If Graham is going ro be our starting QB I am really depressed. How many times do you go back to something that just isn't there? Carey should be fired for his inability to recruit a single D1 QB in 4 years. I have flashbacks of Graham at QB and my HASF contribution just shrank and I may just park at the Convo.....screw em.

(03-26-2017 10:06 PM)prairiedawg Wrote:  If Graham is going ro be our starting QB I am really depressed. How many times do you go back to something that just isn't there? Carey should be fired for his inability to recruit a single D1 QB in 4 years. I have flashbacks of Graham at QB and my HASF contribution just shrank and I may just park at the Convo.....screw em.

Agreed, the fact NIU is even in this situation is grounds for firing.

I think Im going to renew one more year for basketball and football, and then I'm out if the trajectory is continuing to point down. I don't mind following a loser, as I did, as many of us did in the past. Heck I am a diehard White Sox fan which shows I don't mind following a loser. What I cannot stand is the way NIU is taking itself down the path of its own demise. Too difficult to watch this.

A few other things which will make me automatically cease my season tickets:

- 2018 football schedule also features only 2 Saturday games.

- 2018 Utah game gets moved

- NIU does not make a coaching change if finishing this year with 4 or less wins.

- NIU schedules 4 or more non D1 basketball opponents next season

- German leaves the program

(03-26-2017 10:55 AM)Djud Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 10:29 AM)randyfensfanclub1 Wrote:  Nice comments by Carey.

Not one QB has done more than the bare minimum to deserve to be the front runner/only deserving candidates to be the starter. I guess everyone else should just be happy to be third string, be on the team vs. contending for the starting position. Graham may be a tough kid, but he is not a top tier MAC qb. Sorry. He and Santa do not appear to have the ability to run this offense. And if Hall is not in the picture, I really hope he has explained this to him and said no matter what you are being redshirted. I don't want 2 qb to go down,or can't prove they are worth a dime and then we turn to him ala Maddie after wasting 1/2 a yr +. And I guess if I am anyone else I need to determine if I really want to stay there just for the scholarship and education.

I have a feeling another strange trip with Captain Carey at the helm.

"Santa does not appear to have the ability to run this offense"...Again I would ask the same question....What, in 6 quarters of collegiate football, would Santa had to do to change this perception? He won two games; in his first action he gained nearly 100 yards rushing playing little more than half a game; and were it not for a dropped 50 yard, perfectly thrown pass, would have passed for over 300 yards in his first start. He may suck or he may be extraordinary...but in his very limited body of work it is difficult for me to comprehend how we can reach such a conclusion.

Also, if Hall is indeed the guy...the future of the program, you can make aneven stronger argument for him red shirting this season.

Under 50% throwing...4.1 yrds a carry. 2 of his long passes that were completed account for about 1/3 of his total yards on 38 attempts. No, I don't think he is the answer and at minumum has not done anything to be a front runner. And to say he or Graham is the answer once again make me question his ability to evaluate talent and/or recruit a QB.

As far as Hall, I don't want to see him make an appearance only after flops or injuries. If he is to play, he should have been mentioned as part of the QB competition. He did enroll early. I mean what goes through your mind if you are him?I am pretty confident he has followed NIUs games and seen the QB play outside of Maddie and Hare the last 2 years. Along with ability to develop talent at QB, that is why he is here: to start. Or is the logic he gets the oppurtunity to start next yr as a RS freshman vs a jr. and/or senior with experience and who the year before were handed the starting and backup role to w/ being given a shot the previous yr. Don't think he came here to be a 2, even a 1 yr starter. And he better not get the impression for Carey's sake.

A QB three-fer:

1. To those disparaging Graham and/or Santa, just remember that players often make a leap and improve substantially from one season to the next, especially young players like them. We still don't know what their ceilings are. Remember the huge difference between Harnish's sophomore and junior years. We will learn a lot about their development over the course of this spring, summer and fall camp.

2. Regardless of which one wins the job (and that may not be determined until we start conference play), I worry about both guys' ability to survive a full season physically. One thing we've learned in the past few years is that Harnish and Lynch were freaks and most QBs can't survive the punishment like they did. It's possible we could end up with Childers and Hall by default due to their body types being better suited to our offense.

