Athan finishes season ranked 14th in passer rating in B1G

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hello-world

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Micheal Penix Jr. was #38 QB in the B1G in 2021 based on QB rating, now he's #3 in the Pac-12 and #10 overall in FBS.

OC and QB coach can make a HUGE difference in the performance of a QB.....
 


GopherFanatic19 said:
I would bet it is safe to say if we have a middle of the pack QB we win 2-3 more games. We beat NW, Ill, and Wisconsin
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I'm not sure. There were defensive blunders in the NW & IL games that a MOTP QB couldn't counterbalance.
 






gopherbadgerman said:
Never would have been in those spots IMO.
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See that's where we differ. The breakdown in coverage in the defensive secondary in both those games was being exploited. If we had our foot on the gas the whole time on offense, why wouldn't NW & IL have tried other plays that would have challenged the repeated breakdowns and actually succeeded in scoring more too?
 
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Well, I hope PJ has the sense to explore the portal for another QB to compete with Athan next fall. It would be crazy not to have other options and if Athan crumbles when faced with competition then he's not a Big 1G QB. I think we just need a bridge to get to Drake Lindsey, as he appears to still be onboard with PJ. These are his Stats:

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Any NIL we do have should be funneled to this kid with 49 TDs this year to only 2 INTs. That's 2 INTs on 326 attempts his Sen season.
 

If the Gophers can find a QB in the portal (who is willing to come to MN and play in this offense), then Fleck should have one of those tough conversations with Athan, and maybe "suggest" that Athan consider his options.

He might be the greatest guy in the world - but he is not a P5 level QB, and the Gopher coaches clearly have failed to help Athan improve.
 

The passing game was bad.

In the optimistic offseason, AK was to elevate the passing game -- the 4-star QB with some experience last season. The opposite happened.

He is still early in his career. No idea what to predict.
 

Athan definitely has arm talent but there was a frustrating lack of progress as the season went on. I don't think he looks any better than he did in his first games as a freshman, and that is troubling. I want to believe he will deliver on his promise but it would be nice to see the steps forward after 1.5 seasons as a starter.

He makes a few pro caliber throws every game but consistency, accuracy, and timing need development. For every glaring misfire this year there was a subtle misfire, where the completion was made but off stride or behind the receiver. Some of those subtle misfires would have been huge gains or touchdowns.

Some of it was the supporting cast. Pass protection was meh, and relied a lot on leaving the TE and RB in to block. Play-calling was unimaginative and didn't give him many chances to get easy completions. Cousins/Dobbs get bigger throwing windows on Sunday than Athan does in Big Ten games. He's been hurt by a lot of drops.

I think there's still plenty of hope for Athan and he may well be our best option going forward. He's still got time to improve. I would like to see PJ try someone other than Harbaugh at the OC/QB coach role and bring in a transfer QB for competition.
 


hello-world said:
Illinois, Indiana, and Northwestern each have two QBs that played a meaningful number of snaps this year with better passer ratings than Athan

www.espn.com

College Football Offense Passing Big Ten Stat Leaders, 2024 Season - ESPN

ESPN is the place for NCAAF stats! Discover the Big Ten Offense stat leaders of the 2024 college football season.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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This blame gets placed squarely on the coaches. AK has the tools, but he has been terribly coached. In addition, our offense is so incredibly vanilla that no QB would ever have a good rating. Put McCarthy from Michigan in this offense and he ends up somewhere between 10 and 14 in rating. This year's failure is very much a result of awful coaching. GivevAK a good coach and he quickly rises to 7 or 8 at the bottom end.
 

