Which QB Would You Choose?

[MNVCGUY]

Based on the lively Leidner discussion in the Knuth thread and the fact that we are in the off season, I thought it might be fun to start this thread. You are starting a team, running any offense you want and have to pick a QB. You have to pick from the 5 QBs that have been the main QBs at Minnesota since 2000. Who do you pick and rank them 1-5 in terms of how you would go.

Choices are: Asad Abdul-Khaliq, Bryan Cupito, Adam Weber, Mitch Leidner, and Tanner Morgan

For me it goes like this.
1. Morgan - Best pure QB of the bunch.
2. Weber - Better runner than Morgan and still a good passer

3. Cupito - Big gap between the top 2 and bottom 3. Not a ton of separation for me between them. Cupito was the best passer of the remaining 3 so he is my pick here.
4. AAK - Similar to Leidner in a lot of ways, very little separation between these last two but if game was on the line and I had to put in Asad or Mitch I would lean to Asad.
5. Leidner - Gets way more crap than he deserves but was limited as a passer and I would prefer to use a RB as opposed to relying on my QB to do all the short yardage running.

 

[Boomtime]

Based on the lively Leidner discussion in the Knuth thread and the fact that we are in the off season, I thought it might be fun to start this thread. You are starting a team, running any offense you want and have to pick a QB. You have to pick from the 5 QBs that have been the main QBs at Minnesota since 2000. Who do you pick and rank them 1-5 in terms of how you would go.

Choices are: Asad Abdul-Khaliq, Bryan Cupito, Adam Weber, Mitch Leidner, and Tanner Morgan

For me it goes like this.
1. Morgan - Best pure QB of the bunch.
2. Weber - Better runner than Morgan and still a good passer

3. Cupito - Big gap between the top 2 and bottom 3. Not a ton of separation for me between them. Cupito was the best passer of the remaining 3 so he is my pick here.
4. AAK - Similar to Leidner in a lot of ways, very little separation between these last two but if game was on the line and I had to put in Asad or Mitch I would lean to Asad.
5. Leidner - Gets way more crap than he deserves but was limited as a passer and I would prefer to use a RB as opposed to relying on my QB to do all the short yardage running.

I'd agree if it's 2019 Morgan. I'm still wondering how he was so bad last year in the passing game?

 

[MplsGopher]

Whichever can make mid to short range throws with the most accuracy, and make the best audible calls from recognizing the defense.

I would be running a pro-style, under center, hand the ball off, west coast passing, style of offense.

 

[MplsGopher]

I'd agree if it's 2019 Morgan. I'm still wondering how he was so bad last year in the passing game?

Some rumored a shoulder injury.
Some have brought up major illness suffered by his father.
Obviously the lack of the off-season.

Sanford

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Hard to argue with the top 2.

Really hard to know about the others, they weren't on teams that helped them much either.... really hard for me to parse the rest of the crowd with any convincing arguments.

Most QBs don't just make things happen on their own, they need play makers and more than one .... it makes it really hard to filter that second tier of QBs.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Hard to argue with the top 2.

Really hard to know about the others, they weren't on teams that helped them much either.... really hard for me to parse the rest of the crowd with any convincing arguments.

Most QBs don't just make things happen on their own, they need play makers and more than one .... it makes it really hard to filter that second tier of QBs.

Agree, but think this is a fun way to really gauge how people feel about a particular player. We can rehash stats and systems all day but when the chips are down and you have to pick a player, who do you take? Tells you a lot about your actual opinion on player. And as I said in the original post, it is the off season so not like we have anything better to talk about until the next commitment happens.

 

[MplsGopher]

Who was actually the best, most accurate passer between Morgan (2019), Weber's best year, and Cupito's best year?

I don't care about Weber's or the other two's running ability, in the slightest.


Might actually be Cupito??

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Agree, but think this is a fun way to really gauge how people feel about a particular player. We can rehash stats and systems all day but when the chips are down and you have to pick a player, who do you take? Tells you a lot about your actual opinion on player. And as I said in the original post, it is the off season so not like we have anything better to talk about until the next commitment happens.

