We were watching different games apparently. Stone has a horrific case of happy feet or at least he did Saturday. He never climbed the pocket he always bailed. 67 of his 270 were to Hartrup on one play. The ball was so inaccurate that Hartrup had to stop, he was running a crossing route VS man coverage, reach back and make the catch. His defender ran by him, tried to grab him and fell down. I know qbs will throw their receiver open but he was open and it b was a poor throw. Very few of the passes were downfield. Most were swing passes to Strong or Cox, then they made yac. I don't believe Stone has the arm talent to throw downfield and our staff knows it. Worse, the enemy knows it
And you're seeing what Nick sees. Having said that, I would still rather have Stone L over Lyles - ANYDAY!
Disagree.
Against UNI: "He operated and made plays," said SIU head coach Nick Hill. "He scrambled for first downs, he was tough, he made great decisions and he made some big throws."
Most were swing passes because Hill almost never calls for anything in the middle no matter who is at QB - too "3 yds and a cloud of dust" for my taste. SL was under a lot of pressure by MSU D the whole 2nd half. They dominated our O line. The fact that SL was Only sacked twice with no ints under those circumstances is a tribute to his escapability. KL would have been sacked 6 times with 4 ints.
Is he 100% accurate? No - neither is Nic Baker. In fact Baker tends to throw it high a lot.
Guess you missed the UMASS game last year.
I also thought Hill constantly pulling out SL for Williams in the 1st half wasn't ideal. Impossible to get into a rhythm that way. Just go with Williams if you think he gives you the best chance to win.
GP Effic Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Lng Avg/G
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baker, Nic 3.5 142.44 50-74-4 67.6 % 637 3 65 159.2
Labanowitz, Sto 3.5 147.70 44-58-1 75.9 % 402 3 67 100.5
I don't think I've made my point. I'm talking about comfort zone. Remember Nick was a stand tall pro style pocket passer. That is how he practiced his whole life. Of course he can coach other styles. But the pocket passer style is his comfort zone. And let's be honest, there are times Stone L looks like a penguin with happy feet tap dancing on a hot griddle. Nick heard his whole life he should have quiet feet. Not Nick's comfort zone. I, myself, am a bottom line guy. I don't care what style the qb has, as long as he get's the job done. Stone L is not pretty, but he does get the job done.
On a side note, the fact that we don't throw over the middle comes up occasionally. I think it's an issue for Nick and the issue is the height of our qb's. Nic is 5'9", Stone L is 5'10", and Kare is 6'. The DLs that we've faced have been relatively tall. I think that's why Nick doesn't like throwing over the middle very much. Our qbs can't see over them and have trouble throwing over them. Much easier to find passing lanes going outside the hashes. Last year when we had that 9' TE, we saw Nick calling the skinny post routes early in the season. Easy to lob the ball high and over the DL. But when the defenses figured it out and took that route away, we didn't see it for about the last 6-7 games. Very few routes over the middle for those games.
Both of the above points are why I'm so interested in how many snaps and what kind they are that Stone N is getting. He's 6'3" and a pocket style passer. Sounds like he's right in Nick's comfort zone.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
not sure why you think it is easier for a short QB to see over tall DL if he's looking to the outside than it is if he looks over the middle. Throwing to the back is quicker and easier, especially for someone with limited arm talent. Moving the pocket is another way to get a short QB able to see, but when he panics and runs around the lineman protecting him the play breaks down
Stone L is not quick enough to scramble, which is why we don't run the read option with him. (or anyone else)
My whole point about this is that we have some really talented wr's, te's, and rb's but we have maybe the worst set of QB's in the league and have had for some time. Not sure why we can't get a top notch QB transfer from FBS
not sure why you think it is easier for a short QB to see over tall DL if he's looking to the outside than it is if he looks over the middle. Throwing to the back is quicker and easier, especially for someone with limited arm talent. Moving the pocket is another way to get a short QB able to see, but when he panics and runs around the lineman protecting him the play breaks down
Stone L is not quick enough to scramble, which is why we don't run the read option with him. (or anyone else)
My whole point about this is that we have some really talented wr's, te's, and rb's but we have maybe the worst set of QB's in the league and have had for some time. Not sure why we can't get a top notch QB transfer from FBS
I would imagine the hope is Stone Norton is that good FBS QB transfer you are referring to. He certainly has the pedigree and size. Hope he pans out. Would love to see him as the starter and Baker as the backup next year. In my opinion, Baker has a much better skill set than Stone L or Lyles. Baker has the ability to escape and run with the ball. He also has shown that he has a much better arm than Stone L, albeit probably still pretty average. DeVries must not have shown them much either as he hasn't even been in the conversation.
I do not experience the dialogue exchanges on here trash talking the players, but rather an assessment of their paly. I believe all want the student-athletes to be successful. Terrier's assessment of SL performance speaks to some details the casual fan may not pick up on. One may look at the stat line and say, "decent numbers, no problem here." When we all know that our current QB situation is challenging. Stating that does not constitute trash talking the players. I remain a Saluki fan and want to see them succeed. Go beat Western and gear up for the coming season.
