MarQueis Gray - Best QB in the Big 10

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GOPHER.NATION.

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I believe MINNESOTA has the best quarterback in the Big 10. I will base my opinion on the second half of MarQueis’s season last year and ignore the WI game (when he had his twins the night before the game) as well as knowing the progressions he has made as the team leader. As we know, he has only had one full year as a starting quarterback and missed out on valuable game experience when Weber was starting, despite Q spending most of his time during practice as a QB instead of a WR. I believe his passing game is going to be much more consistent and accurate and his running game speaks for itself.

Q’s overall stats should improve greatly from last year just based on the fact that Minnesota will have a much better team. The 2011 season had an inconsistent running game, unified O-line, bad defense, lots of dropped passes, a new coaching staff that brought a new offense and defense scheme (the offensive scheme as too complex at the beginning of the season too), etc . . . I believe this year the Gophs will not be an inferior team, but rather a team that has a chance to stay competitive in every game.

Below are the starters for all the teams and my thoughts for each followed by passing and rushing statistics from 2011 . . .

Illinois - Nathan Scheelhaase – inconsistent
Indiana – Tre Roberson – freshman . . .
Iowa – james Vandenberg - solid passing QB
Michigan – denard robinson – can’t throw as well, but a better runner outside of the tackles . . . Queis’s biggest competition, but I think Queis would beat him out
Michigan state – Andrew Maxwell – haven’t seen him play
Minnesota – QUEIS – the man
Nebraska – taylor Martinez – can’t throw well, but a great runner
Northwestern – Kain Colter - solid
Ohio state – Braxton Miller – good
Penn state – Matt McGloin . . . not really sure . . .
Purdue – uncertain – but all three that have played are good
Wisconsin – Danny O’Brien – I cannot comment. I have not seen him play. But he is no Russell Wilson and the Badgers will realize that RW was the main reason they blew a perfect opportunity to have a much better season . . .

here is the website I used b/c the format didn't convert . . . http://espn.go.com/college-football...player/_/stat/passing/id/5/big-ten-conference

RK PLAYER
TEAM ATT COMP PCT YDS YDS/A LONG TD INT SACK RAT

3 James Vandenberg, QB
IOWA 404 237 58.7 3022 7.5 88 25 7 29 138.4
5 Denard Robinson, QB
MICH 258 142 55.0 2173 8.4 77 20 15 13 139.7
6 Nathan Scheelhaase, QB
ILL 291 184 63.2 2110 7.3 77 13 8 34 133.4
7 Taylor Martinez, QB
NEB 288 162 56.3 2089 7.3 61 13 8 21 126.5
8 Caleb TerBush, QB
PUR 277 171 61.7 1905 6.9 50 13 6 22 130.7
9 Matthew McGloin, QB
PSU 231 125 54.1 1571 6.8 74 8 5 6 118.3
10 MarQueis Gray, QB
MINN 213 108 50.7 1495 7.0 64 8 8 17 114.5
11 Braxton Miller, QB
OSU 157 85 54.1 1159 7.4 54 13 4 39 138.4
13 Tre Roberson, QB
IND 142 81 57.0 937 6.6 43 3 6 12 111.0
15 Kain Colter, QB
NW 82 55 67.1 673 8.2 81 6 1 9 157.7

Running

RK PLAYER
TEAM ATT YDS YDS/A LONG TD
5 Denard Robinson, QB
MICH 221 1176 5.3 53 16
7 MarQueis Gray, QB
MINN 199 966 4.9 37 6
9 Taylor Martinez, QB
NEB 188 874 4.6 57 9
11 Braxton Miller, QB
OSU 159 715 4.5 81 7
16 Kain Colter, QB
NW 135 654 4.8 46 9
18 Nathan Scheelhaase, QB
ILL 191 624 3.3 37 6
25 Tre Roberson, QB
IND 109 426 3.9 34 2

Bottom Line: I BELIEVE!!! LET’S GO GOPHERS!!! QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 more days . . .

GOPHER.NATION.
 

I enjoy your enthusiasm and fully expect you to post here 72 hours from now. The Friday post could be anything from start Shortell to Heisman watch for Q.
 