I think this kinda just demonstrates my theories on all QBs.



Tier 1:
There's the top tier who can make stuff happen, they can make even bad teams better and with some regularity make the big plays needed to save a drive. There's arguably two tiers within this tier when it comes to the Tom Montanna's of this world but I'll just leave it as one.

Tier 2:
Guys who are ok, and you can go places with them but you need a lot of other play makers to close out games and etc. As far as wins and losses goes these guys are susceptible of being victims of their own team's abilities, random bad luck, that doesn't make them bad, it just is the limit of their abilities. IMO most teams at best can hope to have a Tier 2 QB at any given time.

Tier 3:
Not gud... has some gadget plays, can make some things happen here or there randomly, but you're playing this guy hoping he (or someone else) develops into Tier 2 and that's kinda not a thing very often.


I also think good QBs are born, and it's really hard to coach them up with any consistency, and who the guys who are going to be good is largely a mystery.



On a related note:

IMO running game generally does not help the passing game (the exception might be when facing the top players in tier 1). Teams protect against the pass to avoid the big plays regardless, and most teams don't have QBs who can take advantage of adjustments that defenses make ... if they can... they're good at passing regardless.

The passing game IMO can help the running game though...

 

[MNVCGUY]

Who was actually the best, most accurate passer between Morgan (2019), Weber's best year, and Cupito's best year?

I don't care about Weber's or the other two's running ability, in the slightest.


Might actually be Cupito??

Would be interesting to see Cupito, Weber, and Morgan in a QB skills competition. I agree that Cupito would probably prove to be the best pure passer of the 3.

 

[Word]

Based on the lively Leidner discussion in the Knuth thread and the fact that we are in the off season, I thought it might be fun to start this thread. You are starting a team, running any offense you want and have to pick a QB. You have to pick from the 5 QBs that have been the main QBs at Minnesota since 2000. Who do you pick and rank them 1-5 in terms of how you would go.

Choices are: Asad Abdul-Khaliq, Bryan Cupito, Adam Weber, Mitch Leidner, and Tanner Morgan

For me it goes like this.
1. Morgan - Best pure QB of the bunch.
2. Weber - Better runner than Morgan and still a good passer

3. Cupito - Big gap between the top 2 and bottom 3. Not a ton of separation for me between them. Cupito was the best passer of the remaining 3 so he is my pick here.
4. AAK - Similar to Leidner in a lot of ways, very little separation between these last two but if game was on the line and I had to put in Asad or Mitch I would lean to Asad.
5. Leidner - Gets way more crap than he deserves but was limited as a passer and I would prefer to use a RB as opposed to relying on my QB to do all the short yardage running.

This sounds about right.

 

[SamSquatch]

Based on the lively Leidner discussion in the Knuth thread and the fact that we are in the off season, I thought it might be fun to start this thread. You are starting a team, running any offense you want and have to pick a QB. You have to pick from the 5 QBs that have been the main QBs at Minnesota since 2000. Who do you pick and rank them 1-5 in terms of how you would go.

Choices are: Asad Abdul-Khaliq, Bryan Cupito, Adam Weber, Mitch Leidner, and Tanner Morgan

For me it goes like this.
1. Morgan - Best pure QB of the bunch.
2. Weber - Better runner than Morgan and still a good passer

3. Cupito - Big gap between the top 2 and bottom 3. Not a ton of separation for me between them. Cupito was the best passer of the remaining 3 so he is my pick here.
4. AAK - Similar to Leidner in a lot of ways, very little separation between these last two but if game was on the line and I had to put in Asad or Mitch I would lean to Asad.
5. Leidner - Gets way more crap than he deserves but was limited as a passer and I would prefer to use a RB as opposed to relying on my QB to do all the short yardage running.

Same ranking.

The one additional callout I would make is MarQuies Gray was the single most dynamic player I have seen in a Gophers uniform in the last 20+ years, including all skill positions. If he were in consideration, I would drop him in at 4 and drop the others down a notch.

