time to honor Weber

[Seany]

In honor of Adam Weber, I'm going to take some time out of my Thanksgiving holiday to go outside and throw a football into the dirt.

Sorry, that was out of line. Instead I'm going to throw it over somebody's head.

Too many of those, too many times throwing into coverages he shouldn't have, too many times holding onto the ball too long when he'd have been much better off just throwing it away and resetting, and etc etc. We all know the story, and those were the problems.

I can't help but wonder how he might have developed with a strong and stable coach behind him, someone to teach him and actually develop him as a player, as opposed to the revolving offensive coaches and divergent offensive philosophies he was forced to try and adapt to. That's hard to deal with on a year by year basis, and in my opinion that did not help him out one bit.

 

[fridge2012]

Obviously he was not great on the field, not a gopher great in my book. But he gave 5 years of hard work to MN football, and the university. He deserves the same honor as the rest of the seniors who have done the same.

 

[drunkenMNgopher]

Honor Hayo Carpenter! Remember when he caught that one pass? I know. It was awesome!

 

[year of the gopher]

We should be honoring all the seniors, including Adam Weber and yes, even Hayo Carpenter.

It's not their fault they were led for the last 3 1/2 years by an overmatched head coach with a revolving door of coaching philosophies and coordinators. They were not well served by the coaching staff(s) at the U of M during their time here. Let's hope they have one last good experience before they are done.

 

[theTurning]

i have no problem giving him the respect the seniors deserve. i'll be at the game applauding. but calling him an all-time great should be a preposterous statement nominee.

 

[imthewalrus]

No wonder Gopher Football is virtually dead. Some of these so-called Gopher fans really don't deserve to have a football program to dump on.

 

[Seany]

It's not their fault they were led for the last 3 1/2 years by an overmatched head coach with a revolving door of coaching philosophies and coordinators. They were not well served by the coaching staff(s) at the U of M during their time here.

I have no doubt but that that held Weber back and hindered his development as a player. As a freshman, he was such an instinctive player. He was great rolling out, he was great in motion and out of the pocket, and he showed a real knack for turning busted plays into positive ones. He was by no stretch of the imagination ever a speedster, but he was a very dangerous runner, and if a play wasn't there he would just tuck it in and run with it and he made a lot of big third downs by doing that. He just looked really, really promising for a freshman player, and beyond that he was very exciting to watch. He averaged 50+ yards rushing and 250+ yards passing per game, and I thought his sophomore season he might go for 750-1000 yards rushing and 3000+ yards passing just based on natural progression as a player along with increased familiarity and comfort level with the game, but by that point he was asked to run a spread, and he was never the same.

It was like they quashed what was best in him, that being his instinctive ability to play the game. They tried to fit him into some box and make him what they wanted him to be as opposed to working with those multiple strengths he'd shown during his freshman season, and this is the result. He became a much more mechanical QB, a much less instinctive player, and I'm convinced they tried to dissuade him from running the ball, as he never surpassed 233 yards rushing for the rest of his college career, and last year he rushed in the triple digit negatives.

He can make all the throws. He can throw short, intermediate and deep, and I'm convinced the cause of his erratic arm is simply a case of poor mechanics, as his release point is so buggered-up as to be about ridiculous. It's all in the release, and if his release point is right on, then that ball at the feet or over the head becomes a laser beam right into the body or arms of the receiver. All of his issues could have been addressed by good coaching, but he wasn't exactly the beneficiary of a lot of stability in the offensive staffs behind him. A good staff would have taken that extremely promising freshman and developed him and made him even better and possibly even a great college quarterback, but we all got kind of reamed over with that one, Weber included.

 

[year of the gopher]

I have no doubt but that that held Weber back and hindered his development as a player. As a freshman, he was such an instinctive player. He was great rolling out, he was great in motion and out of the pocket, and he showed a real knack for turning busted plays into positive ones. He was by no stretch of the imagination ever a speedster, but he was a very dangerous runner, and if a play wasn't there he would just tuck it in and run with it and he made a lot of big third downs by doing that. He just looked really, really promising for a freshman player, and beyond that he was very exciting to watch. He averaged 50+ yards rushing and 250+ yards passing per game, and I thought his sophomore season he might go for 750-1000 yards rushing and 3000+ yards passing just based on natural progression as a player along with increased familiarity and comfort level with the game, but by that point he was asked to run a spread, and he was never the same.