3. To those obsessing about who Rod Carey will choose to play QB, please remember that Rod Carey does not choose who plays QB, or any other position for that matter. The coaching staff breaks down practice film and grades every rep. Whoever grades the highest plays. Even in the event of a grading dead heat I would wager Coach Carey takes input from his staff on how best to break the tie.

(03-26-2017 08:57 PM)LVHuskies99 Wrote:  Rumor has it that Graham looked pretty good during this past weeks practices and Santa didn't throw real well at all. Maybe Randy knows what he is talking about. Time will tell. Still have this feeling Graham has turned the corner and will have a very good year.

Our defense must have been really awful if Graham looked good.
I picture a pass to the sideline 6 inches of the ground and a DB nowhere close.

(03-26-2017 10:59 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  A QB three-fer:
3. To those obsessing about who Rod Carey will choose to play QB, please remember that Rod Carey does not choose who plays QB, or any other position for that matter. The coaching staff breaks down practice film and grades every rep. Whoever grades the highest plays. Even in the event of a grading dead heat I would wager Coach Carey takes input from his staff on how best to break the tie.

haha I think its safe to say Carey is not the best evaluator of talent. That would be putting it mildly.

(03-26-2017 10:59 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  A QB three-fer:

1. To those disparaging Graham and/or Santa, just remember that players often make a leap and improve substantially from one season to the next, especially young players like them. We still don't know what their ceilings are. Remember the huge difference between Harnish's sophomore and junior years. We will learn a lot about their development over the course of this spring, summer and fall camp.

2. Regardless of which one wins the job (and that may not be determined until we start conference play), I worry about both guys' ability to survive a full season physically. One thing we've learned in the past few years is that Harnish and Lynch were freaks and most QBs can't survive the punishment like they did. It's possible we could end up with Childers and Hall by default due to their body types being better suited to our offense.

3. To those obsessing about who Rod Carey will choose to play QB, please remember that Rod Carey does not choose who plays QB, or any other position for that matter. The coaching staff breaks down practice film and grades every rep. Whoever grades the highest plays. Even in the event of a grading dead heat I would wager Coach Carey takes input from his staff on how best to break the tie.[b]

What in the heck are you talking about? You make this sound like it's all numbers on a game show. Coach Carey, like all collegiate coaches, will choose who plays quarterback for him, and every other position for that matter.

(03-27-2017 01:14 AM)VegasHuskie Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 10:59 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  A QB three-fer:

1. To those disparaging Graham and/or Santa, just remember that players often make a leap and improve substantially from one season to the next, especially young players like them. We still don't know what their ceilings are. Remember the huge difference between Harnish's sophomore and junior years. We will learn a lot about their development over the course of this spring, summer and fall camp.

2. Regardless of which one wins the job (and that may not be determined until we start conference play), I worry about both guys' ability to survive a full season physically. One thing we've learned in the past few years is that Harnish and Lynch were freaks and most QBs can't survive the punishment like they did. It's possible we could end up with Childers and Hall by default due to their body types being better suited to our offense.

3. To those obsessing about who Rod Carey will choose to play QB, please remember that Rod Carey does not choose who plays QB, or any other position for that matter. The coaching staff breaks down practice film and grades every rep. Whoever grades the highest plays. Even in the event of a grading dead heat I would wager Coach Carey takes input from his staff on how best to break the tie.[b]

What in the heck are you talking about? You make this sound like it's all numbers on a game show. Coach Carey, like all collegiate coaches, will choose who plays quarterback for him, and every other position for that matter.

I think his point was it's not like Carey is going to go rogue. It'll be a consensus within the staff.

Now this is the same offensive staff that moved Maddie to WR and continuously underutilized Huff, so if that doesn't comfort you either I can't blame you.

I think Vegas is talking about in-season decisions like pulling Graham for Maddie in the WIU game. That is indeed a coach's decision. I'm talking about the spring/summer/fall evaluation that determines the depth chart for the first game. The players decide that one based on how they practice. If Santa grades out significantly better than Graham then Santa starts. It's not like Coach Carey will say the last six months of evaluation are well and good but eff it, I'm starting Graham anyway. Like I said above, the coaches will weigh in if a particular position battle is too close to call but that comes after the whole eval process.

We have very limited tape on Santa. Yes, in the little he has played he wasn't impressive in the accuracy department, but lets not forget that he was a R-Fr last year. I do believe he could start next season and not be a liability.