 

[tikited]

Morgan, Weber and AAK are easily the three best in my mind.

Morgan had the best overall year.
Weber had the most things going against him by far.
AAK was the most dangerous imo.

 

[bonin21]

MarQueis

 

[MNVCGUY]

Same ranking.

The one additional callout I would make is MarQuies Gray was the single most dynamic player I have seen in a Gophers uniform in the last 20+ years, including all skill positions. If he were in consideration, I would drop him in at 4 and drop the others down a notch.

Debated on including Gray but wanted to focus on guys who had multiple years as the primary starter and he really just had the one season as the true starting QB. I would definitely have put him in the 3-5 group but he might have been 3rd for me given how dynamic he could be.

 

[btowngopher]

Why is Weber considered a tier above Asad or Cupito? Based on performance he should be below them. Asad’s senior year was probably the second best next to Morgan’s 2019. Obviously you can see how surrounding talent makes a difference.

 

[BTChamp]

No Demry Croft? Just kidding.

 

[btowngopher]

So difficult to compare guys playing in different situations. Weber and Gray probably are the top two as far as physical tools.

 

[PeoplesFront]

Weber was a B1G caliber QB whose talent got squandered by a turnstile of offensive coordinators. No one can change my mind on this.

InB4 “he threw so many passes to the other team.”

 

[MNVCGUY]

Why is Weber considered a tier above Asad or Cupito? Based on performance he should be below them. Asad’s senior year was probably the second best next to Morgan’s 2019. Obviously you can see how surrounding talent makes a difference.

Not sure if you are going for humor but Weber is the all time leader at the U of M in terms of passing yards and passing TDs. He got completely jerked around for 4 years with changing OCs and systems.

The idea of this exercise though was to go with how you would rank the QBs all things being equal and not based on the circumstances they dealt with while they were here. So I can certainly see why someone could make a case for AAK being higher on the list. There really isn't a wrong answer here.

 

[BilldGopher]

AAK was the most dangerous imo.

We know for sure AAK could run 50+ yards through a hole a mile wide to score on one Friday night.

Really the only TD run I've ever regretted in real time. We needed that drive to last at least 4 more minutes. Barber, Maroney, and Tapeh were getting 6, 7, 8 yards a carry before they hit the second level.

 

[btowngopher]

Not sure if you are going for humor but Weber is the all time leader at the U of M in terms of passing yards and passing TDs. He got completely jerked around for 4 years with changing OCs and systems.

The idea of this exercise though was to go with how you would rank the QBs all things being equal and not based on the circumstances they dealt with while they were here. So I can certainly see why someone could make a case for AAK being higher on the list. There really isn't a wrong answer here.

I’m assuming he is the leader in interceptions as well. I know he got screwed with the OCs, but his career QBR is barely better than Leidner’s. You can set a lot of records if you play longer than everyone else.

 

[tikited]

We know for sure AAK could run 50+ yards through a hole a mile wide to score on one Friday night.

Really the only TD run I've ever regretted in real time. We needed that drive to last at least 4 more minutes. Barber, Maroney, and Tapeh were getting 6, 7, 8 yards a carry before they hit the second level.

I remember it well.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

STOP MAKING ME REMEMBER THINGS!!!

 

[BilldGopher]

I remember it well.

As soon as it happened I sat down and was saying "we scored too fast" with my head in my hands. Everyone around me was going nuts but not me.

Mrs. Billd was completely flummoxed by my reaction. She came to understand my dismay the hard way.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Based on the lively Leidner discussion in the Knuth thread and the fact that we are in the off season, I thought it might be fun to start this thread. You are starting a team, running any offense you want and have to pick a QB. You have to pick from the 5 QBs that have been the main QBs at Minnesota since 2000. Who do you pick and rank them 1-5 in terms of how you would go.