GOPHER.NATION. said:
I believe MINNESOTA has the best quarterback in the Big 10. I will base my opinion on the second half of MarQueis’s season last year and ignore the WI game (when he had his twins the night before the game) as well as knowing the progressions he has made as the team leader. As we know, he has only had one full year as a starting quarterback and missed out on valuable game experience when Weber was starting, despite Q spending most of his time during practice as a QB instead of a WR. I believe his passing game is going to be much more consistent and accurate and his running game speaks for itself.

Q’s overall stats should improve greatly from last year just based on the fact that Minnesota will have a much better team. The 2011 season had an inconsistent running game, unified O-line, bad defense, lots of dropped passes, a new coaching staff that brought a new offense and defense scheme (the offensive scheme as too complex at the beginning of the season too), etc . . . I believe this year the Gophs will not be an inferior team, but rather a team that has a chance to stay competitive in every game.

Below are the starters for all the teams and my thoughts for each followed by passing and rushing statistics from 2011 . . .

Illinois - Nathan Scheelhaase – inconsistent
Indiana – Tre Roberson – freshman . . .
Iowa – james Vandenberg - solid passing QB
Michigan – denard robinson – can’t throw as well, but a better runner outside of the tackles . . . Queis’s biggest competition, but I think Queis would beat him out
Michigan state – Andrew Maxwell – haven’t seen him play
Minnesota – QUEIS – the man
Nebraska – taylor Martinez – can’t throw well, but a great runner
Northwestern – Kain Colter - solid
Ohio state – Braxton Miller – good
Penn state – Matt McGloin . . . not really sure . . .
Purdue – uncertain – but all three that have played are good
Wisconsin – Danny O’Brien – I cannot comment. I have not seen him play. But he is no Russell Wilson and the Badgers will realize that RW was the main reason they blew a perfect opportunity to have a much better season . . .

here is the website I used b/c the format didn't convert . . . http://espn.go.com/college-football...player/_/stat/passing/id/5/big-ten-conference

RK PLAYER
TEAM ATT COMP PCT YDS YDS/A LONG TD INT SACK RAT

3 James Vandenberg, QB
IOWA 404 237 58.7 3022 7.5 88 25 7 29 138.4
5 Denard Robinson, QB
MICH 258 142 55.0 2173 8.4 77 20 15 13 139.7
6 Nathan Scheelhaase, QB
ILL 291 184 63.2 2110 7.3 77 13 8 34 133.4
7 Taylor Martinez, QB
NEB 288 162 56.3 2089 7.3 61 13 8 21 126.5
8 Caleb TerBush, QB
PUR 277 171 61.7 1905 6.9 50 13 6 22 130.7
9 Matthew McGloin, QB
PSU 231 125 54.1 1571 6.8 74 8 5 6 118.3
10 MarQueis Gray, QB
MINN 213 108 50.7 1495 7.0 64 8 8 17 114.5
11 Braxton Miller, QB
OSU 157 85 54.1 1159 7.4 54 13 4 39 138.4
13 Tre Roberson, QB
IND 142 81 57.0 937 6.6 43 3 6 12 111.0
15 Kain Colter, QB
NW 82 55 67.1 673 8.2 81 6 1 9 157.7

Running

RK PLAYER
TEAM ATT YDS YDS/A LONG TD
5 Denard Robinson, QB
MICH 221 1176 5.3 53 16
7 MarQueis Gray, QB
MINN 199 966 4.9 37 6
9 Taylor Martinez, QB
NEB 188 874 4.6 57 9
11 Braxton Miller, QB
OSU 159 715 4.5 81 7
16 Kain Colter, QB
NW 135 654 4.8 46 9
18 Nathan Scheelhaase, QB
ILL 191 624 3.3 37 6
25 Tre Roberson, QB
IND 109 426 3.9 34 2

Bottom Line: I BELIEVE!!! LET’S GO GOPHERS!!! QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 more days . . .

GOPHER.NATION.
Click to expand...
I love Marqueis, but let's see it on the field before we pump him up, he has played one season of D1 QB, still pretty inexperienced.
 

My guess is that Marqueis finally set up a Gopherhole account. Welcome Marqueis, good luck this season. I hope you end up being right!
 

By choosing select games where Q played well, and ignoring the ones where he played poorly, AND admitting to knowing very little about most of the other QB's in the conference... let me also say he is not only the best QB in the conference, but likely the best QB in the country (especially when playing Illinois, at home, in November, wearing a gold jersey).