You remember what we had the first year after Lynch graduated? 3 games in we were still playing multiple QBs. We could end up with that again.

1981 has a good point in that sometimes the players can improve from sophomore to junior year (or freshman to sophomore). I'll admit I'm not too optimistic though - as 7 pointed out, there were comments that Graham looked good in practice before last year. I doubt they are sacking or even touching Graham in practice, so it makes sense he'd feel a lot more comfortable there than in an actual game.

That is damned sad to deny an athlete with the injuries he has faced with the opportunity to finish his collegiate carreer on a high note

(03-26-2017 11:09 PM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 08:57 PM)LVHuskies99 Wrote:  Rumor has it that Graham looked pretty good during this past weeks practices and Santa didn't throw real well at all. Maybe Randy knows what he is talking about. Time will tell. Still have this feeling Graham has turned the corner and will have a very good year.

Our defense must have been really awful if Graham looked good.
I picture a pass to the sideline 6 inches of the ground and a DB nowhere close.

Yea. Graham may be a really sweet kid but he has zero business being our starting QB. We will be screwed this year if he is it.
As if our schedule wasn't depressing enough...

(03-29-2017 04:46 PM)HuskieFootball Addict Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 11:09 PM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 08:57 PM)LVHuskies99 Wrote:  Rumor has it that Graham looked pretty good during this past weeks practices and Santa didn't throw real well at all. Maybe Randy knows what he is talking about. Time will tell. Still have this feeling Graham has turned the corner and will have a very good year.

Our defense must have been really awful if Graham looked good.
I picture a pass to the sideline 6 inches of the ground and a DB nowhere close.

Yea. Graham may be a really sweet kid but he has zero business being our starting QB. We will be screwed this year if he is it.
As if our schedule wasn't depressing enough...

I couldn't disagree more. We will see

(03-30-2017 09:01 AM)LVHuskies99 Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 04:46 PM)HuskieFootball Addict Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 11:09 PM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 08:57 PM)LVHuskies99 Wrote:  Rumor has it that Graham looked pretty good during this past weeks practices and Santa didn't throw real well at all. Maybe Randy knows what he is talking about. Time will tell. Still have this feeling Graham has turned the corner and will have a very good year.

Our defense must have been really awful if Graham looked good.
I picture a pass to the sideline 6 inches of the ground and a DB nowhere close.

Yea. Graham may be a really sweet kid but he has zero business being our starting QB. We will be screwed this year if he is it.
As if our schedule wasn't depressing enough...

I couldn't disagree more. We will see

Based on what???

(03-30-2017 09:01 AM)LVHuskies99 Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 04:46 PM)HuskieFootball Addict Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 11:09 PM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  

(03-26-2017 08:57 PM)LVHuskies99 Wrote:  Rumor has it that Graham looked pretty good during this past weeks practices and Santa didn't throw real well at all. Maybe Randy knows what he is talking about. Time will tell. Still have this feeling Graham has turned the corner and will have a very good year.

Our defense must have been really awful if Graham looked good.
I picture a pass to the sideline 6 inches of the ground and a DB nowhere close.

Yea. Graham may be a really sweet kid but he has zero business being our starting QB. We will be screwed this year if he is it.
As if our schedule wasn't depressing enough...

I couldn't disagree more. We will see

I was a Graham supporter going into last season, but that was based mostly on his passing mechanics. He can get rid of the ball quickly and hit some short routes nicely. That was ok when we had proven play makers at WR as in 2016. Just get the ball to Turner or Kenny quickly and let them gain yards after the catch. Or He could throw one of his deep floating lame duck passes and golladay could go up and snatch it. Blake won't be able to do that. Graham has had enough time to show what he is. A guy who can only hit a few pass patterns well, can't make big plays when needed and can't really run the ball. Tough kid. Good team mate. QB-3.

I also liked Graham going into last season. He showed some toughness and playmaking ability before he got hurt prior to the Boise debacle. Most Quarterbacks show improvement when they've been in the system for more than one year. He didn't get better. If he's going to start, I hope it's because he's Night and Day better than last year or Night and Day better than Santa. That is all.

Graham decision making process is too slow. This kills him more than his ability which is lacking as well. Double whammy with this kid. Teaching a player to think faster doesn't just happen. It was worth a look but IMO he'll never develop into a D1 caliber QB.