It was like they quashed what was best in him, that being his instinctive ability to play the game. They tried to fit him into some box and make him what they wanted him to be as opposed to working with those multiple strengths he'd shown during his freshman season, and this is the result. He became a much more mechanical QB, a much less instinctive player, and I'm convinced they tried to dissuade him from running the ball, as he never surpassed 233 yards rushing for the rest of his college career, and last year he rushed in the triple digit negatives.

He can make all the throws. He can throw short, intermediate and deep, and I'm convinced the cause of his erratic arm is simply a case of poor mechanics, as his release point is so buggered-up as to be about ridiculous. It's all in the release, and if his release point is right on, then that ball at the feet or over the head becomes a laser beam right into the body or arms of the receiver. All of his issues could have been addressed by good coaching, but he wasn't exactly the beneficiary of a lot of stability in the offensive staffs behind him. A good staff would have taken that extremely promising freshman and developed him and made him even better and possibly even a great college quarterback, but we all got kind of reamed over with that one, Weber included.

Very well put. After the big draw play in the Illinois game, I looked at my friend and said, "Yeah, remember when he was a 'running' quarterback?" Agree he wasn't ever a speed demon, but an effective scrambler and could turn negative plays into gains.

Also, Fisch f'd up his delivery.

 

[Gold Rush]

Why should a record holding, "average Big 10 quarterback" be bashed so savagly by some of his team's own fans? THAT is HORRIBLE form for so-called Gopher Fans. No wonder kids from Minnesota don't want to play at the University of Minnesota. Even if they should be so gifted and fortunate to become a starting quarterback for Minnesota, one of the bottom teams in the Big Ten and then rise to being an "average Big Ten quarterback" on that team that resides near the bottom of the standings, their own fans will bash them and trash them and will wish ill-will upon them.

Just what the hell does being an "average Big Ten quarterback" have to do with being treated like trash by the "home" fans. Those "home" fans deserve the worst of the worst. May the sins of thes "home team bashers" come back to haunt them early and often. I hope no one treats their sons and daughters with the kind of disrespect that they show great kids who wear the Maroon & Gold so proudly and so honorably.

Division I Football Athletes in Minnesota: beware of the "home" fans. If you accept a scholarship from a place that claims fans like these bashers, they may very well attack you when you play for the U.

This was a very good post and I could not have said it any better myself. 50 Gold stars for you.

 

[johnnybb]

Can we be fair in saying that it really wasn't Adam Weber's fault that he was the starting quarterback all these years? The guy went out and took his lumps, he played for some bad coaches and in some awful situations. He wasn't making a million dollars to do it. Sure he was a scholarship athlete, but he was a good student too (per what I've seen of his GPA ending up on Academic All-Big Ten lists), so it's not like he was bilking the system or anything. All these years the staff clearly thought he was the best man for the job, and every week he went out and tried as best he could to make the best of a bad situation. I think any of us who has worked a bum job, or worked for/with incompetents, or blowhards, or people with good intentions who couldn't get the job done can relate to the guy's situation.

The season is lost. The last four years are lost. It's not really Adam's fault. What was he supposed to say? The guy is the most recent quarterback for a program that has struggled for decades. Are we going to sit here in the midst of a lost season, on the cusp of a new era, and sit there and bash a guy who dealt with more upheaval during his time as a player than probably any other player in the history of the program? No way. Like I said, he took his lumps, and while he doesn't deserve a damn olive wreath, a trophy and a big novelty check, he at least deserves some respect for going out there and representing the U week after week for the last few years. He gave us some good times and bad, the bad has outweighed the good, but he was still our guy. The guy was second team All Big Ten a couple seasons ago and has to sit there and wonder how things might have come out if he hadn't been the victim of an asinine coaching hire and having had the rug pulled out from under him every season he was here.

Anyway. I say, ski-u-mah, Adam Weber. Beat Iowa!

 

[Silvio]

This was a very good post and I could not have said it any better myself. 50 Gold stars for you.

I think that the reason a lot of people bash him is because of the one "stat" that his supporters never mention that is the most important for quarterbacks, W-L (BigTen wins - BigTen losses for sum). The record of this team can't all be put on him (he doesn't play defense), but I think it is the most important stat for the team. The coordinator changes clearly didn't help, but at the same time I think the coaches and Weber worked to hard to correct and improve his weaknesses rather than play to his strengths. I will look back on his time and always wonder what if? What if he had stable coaching?

However, one thing that is certain if Mason had remained the coach no one on this board would have as strong a feeling about Weber either way. The freshman season would have never happened and he wouldn't have nearly as many passing attempts when he did see the field, his win loss record would have been much improved (probably four years similar to his middle two) and we would be talking about him as one of the better recent MN QB's but not nearly as much talk about what he might (or might not) be able to do on Sundays.