I admire your enthusiasm but like others have said, we are now to the point where we can actually watch to see if the improvement over the year last year will continue into this season. I enjoy watching Q play and I'm looking forward to the potential big season he might have.
 



That all sounds good except for calling him Queis.
 

Still Believe?

GOPHER.NATION. said:
I believe MINNESOTA has the best quarterback in the Big 10. I will base my opinion on the second half of MarQueis’s season last year and ignore the WI game (when he had his twins the night before the game) as well as knowing the progressions he has made as the team leader. As we know, he has only had one full year as a starting quarterback and missed out on valuable game experience when Weber was starting, despite Q spending most of his time during practice as a QB instead of a WR. I believe his passing game is going to be much more consistent and accurate and his running game speaks for itself.

Q’s overall stats should improve greatly from last year just based on the fact that Minnesota will have a much better team. The 2011 season had an inconsistent running game, unified O-line, bad defense, lots of dropped passes, a new coaching staff that brought a new offense and defense scheme (the offensive scheme as too complex at the beginning of the season too), etc . . . I believe this year the Gophs will not be an inferior team, but rather a team that has a chance to stay competitive in every game.

Below are the starters for all the teams and my thoughts for each followed by passing and rushing statistics from 2011 . . .

Illinois - Nathan Scheelhaase – inconsistent
Indiana – Tre Roberson – freshman . . .
Iowa – james Vandenberg - solid passing QB
Michigan – denard robinson – can’t throw as well, but a better runner outside of the tackles . . . Queis’s biggest competition, but I think Queis would beat him out
Michigan state – Andrew Maxwell – haven’t seen him play
Minnesota – QUEIS – the man
Nebraska – taylor Martinez – can’t throw well, but a great runner
Northwestern – Kain Colter - solid
Ohio state – Braxton Miller – good
Penn state – Matt McGloin . . . not really sure . . .
Purdue – uncertain – but all three that have played are good
Wisconsin – Danny O’Brien – I cannot comment. I have not seen him play. But he is no Russell Wilson and the Badgers will realize that RW was the main reason they blew a perfect opportunity to have a much better season . . .

here is the website I used b/c the format didn't convert . . . http://espn.go.com/college-football...player/_/stat/passing/id/5/big-ten-conference

RK PLAYER
TEAM ATT COMP PCT YDS YDS/A LONG TD INT SACK RAT

3 James Vandenberg, QB
IOWA 404 237 58.7 3022 7.5 88 25 7 29 138.4
5 Denard Robinson, QB
MICH 258 142 55.0 2173 8.4 77 20 15 13 139.7
6 Nathan Scheelhaase, QB
ILL 291 184 63.2 2110 7.3 77 13 8 34 133.4
7 Taylor Martinez, QB
NEB 288 162 56.3 2089 7.3 61 13 8 21 126.5
8 Caleb TerBush, QB
PUR 277 171 61.7 1905 6.9 50 13 6 22 130.7
9 Matthew McGloin, QB
PSU 231 125 54.1 1571 6.8 74 8 5 6 118.3
10 MarQueis Gray, QB
MINN 213 108 50.7 1495 7.0 64 8 8 17 114.5
11 Braxton Miller, QB
OSU 157 85 54.1 1159 7.4 54 13 4 39 138.4
13 Tre Roberson, QB
IND 142 81 57.0 937 6.6 43 3 6 12 111.0
15 Kain Colter, QB
NW 82 55 67.1 673 8.2 81 6 1 9 157.7

Running

RK PLAYER
TEAM ATT YDS YDS/A LONG TD
5 Denard Robinson, QB
MICH 221 1176 5.3 53 16
7 MarQueis Gray, QB
MINN 199 966 4.9 37 6
9 Taylor Martinez, QB
NEB 188 874 4.6 57 9
11 Braxton Miller, QB
OSU 159 715 4.5 81 7
16 Kain Colter, QB
NW 135 654 4.8 46 9
18 Nathan Scheelhaase, QB
ILL 191 624 3.3 37 6
25 Tre Roberson, QB
IND 109 426 3.9 34 2

Bottom Line: I BELIEVE!!! LET’S GO GOPHERS!!! QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 more days . . .