hello-world said:
Illinois, Indiana, and Northwestern each have two QBs that played a meaningful number of snaps this year with better passer ratings than Athan

www.espn.com

College Football Offense Passing Big Ten Stat Leaders, 2024 Season - ESPN

ESPN is the place for NCAAF stats! Discover the Big Ten Offense stat leaders of the 2024 college football season.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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This blame gets placed squarely on the coaches. AK has the tools, but he has been terribly coached. In addition, our offense is so incredibly vanilla that no QB would ever have a good rating. Put McCarthy from Michigan in this offense and he ends up somewhere between 10 and 14 in rating. This year's failure is very much a result of awful coaching. Give AK a good coach and he quickly rises to 7 or 8 at the bottom end
 

fmlizard said:
Athan definitely has arm talent but there was a frustrating lack of progress as the season went on. I don't think he looks any better than he did in his first games as a freshman, and that is troubling. I want to believe he will deliver on his promise but it would be nice to see the steps forward after 1.5 seasons as a starter.

He makes a few pro caliber throws every game but consistency, accuracy, and timing need development. For every glaring misfire this year there was a subtle misfire, where the completion was made but off stride or behind the receiver. Some of those subtle misfires would have been huge gains or touchdowns.

Some of it was the supporting cast. Pass protection was meh, and relied a lot on leaving the TE and RB in to block. Play-calling was unimaginative and didn't give him many chances to get easy completions. Cousins/Dobbs get bigger throwing windows on Sunday than Athan does in Big Ten games. He's been hurt by a lot of drops.

I think there's still plenty of hope for Athan and he may well be our best option going forward. He's still got time to improve. I would like to see PJ try someone other than Harbaugh at the OC/QB coach role and bring in a transfer QB for competition.
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Uncle Rico also had "arm talent."
 



fmlizard said:
Athan definitely has arm talent but there was a frustrating lack of progress as the season went on.

He makes a few pro caliber throws every game but consistency, accuracy, and timing need development.
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What are you guys watching? He is consistently off target, late, and he can't throw 40 yards accurately. He is among the worst Minnesota QBs I've seen.
 

AK is going to struggle to progress until they have a more effective coaching situation around him in term of QB coach and OC. Its common to parts of a player's game improve a piece at a time through the season, but he never really seemed.... can't find the right words. The effort is there, and he has physical skills. He's not being "tutored"
 

Gopherchase said:
He’s 150th in the country QBR rating.
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Brutal. Definitely regressed from the limited action he saw last year. Combination of playcalling, talent, and the fact that he just doesn’t know what he’s doing. Time to look in the portal or hope Lindsey from Arkansas still commits.
 



hello-world said:
What are you guys watching? He is consistently off target, late, and he can't throw 40 yards accurately. He is among the worst Minnesota QBs I've seen.
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Everyone wants him to do well, but the fact is he’s not that good. Time to look at the portal. I hope the true freshman coming in next year is ready to start against North Carolina.
 

FinnGopher said:
This blame gets placed squarely on the coaches. AK has the tools, but he has been terribly coached. In addition, our offense is so incredibly vanilla that no QB would ever have a good rating. Put McCarthy from Michigan in this offense and he ends up somewhere between 10 and 14 in rating. This year's failure is very much a result of awful coaching. GivevAK a good coach and he quickly rises to 7 or 8 at the bottom end.
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I don't know how true this really is. I'm sure coaching has to do with it somewhat, but putting all of the blame on the coaches and none on Athan seems unfair. If AK was truly a great quarterback, I feel like he would be able to use his raw talent to overcome some of the poor coaching.

A talented player is a talented player. Sometimes scheme A might fit them better than scheme B, or a different coach can give more appropriate advice. But I feel like if AK was who we all wish he was, he would be able to make at least a few more plays this season that would have made the difference between wins and losses.

There have been plenty of players in college football who've been talented enough to excel even with poor coaching, too. Denard Robinson was really good even though he was being led by two coaches that didn't last long at Michigan. Johnny Manziel was able to win games on the fly even though he was coached by Kevin Sumlin who flamed out.

I'm not comparing AK to these players, I'm just saying if the talent is there, they can make some magic happen. Outside of Wisconsin last year, AK hasn't done much, and I honestly think it's a good thing that Tanner Morgan had to step in during the bowl game last season because I'm not sure Athan would have won the game.
 

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