PonyFans.com

the transformation from RB State to QB State really boils down to a single rule change by the UIL discussed in the 2nd half of the article.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

I'm going to guess before clicking and reading..

allowing 7 on 7 camps and tournaments?

good article. thanks for posting.

June likes to joke about how when he was coaching in Houston in the early '80's, all the Texas coaches laughed at his offensive system, and when he came back in 2008, they were all running it.

It certainly makes it easier to recruit for the Run N Shoot.

Nice article. However, the state of Texas was known for producing QBs and wide open offenses long before the time mentioned in the article. SMU and TCU were known for throwing the ball back in the 30s and there was at least one high school coach, Jewel Wallace, in the 40s and 50s who was known for highly innovative offenses.

Football is physical, but you gotta develop the mind first.

Mississippi and Louisiana, per capita, send more players to the NFL each year than any other state, but how often are they repping the intricacies of a passing game?

7-on-7 was instrumental, but it's a state full of resources unmatched by any other state.

I participated in them and vouch for the validity, but it's a clear second to hiring young, bright, passionate coaches that have a background in the passing game or will take flights to pick the brains of those that can.

Also, Texas, with 8% of entire nation's population, suggests there is just that much more to choose from.

And, curiously, if you cant find one in Texas, do you go up to the QB hotbed of St. Louis?

McAndless wrote:And, curiously, if you cant find one in Texas, do you go up to the QB hotbed of St. Louis?

Fair point, but the kid is listed as a sleeper of a prospect.

Im happy right now with our "Texas QB".

davidpaul123 wrote:

McAndless wrote:And, curiously, if you cant find one in Texas, do you go up to the QB hotbed of St. Louis?

Fair point, but the kid is listed as a sleeper of a prospect.

Im happy right now with our "Texas QB".

Which one? We have 4 from Texas....

Dukster wrote:

davidpaul123 wrote:

McAndless wrote:And, curiously, if you cant find one in Texas, do you go up to the QB hotbed of St. Louis?

Fair point, but the kid is listed as a sleeper of a prospect.

Im happy right now with our "Texas QB".

Which one? We have 4 from Texas....

the one from SLC

rich59 wrote:Nice article. However, the state of Texas was known for producing QBs and wide open offenses long before the time mentioned in the article. SMU and TCU were known for throwing the ball back in the 30s and there was at least one high school coach, Jewel Wallace, in the 40s and 50s who was known for highly innovative offenses.

SMU had a O coach and later HC in the late 40s and early 50s. named Rusty Russel who was spreading the formations then.
Some say he was the originator of the spread. In the 50 or 51 game against ND in South Bend Fred Benners threw about 35 or 40 passes that day. He would have been great in the game as it is played now.

Without looking it up there was a coach at SMU in the 30s who used a spread passing offense and threw the ball a lot. At some point they went up to New York to play Fordham in Yankee stadium before a huge crowd. Vince Lombardi was on the Fordham team and Fordham won in a close game. It is amusing to hear about all these "innovations" to the game. I have a play book from Thomas Jefferson HS in 1952 where Jewell Wallace was coaching which has the same formations and many of the same plays being used today in the spread and "Wildcat" offenses.

I seem to remember a QB named Don Meredith and a receiver name Raymond Berry at SMU in the 50s. Later in the early 60s a QB named Jerry Rhome at SMU who was the 4th leading passer in the nation before Hayden Frye arrived and declared he was going to establish a running offense. Mike Livingston, later with the KC Chiefs, threw a ton followed by Chuck Hixon who threw a huge number of passes to guys like Mike Richardson and Jerry LeVias. SMU has always had a tradition of passing big time. I vaguely recall that we threw 68 passes against Ohio State in 64 and pushed that national championship team to the limit only to lose when 4 of our passes were intercepted in the Ohio State end zone.

I went back and looked it up and Ray Morrison was the coach in the 20s before Matty Bell came on in 1935. The Ponies under Morrison were throwing the ball 30-40 times a game.

I believe that Ohio State game was in 68 with Chuck Hixson throwing those passes. Do not know about 64 but I know he threw a lot in 68.

Fred Benners, I believe, was the QB in 1950 when SMU beat Ohio State 32-27 with a passing attack. Mike Livingston only started one year at SMU, 1967, and did not throw the ball much, particularly as he only played in two and one half games. He was hurt on the last play of the first half against Texas A&M which SMU won. He finally got over the knee injury and played in the last two games of the year where they operated from a kind of spread and he did throw some. He played some his sophomore year but mostly as a running QB.