snap ever if whomever starts looks decent.
I know this will most likely be a down year, put I hope they don't pile drive it by making a decision in Marlins fashion.
In the post below some commenters were discussing what an all-time BC team would look like....and it got me to thinking, what would the All-Decade (2000s) team look like? This is what I came up with....
Offense (First Team -Second Team)
QB - M. Ryan - P. Peterson
RB - W. Green - A. Callender
RB - D. Knight - L. Whitworth
WR - R. Gunnell - T. Gonzalez
WR - B. Robinson - G. Adams
TE - R. Purvis - S. Ryan
OT - M. Columbo - G. Cherilus
OG - J. Beekman - A. Hoffman
C - D. Koppen - P. Ross
OG - C. Snee - M. Partenau
OT - J. Trueblood - A. Costanzo
AP - W. Blackmon - L. Lester
Defense (First Team - Second Team)
DE - M. Kiwanka - A. Garay
DT - B. Raji - T. Bulman
DT - R. Brace - D. Goodwin
DE - P. Mettling - N. Larkin
LB - J. Dunbar - V. Circiu
LB - M. Herzlich - R. Brown
LB - J. Ott - R. Henderson
CB - D. Tribble - T. White
S - J. Silva - D. Bessette
S - R. Glasper - T. Stancil
Special Teams (First - Second)
K - S. Scortino - M. Sutphin
P - K. McMyler - J. Ayers
Choosing the receivers were the toughest as we have had a lot of solid, not great receivers this decade (K. Challenger, J. Hazard, J. Burke, K. Hemmings were left off). There are some decent linebackers that were left out as well (McGlaughlin, Pruitt, Francois, B. Flores, B. Toal). The toughest was DE as we have only had two all-conference DEs and the rest are a bunch of rotational guys. I put Blackmon and Lester as all-purpose as they were both starters and playmakers on offense and defense (and special teams for Blackmon) in their careers. Feel free to rip this apart if I missed any obvious ones...
I left off the other CB -- it should be L. Walls 1st team and J. Williams 2nd team
This post should just say "the best QB should play". As of right now, it is clear no one has any idea who it is.
By the way, I taped Larry Lester's butt cheeks together.
Exactly. Which is why no starter has been named yet, and which is why Atlanta's blog post is completely premature. He just likes to rip Spaz.
The presumption that the strongest arm should be the QB is almost as silly as putting any current BC QB in the same sentence as Barkley.
There are quite a few more factors that go into it - and the maturity level difference between the oldest (Shinskie) and youngest (Marco Polo) should be taken into account.
And from all accounts, Tuggle's arm is pretty strong...and possibly more accurate.
I have no horse in this race - I don't care who of these guys starts. Just play the QB who can keep defenses honest and put the team in the best position to win.
BCBCBC, I've had this blog during two QB controversies with two different head coaches. My stance has when the anointed starter falters has been pretty consistent and that is to give the backup live snaps. I don't care about arm strength or age or athleticism or redshirting. Spaz/Tranq should start the guy who gives us the best chance to beat Northeastern. And to use an idea that Shinskie understands, every starting QB should have a pitch count. If after 20 snaps, we are struggling, you give the starter the hook and go with the next guy.
yes, and you annointed Spaz the next TOB before he even named a starter
Eagle in Atlanta,
You may have more info than we have as I know you have sources in the program that probably feed you news. I have not seen a single practice so I am not qualified to have an opinion on quarterback play. But, I have to agree with you that BC needs to start the player that gives BC the best chance to win games. In 2005, that player was Matt Ryan and TOB chose Porter out of loyalty. I would hope Spaz would not do the same.
By the way BC fans, Jags was not fired for interviewing with the Jets. He was fired for putting his name out to numerous college programs, including bottom dwellers. The Jets deal was the straw that broke the camel's back. He was not a BC guy and he was determined to get out of Chestnut Hill. It is time to bury him and move on. Spaz is our coach now and until he royally screws up, we need to support him.
@BCBCBC nah, he said this particular course of action is "very TOBish." That's hardly saying "Spaz is the next TOB." I have never detected any slights against spaz here, that's why I was surprised to see the outrage. I don't get it, @EIA seems consistantly reasonable and unbiased IMO. I don't think anyone on here can really say they have any basis for ranking the QBs. Let them play it out, the first few games are glorified scrimmages, all due respect to NU, my east fenway neighbors.
In any event, it looks like Joe Schad is saying Tuggle is the starter now.
right, so why is he "TOB-ish" even though no QB has stood out and a starter hasn't been named yet? Atlanta is jumping the gun b/c he has always been pissed about the Jags firing and the naming of Spaz as head coach.
Why was Jags mentioned in a post about the potential starting QB? I don't know anybody thinking about Jags at this point.
The Barkley situation is similar to the extent that Carroll is thinking three or four years down the road. That's how BC has to think. I know there are many on here who think that we're destined for eight wins no matter what we do, but truth be told, we should be thinking about 2010, when Spaz has a year under his belt and the QB actually has a clue about what to do. Of course, saying that means I'm a pessimist, right? Cue all the posters who think we're due another bowl winning season.
Barkely has NFL talent around him, by the way. He has at least four running backs who could start on any DI team. He was the top prospect in the country. Carroll seems to be pretty good with talent evaluation. Spaz? Who knows? I happen to think we're in "uh-oh" mode until somebody actually grabs the position and makes it his. Right now, it doesn't look too good. Maybe that'll change. But a game against Northeastern probably won't be a good arbiter (Harris to the left, Harris to the right, Haden to the left, Haden up the middle).
ATL Eagle can be looking toward Northeastern, but I'd rather we look longer term. If we have to sacrifice a season to improve for the next three, then I'm with it. Unless you're UF or Oklahoma, USC or Texas, that's how college football is played.
Talking about Spaz's style is as pointless as talking about TOB. Nobody knows anything about Spaz's style.
WI Eagle, love the team of the decade try. The only changes I would make would be to add Damien Woody and Chris Hovan. It's been too long for me to remember if they graduated in the 2000s, but they were both at BC when I was there (class of 01 here), so I'd thought I'd throw their names out there. I'd also throw Vinnie Chircciu's (spelling?) name into the mix at LB.
On another note, I still think it would be cool if we came up with all time team.
That could be an interesting series of blog posts actually. List a top five at every position in the blog post and then allow readers to vote.
Post a Comment