Personally, despite not making the playoffs I think Nick has done a good job. Reflect on the fact that they were screwed (IMHO) out of a slot last season, and due to Covid and restricting numbers this year to 16 teams are going to miss again. We are in one of the toughest conferences in the country and three or four get to go when in fact six or so probably deserve to go most seasons.
SIU has the talent to make the playoffs next fall if they can stay healthy. Good start to a strange season with lots to build on this coming summer. Losing Baker didn’t help the last 2 games. With Baker back and Norton, the Salukis will have a solid QB room. Hearing rumblings of adding another transfer to add much needed depth to the QB room.
Seems like NH has recruited a lot of QBs, but none have been great! Baker would have made no difference in that game IMO, although I do think he's got a better arm than SL - but no more accurate.
We had a bad hold on a FG, Qua Brown bobbled a sure interception and MOST lucked out and caught it for a huge gain! And they were in our backfield most of the 2nd half. I went back and scrolled through that game on YT. A lot of SL's happy feet 2nd half was just avoiding the sack. I believe the roll outs he did in the 1st half were designed plays. Their lines dominated us 2nd half...and we could not stop them. Losing the JW run threat also hurt. 1st half, we were literally changing QB every other play at times. Not ideal.
If JW is healthy, I say let him be the QB. Seems to have a good arm and we know he can run.
I think a lot of our QB problems are actually coaching problems.
Also, we signed Jakob Foss for next year, highly recruited 3* QB with offers from UK, MTSU, Ark. St, Troy, Ohio, Harvard, etc. (according to Rivals)
Jacob Foss class of 21?
Also, we signed Jakob Foss for next year, highly recruited 3* QB with offers from UK, MTSU, Ark. St, Troy, Ohio, Harvard, etc. (according to Rivals)
Forgot about Foss, could be the best get so far! He has good size and is a pro style QB, which Hill likes. Several good FBS offers and chose SIU. Norton is only a Sophomore so it should be interesting to see who gets the starting nod. Might come down to a competition between Norton, Foss and Baker.
Yep he'll be a frosh. next Fall. 6' 2" 204lb pro style QB. I watched some of his huddle vids for what they're worth - appears to have a good arm. And a very good student too.
I think our success next Fall will largely depend on linemen, both sides of the ball!
We signed 4 OLs, 2 LBs, 2 DLs, 5 DBs for Fall 21, mostly freshmen. I feel like our Dline and/or LBs are our greatest weakness currently.
I think our success next Fall will largely depend on linemen, both sides of the ball!
We signed 4 OLs, 2 LBs, 2 DLs, 5 DBs for Fall 21, mostly freshmen. I feel like our Dline and/or LBs are our greatest weakness currently.
We definitely need a bigger D line that can stop the run. I know we had some injuries, but even with good health I think the D line was suspect. I think we are poised to have possibly the best secondary in FCS. O line has been decent to good. Running backs are good. Wide receivers are phenomenal! I didn't see the LB's as a huge problem, but I might not be paying attention that closely. I think we need to vastly improve the D line and find a good QB out of the 3 (Norton, Foss, Baker) that seem to be the most likely to compete for the job. If a quarterback emerges and we shore up the D line I think we can be elite!
I think our success next Fall will largely depend on linemen, both sides of the ball!
We signed 4 OLs, 2 LBs, 2 DLs, 5 DBs for Fall 21, mostly freshmen. I feel like our Dline and/or LBs are our greatest weakness currently.
We definitely need a bigger D line that can stop the run. I know we had some injuries, but even with good health I think the D line was suspect. I think we are poised to have possibly the best secondary in FCS. O line has been decent to good. Running backs are good. Wide receivers are phenomenal! I didn't see the LB's as a huge problem, but I might not be paying attention that closely. I think we need to vastly improve the D line and find a good QB out of the 3 (Norton, Foss, Baker) that seem to be the most likely to compete for the job. If a quarterback emerges and we shore up the D line I think we can be elite!
All good points. But don't forget -- DEPTH! Our starters are all good enough to get us into the playoffs. But our second / third rotations leave a lot to be desired.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
I think our success next Fall will largely depend on linemen, both sides of the ball!
We signed 4 OLs, 2 LBs, 2 DLs, 5 DBs for Fall 21, mostly freshmen. I feel like our Dline and/or LBs are our greatest weakness currently.
We definitely need a bigger D line that can stop the run. I know we had some injuries, but even with good health I think the D line was suspect. I think we are poised to have possibly the best secondary in FCS. O line has been decent to good. Running backs are good. Wide receivers are phenomenal! I didn't see the LB's as a huge problem, but I might not be paying attention that closely. I think we need to vastly improve the D line and find a good QB out of the 3 (Norton, Foss, Baker) that seem to be the most likely to compete for the job. If a quarterback emerges and we shore up the D line I think we can be elite!
All good points. But don't forget -- DEPTH! Our starters are all good enough to get us into the playoffs. But our second / third rotations leave a lot to be desired.
Yep, very good point! Need depth. Separates the very good and elite teams in FCS from average or good.
