My thoughts on the QB change after listening to RL

by **JasonB** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 1:27 pm

There is going to be all kinds of controversy with this, but here are my thoughts. I think there are three reasons for the change.

1) A failure to adjust and take the short option. The book is out on Preston. Drop back deep on the outside to take away the option that he wants to see, and then blitz up the middle. Preston always wants to wait for the homerun to develop, so rather than going with a hot read, he tries to buy time in the pocket. BYU ran a 3-3 stack and blitzed the LBs while dropping everyone deep. As I stated in my writeups, the OL was terrible in the game and blew the blocking scheme. That isn't on Preston.
But RL has talked all offseason about wanting Preston to stay on schedule with his reads. You have to be able to see that the blitz is there and alter your standard progression to the hot read. Because Preston is looking way down the field the whole time, he doesn't see delayed pressure. Better coaching staffs in top conferences were going to see that and adjust to play him the rest of the year. Jennings, on the other hand, does a much better job of taking what is there.

2) Lack of elite talent at WR and struggles on the OL. Our WR room isn't bad. There just isn't a top tier guy out there. We also have an OL that is much better at run blocking than pass blocking.
As a result, if you start your progression looking deep, odds are that the time it takes is going to lead to a failure by someone on the OL and without elite talent at WR against top teams, nobody is getting open down the field. Instead, we want a faster paced game by reading the defense and getting the ball out quick. Then, once the defense collapses close to the line, you take the deep shot because our WR are good enough to win 1v1.

3) Attacking all areas of the field. As RL mentioned, he wants his offense to threaten all areas of the field. What was eventually also going to happen to PS that happened to TM is the drop 8. If you recall, TM never scrambled, he was afraid to get hurt. So, they took that away, took away the deep ball, and we would struggle against elite defenses. The same was going to happen with PS. Switching to Jennings, you now have another threat in the first 10 yards of the LOS. Within 10 yards, I have threats from Jennings as well as Smith and Daniels who can proved a lot of YAC. Mid-range, I have K Smith, RJ, Hibner, Hudson. And then deep I can threaten with Mello, Moochie, and RJ if the defense is going to leave their safeties tighter to defend the first two zones. Preston had developed into a one zone guy. If you think about it, when the defense is backing up to cover the last zone, that is when you want to attack the first zone. With Preston, he would wait for the last zone to develop. At that point, all the defenders are in place and ready to collapse on a dump off. They can come back in and defend the first zone and second zone once they are back in the third zone and set up. It made him a one zone threat, which is easier to defend.

I don't know if it will work, but that is at least the thought process behind the change.

We have now completely flipped the identity of our football team in two seasons. We are a defense first, clock eating, grind it out, physical team. We are going to be very heavy RPO. Go and watch the BC offense against Florida State from the other day. That is who we are.

by **Terry Webster** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 2:15 pm

After watching the first three games, especially against byu, I really have the feeling that there are still some issues with Prestons leg.

by **EastStang** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 3:19 pm

We need a steady diet of runs and dump offs and every 16th play or so, look deep. But our QB's have to read the defenses. Preston doesn't seem to be doing that. He's got the tools, he just needs to focus on making sure he gets his progressions down quickly. I think if we get into pass first situations like in the last two minutes last week, RL might put Preston in to air it out.

by **shadowman** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 3:26 pm

I hate to see this, but will trust the coach and his decision, he has far more data to look at than we do.

I am a novice on the transfer rules, but does this allow Preston to keep this year of eligibility if he does not play again since he has only played in three games?

If so, would expect he is done at SMU and will transfer at semester end.

I support RL and am behind him on this difficult decision.

by **Roach** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 3:39 pm

Terry Webster wrote:After watching the first three games, especially against byu, I really have the feeling that there are still some issues with Prestons leg.

I have wondered the same thing. Doesn't look the same.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking the situation.

by **1983 Cotton Bowl** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 3:42 pm

Thanks to the miracle of Youtube, I was able to watch a condensed 24 minute version of the BC-FSU game. If we can do to people what BC did to FSU, then I'm down.

Also, that Castellanos is a handful. Not looking forward to seeing him again.

by **highlander** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 3:47 pm

shadowman wrote:I hate to see this, but will trust the coach and his decision, he has far more data to look at than we do.

Agreed. I am not even going to pretend to know whether this is a good idea or bad idea.

by **PonyME** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 4:40 pm

So we’re now a full time grind it out, quick passes, run oriented team that doesn’t look for explosive plays first and settles for lots of FGs and relies on our D. Ok. That’s going to take some time to get used to. So are we still going to run the helter skelter sprint to the line and run as many plays as possible type of team we’ve seen under Lashlee? That’s his ‘thing’ right? It’s never seemed to work to me, we seem just as confused and disorganized as we’re trying to make the opposing D.

by **Arkpony** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 4:57 pm

We couldn’t score a TD on BYU with Jennings. Can we do it against TCU?

by **Charleston Pony** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 5:10 pm

More RPO is the name of the game and I would not rule out Keldric Luster seeing more playing time before this season ends. Hopefully Preston makes the necessary adjustments to his game and can get back into the mix because he is a guy who can throw an accurate deep ball and really stretch the field when the defense allows it

by **geezerdonk** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 7:04 pm

The main takeaway from the current quarterback situation is that Preston Stone was way, way overhyped coming out of high school. He came to SMU because he knew he would never see the field if he went to a college with a decent football team.

by **GHammond** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 7:36 pm

Watching the HCU replay…Jennings looks better here as well, early.

by **GHammond** » Tue Sep 10, 2024 8:04 pm

Watching the HCU replay…Jennings looks better here as well, early.

by **JasonB** » Wed Sep 11, 2024 1:32 pm

Charleston Pony wrote:More RPO is the name of the game and I would not rule out Keldric Luster seeing more playing time before this season ends. Hopefully Preston makes the necessary adjustments to his game and can get back into the mix because he is a guy who can throw an accurate deep ball and really stretch the field when the defense allows it

Luster's body also has a better opportunity of withstanding the hits in an ACC schedule than Jenning's does. Just throwing it out there...

by **Charleston Pony** » Wed Sep 11, 2024 3:26 pm

JasonB wrote:
Charleston Pony wrote:More RPO is the name of the game and I would not rule out Keldric Luster seeing more playing time before this season ends. Hopefully Preston makes the necessary adjustments to his game and can get back into the mix because he is a guy who can throw an accurate deep ball and really stretch the field when the defense allows it

Luster's body also has a better opportunity of withstanding the hits in an ACC schedule than Jenning's does. Just throwing it out there...

I haven't seen him throw a pass in a game situation so don't know if he has a strong arm or is an accurate passer but would like to find a QB who is a threat to run and can hit a receiver in stride while on the run himself...of course everyone is looking for THAT GUY