(10-07-2017 10:37 PM)NIU84 Wrote: Buddy who knew of Santa at Geneva HS believes this is what u get. Players like him and rally on him, but his skills are abit limited and mistakes come with the package. He is not a guy to carry the team consistently. Seems like we are seeing a repeat of his HS career.
I'd love to hear how Graham and Childers were perceived in HS. anyone?
I was surprised that we did not get some input about Graham, but not about Childers in high school. I only saw Santa play in 1 high school game; his senior year against Batavia. He had the good (I had to look back to find he had 277 yards passing) and the bad (5 picks, including 2 pick 6s). He had already committed to NIU at that time; my impression was he is a bit of a gunslinger, and you have to take the bad with the good. Of course, 1 game does not tell the tale, but Santa’s high school stats from max preps pretty much confirms the good with the bad.
http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/daniel-s...-stats.htm
For me the significant QB stats are completion percentage and TD v. interception ratio; Santa had a good completion percentage, but a bad TD v. interception ratio; note, are these stats accurate? Santa’s 65% completion percentage this year is excellent (Childers is 61%, but he has not thrown enough passes, and his passes were in bad weather conditions), but the 6 TDs to 5 picks is very bad, and the statement that we may be seeing a repeat of his high school career from NIU84 based on what his buddy told him could a fair one, although IMO too early to tell. Of course, looking back to high school stats is not a good measure; some players excel in college and others don’t, plus there are so many variables in high school football, like how good are the WRs, how good is the running game, the O-line protection, etc. Oh yea, I could not find Graham’s or Childers’s high school stats.
We may be seeing a what have you done for us lately perspective with Santa, including by the coaches. He had a very good game against EIU; and did a great job of not making mistakes against Nebraska, and when we were behind made 2 big-time passes to set up the winning TD. The lately starts with the SDSU game; Santa was 23-37 for 262 yards and 3 TDs (the good), but had 3 picks (the bad). I don’t hold the last pick against Santa, which was a desperation last drive pick. However, the other 2 hurt, and was a 14-point (or at least 10-pont) turnaround. Then against Kent State Santa could not move the O (but the weather conditions were so bad), and then he throws a pick in the end zone, a 7 or 3-point turnaround early in the game. Is it surprising that Carey, a very conservative coach, gave Santa the hook, after the 2 costly picks in the SDSU game?
Most like the running dimension of Childers and what it brings to the table, as I do. But what about Santa’s running? We know he can run; he had 13 carries for 91 yards (7 yards per carry) against EMU last year, so we know he can run, and he sure looks very athletic. He did not run much in high school; I am sure that was the coaches not wanting to get him hurt – someone here can confirm that. Santa has run very little this year, and it clearly appears that is the coaches not wanting to get him hurt. However, we now know that we have a viable alternative in Childers.
So, after thinking about this here is my resolution – start and open the play book for Santa; have him run the read option, etc. Won’t his running threat then loosen up the defense for his passing and help with cutting down the mistakes? By doing this we may get good part of Santa (passing), help to limit the bad decisions/picks, and get the good of Santa running also. This seems like a plan that could work; would it and would the coaches do this remains to be seen.