GOPHER.NATION.
Click to expand...

Do you still believe this after last night?
 

DC Gopher said:
Do you still believe this after last night?
Click to expand...

I BELIEVE!!! (sorry for the delayed response. I was in Vegas for the game and then travelling the rest of the weekend until I got home late Monday night)

I will say that Queis played his worst 2 possibly three consecutive quarters I have ever seen based on the fact that he missed multiple EASY passes for TDs. When you setup the run and pass in order to make the easy TD throw, you have to convert. Queis did not. In the 4th and OT, you could see how effective the O can be when Q hits his receivers in stride. This will continue to occur on a much more routine basis. He is in a good system with much better personnel around him (I was pleased with the receivers improvement from last year – but have a long way to go).

I was very impressed with how he was able to pull it together when his team needed the captain to come through and win the game. That is a championship quality that the best players have.

Also, I don’t think I have heard anybody talking about how he was only sacked once. How many times did he avoid trouble and convert what could have been a negative play into a positive play.

RK PLAYER TEAM ATT
COMP
PCT
YDS
YDS/A
LONG
TD
INT
SACK
RAT


1 Taylor Martinez, QB NEB 34 26 76.5 354 10.4 36 5 0 1 212.5
2 Robert Marve, QB PUR 38 30 78.9 295 7.8 46 3 1 1 164.9
3 Tre Roberson, QB IND 36 26 72.2 280 7.8 71 1 0 0 146.7
4 MarQueis Gray, QB MINN 30 17 56.7 269 9.0 40 2 1 1 147.3
5 Matthew McGloin, QB PSU 48 27 56.3 260 5.4 22 2 1 0 111.3
6 Andrew Maxwell, QB MSU 38 22 57.9 248 6.5 42 0 3 0 96.9
7 Danny O'Brien, QB WIS 23 19 82.6 219 9.5 53 2 0 1 191.3
8 Braxton Miller, QB OSU 24 14 58.3 207 8.6 44 2 0 2 158.3
9 Denard Robinson, QB MICH 26 11 42.3 200 7.7 71 1 2 1 104.2
10 Kain Colter, QB NW 21 14 66.7 135 6.4 21 2 0 3 152.1

I only got to see a few highlights of other games and part of the NU and MSU game. Colter looks solid through half when I stopped watching (I heard he was injured in the 4th and was replaced), Miller looked pretty good (but one of his TDs came off the catch of the year), D Robinson got roughed up (can’t make much out of it since it was against Alabama), Martinez had some good numbers (I don’t think he can keep that up, especially if his start RB is hurt), the MSU guy isn’t good, I heard the WI guy wasn’t too impressive, and I did not hear anything about the Purdue or Indiana quarterbacks . . .

Against UNH: Q will come out and stroke the post against UNH and silence all the critics, some of which think Shortell should start (unbelievable . . .). Q will have a big run (he is still fast. The DL on UNLV had a good angle on him and Q had a bad run), his accuracy on all passes will be the same as UNLV except he will connect on the EASY, wide-open TD passes, and he will be a MarQuei(s) player to watch in the Big Ten (sorry if you didn’t catch that play on words . . .).

I know it is a team game, but the quarterback is the most important position player in any sport. I’m glad Queis is on my side!

on a side note: what's wrong with calling him Queis - personal preference or something else? just wondering . . .

SKI-U-MAH!!!
 




Again, sorry for the delayed response this week. I went straight from the game to lake mille lacs fishing and just got home.

Quick recap of other QBs: I caught the NE game vs UCLA and Martinez is a horrible passer – possibly the worst in the Big 10.

Well, after a nearly flawless game, I hope there are more believers this week. He moved around the pocket well and still threw strikes to the receivers. He did not lose a step and proved his top notch speed is still there.

ESPN QB rating
1. MarQueis Gray, MINN
171.6
Enough said . . .

I am sick and tired of reading posts like the following two:
Take away his 75 yard run and his numbers are pretty pedestrian (wow . . . take away all big plays from any player and they look pretty pedestrian)
Two games is too small a sample size (he admitted playing horrible against UNLV where he should have had a game just like UNH)

He is the best QB in the Big10. He is the best QB on this team. He gives us the best chance to win as our starting QB.

