(11-12-2022 01:35 PM)MiamiHuskie Wrote: (11-12-2022 10:30 AM)Big Red Wrote: (11-12-2022 10:04 AM)MiamiHuskie Wrote: Any chance we'll see Lomax or Fletcher in at QB?
There's a chance. Maybe early. I know Hammock said he wants to take advantage of the 4 games guys can play and still keep their red shirt but I know he also wants to win the game (as does the team) so he's not just going to throw either of those two (or anyone else in there) just to see what happens.
Honestly, unless either of those guys are going to get 10 or so plays each of the next couple of games (that would be 20 plays total each game), then I don't necessarily see the point in putting them out there. Anything they do is going to have the caveat of randomness and just a couple plays isn't much to learn on either.
I have to believe Hammock and the coaching staff have a decent idea of the talent of these guys from practice. Obviously, you do see things in actual games that don't come up in practice but skills are skills and don't miraculously show up when there's an actual opponent.
Other positions we are probably more likely to see guys we've never seen. QB is a tough one to just throw a guy into for the entire team. You also have to figure Lomax and Fletcher were probably running compete team plays all week so also having them both ready to go in this one is a big task.
Anyway... the tl;dr version: Maybe.
I don't see Cremascoli as a dual threat QB, and for some reason they won't let Lynch open it up. NIU needs a QB who can run.
Do we have any dual threat QBs? Maybe Lombardi but nevertheless, I don't see that as a requirement.
Cremascoli ran 3 times in the CMU game for 15 yards. I don't recall the circumstances on his 3 runs but I remember 2 of them to a little exentent and I just remember him looking like he could run if he had to but that wasn't hit primary game.
I think first and foremost, we need a QB who is competent behind center (or in the shotgun...whatever) and be able to throw a deep pass and hit guys over the middle. He doesn't have to be amazing at any of that stuff. Mix in an ability to move and escape the pocket and we have a pretty good QB on our hands.
Sometimes I see the desire for Lomax and Fletcher as a "grass is greener" type of scenario. None of us have ever seen either of those two in game action yet many on this board talk about them constantly and want them to play.
Same goes for Lynch. Everyone wanted Lynch to play until he played and then no one wanted him out there until he wasn't out there and now all of a sudden, many wants him out there throwing the ball.
People did this with Lombardi last year too early in the year and then somewhere around mid-season, people fell in love with him.
The fascination of the unknown backup is a weird thing in football.
Which is why I asked earlier about how many reps these guys should realistically be getting.
I don't get the sense Hammock nor the team have given up on winning games and there's literally no reason to tank the last two games. We don't get a better draft position and winning games is really all that should matter.
Sacrificing that to run Lomax and Fletcher out there for 15 to 20 snaps (combined) could very well ruin chances at success.
I'm not sure it's realistic to have 4 QBs ready to play in a game unless you just gave them small parts of the playbook and that seems to be a huge bone of contention around here regarding Lynch so I don't know why we'd be in favor of it with two additional freshman QBs.
Ultimately, I don't care all that much and would be curious to see both of those guys get in there and play. My questions and pushback only come out of asking about how it would realistically be done.