Choices are: Asad Abdul-Khaliq, Bryan Cupito, Adam Weber, Mitch Leidner, and Tanner Morgan

For me it goes like this.
1. Morgan - Best pure QB of the bunch.
2. Weber - Better runner than Morgan and still a good passer

3. Cupito - Big gap between the top 2 and bottom 3. Not a ton of separation for me between them. Cupito was the best passer of the remaining 3 so he is my pick here.
4. AAK - Similar to Leidner in a lot of ways, very little separation between these last two but if game was on the line and I had to put in Asad or Mitch I would lean to Asad.
5. Leidner - Gets way more crap than he deserves but was limited as a passer and I would prefer to use a RB as opposed to relying on my QB to do all the short yardage running.

Damn. That's a really tough question. The only thing I can definitively say, IMO, is that Leidner is likely at the bottom of the bunch. Hate to say that, good dude, but not uber-talented.

My first thought was actually Cupito, believe it or not, but damn I really enjoyed AAK and I think Weber was always highly, HIGHLY underrated.

Production? It's obviously hard to go against Morgan. Plain and simple. But Morgan had/has a ton of things going for him that most of the others simply did not. AAK and Cupito had the Mason running game, but very very little to work with for WR, at least compared to Morgan.

Sadly, I also thought PN9 could/should have been a very very good Gopher QB. Lots to like about his game, but lacking in a few other areas...

 

[50PoundHead]

For me:
1. Weber
2. Morgan
3. Abdul-Khaliq
4. Leidner
5. Cupito

 

[MplsGopher]

Weber was a B1G caliber QB whose talent got squandered by a turnstile of offensive coordinators.

This only proves he didn't have a fair chance to develop. It doesn't prove he would have developed into something great. Maybe he would, but we'll never know.

 

[tikited]

As soon as it happened I sat down and was saying "we scored too fast" with my head in my hands. Everyone around me was going nuts but not me.

Mrs. Billd was completely flummoxed by my reaction. She came to understand my dismay the hard way.

I cheered and then reality came back quickly. Those around us were all saying the same thing...."did we just score too fast?"

 

[btowngopher]

Damn. That's a really tough question. The only thing I can definitively say, IMO, is that Leidner is likely at the bottom of the bunch. Hate to say that, good dude, but not uber-talented.

My first thought was actually Cupito, believe it or not, but damn I really enjoyed AAK and I think Weber was always highly, HIGHLY underrated.

Production? It's obviously hard to go against Morgan. Plain and simple. But Morgan had/has a ton of things going for him that most of the others simply did not. AAK and Cupito had the Mason running game, but very very little to work with for WR, at least compared to Morgan.

Sadly, I also thought PN9 could/should have been a very very good Gopher QB. Lots to like about his game, but lacking in a few other areas...

Good point on Nelson.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I’m assuming he is the leader in interceptions as well. I know he got screwed with the OCs, but his career QBR is barely better than Leidner’s. You can set a lot of records if you play longer than everyone else.

You are correct that Weber got the most starts as he had basically 4 full years of starting whereas Leidner and Asad had 3 full years and part of a 4th while Cupito only had 3 and Morgan is working on a little over 2 years of total starts. But that doesn't totally account for Weber being the far and away leader in yards and TDs.
As for the INTs: Here is how they all rank and also the percentage of their total attempts those interceptions make up. Yes Weber is the clear leader in the number of INTs but he also has a lot more attempts so his percentage is right in line with the other guys.

Weber - 51 INT on 1594 Att = 3.2%
Leidner - 32 INT on 1029 Att = 3.1%
Asad - 25 INT on 846 Att = 3.0%
Morgan - 18 INT on 653 Att = 2.8%
Cupito - 25 INT on 918 Att = 2.7%

So basically all 5 guys are hanging right around 3% in terms of INTs. As I did this I was surprised to find that in terms of TD% there is a really distinct difference.

Morgan - 46 TD - 7.0%
Asad - 55 TD - 6.5%
Cupito - 46 TD - 5.0%
Weber - 72 TD - 4.5%
Leidner - 36 TD - 3.5%

So from a numbers standpoint I can definitely see where Asad probably deserves a bump up the list.