STOP WHINING. SUPPORT YOUR TEAM. SUPPORT YOUR PLAYERS. SUPPORT YOUR COACHES DECISION TO START GRAY. AND START BELIEVING!!! WE ARE FOR REAL!!!

On a side note: instead of calling him Queis how does MQG sound?

On another side note: QUEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
 

" what's wrong with calling him Queis "

Because then there would be a pissing contest on how it should be pronounced: Quees? Quiss? Keees? Kiss?

Keep it simple, just call him Q
 




GOPHER.NATION. said:
I am sick and tired of reading posts like the following two:
Take away his 75 yard run and his numbers are pretty pedestrian (wow . . . take away all big plays from any player and they look pretty pedestrian)
Two games is too small a sample size (he admitted playing horrible against UNLV where he should have had a game just like UNH)

He is the best QB in the Big10. He is the best QB on this team. He gives us the best chance to win as our starting QB.
Click to expand...

Since the one in bold was mine I will respond. Honestly his running stat is more a concern with the O-line then it is with Gray. Against an overmatched defensive line our QB who was as big or bigger then most of the guys he was up against couldn't break free outside of one big play. He rushed for 2.1 yards per carry on his other carries.

After 2 weeks I will certainly say he is one of the better QB's in the conference though from the looks of things that may not be saying a ton this year as I don't see anyone really looking all that good. And before you go all caps lock on me yes he has put up good/great numbers so far on the year but he has done it against crap defenses. I hope he continues to put up great numbers as the competition gets better because if he does it probably means we are winning games. But take a step back, look at the competition, and understand that being 2-0 at this point does not make us "for real". If we come out of the next couple weeks unbeaten then there will be more reason to get excited but as of today we have squeeked past a crap D1 team on the road and routed a very average FCS team at home.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Since the one in bold was mine I will respond. Honestly his running stat is more a concern with the O-line then it is with Gray. Against an overmatched defensive line our QB who was as big or bigger then most of the guys he was up against couldn't break free outside of one big play. He rushed for 2.1 yards per carry on his other carries.
Click to expand...

Don't worry too much about the low yards/carry. There's a good reason for the running stat being so low and it doesn't have much to do with the O-Line. His running stats are skewed by the fact that frequently when he drops back, he bails from a nice cozy pocket for ABSOLUTELY no reason and runs himself into a sack. I counted at LEAST 4-5 times when he did that against UNH; twice it resulted in sacks, once or twice for little to no gain, and once he scrambled for about 10 yards (unfortunately that was on 3rd and 12).

He has to be an O-lineman's worst nightmare. He's rarely where he's supposed to be and you never know where he's going to go. He was sacked 3 times against UNH (I think?) and two of those were on him. Maddening....
 

MNVCGUY

1 - I understand what you are saying, but disagree. Sometimes when you run a read option play, you have to be patient enough to capitalize on the Ds mistake and bust one for 75 . . . i'll leave it at that since i have a few more comments . . .

too - i agree that the Big 10 is weak at QB this year as well as a conference as a whole . . .

12/4 - I would rather be a believer and supporter of my team no matter what circumstances. It's funny what good attitudes can do . . . pretty contagious . . . I'll admit that i'm drinking the maroon and gold kool-aid all day long . . .

four - SKI-U-MAH!!!
 

an offensive linemans worst nightmare . . . seriously? how many sacks has he avoided b/c of poor protection? How many positive running plays has he created with his size and talent when the blocking has been poor? I would be counting my blessings that the best player / leader of the team is the QB if i was a young o lineman for the U . . .
 

Once we line up in the B1G & teams stack the box & dare him to beat them with his arm we'll know where we're at.

Last year he couldn't beat single coverage so there was no reason for teams to respect his passing. So they stacked the box, took away our running game & consequently we went 3-9. We know Q can be an effective passer as we've seen him do it in individual games, but so far he hasn't shown the week in/week out consistency we need him to show. Fingers crossed.
 

GOPHER.NATION. said:
on a side note: what's wrong with calling him Queis - personal preference or something else? just wondering . . .

SKI-U-MAH!!!
Click to expand...
I never heard anyone call him Queis. Other than MarQueis, I've only heard Q from coaches, players, and media. Having never met him, seems like he prefers Q.
 

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