TCU Favorite for UT Transfer Jevan Sneed

[Ganaway Fan]

Hmmmmm.....wonder if Ryan Mallet might jump the Michigan ship and go to Texas? I doubt it, but it would be nice to see Mallet stay in state. But, Michigan seems to really be a good fit for him, though.

[RedRiverPony]

And Ohio State's superman is Troy Smith. You and I both agree about recruiting. You need a great nucleus of players, but you need that one guy who is a difference maker, a guy who can put the team on his back.

Young did that. Matt Leinart did that. Smith is doing that.

Smith is having a great year, but he's not carrying his offense like Vince Young did. And Leinart led an offense with Reggie Bush, LenDale White, Dwayne Jarrett, Mike Williams -- maybe it's his lack of wheels, the ability to create a play our of just freaky athletic ability, but I never saw Leinart in the "Superman" category. He was an absolutely sensational college QB, and might well enjoy great success in the NFL (if the Cardinals can ever put together a good line in front of him). Young had good athletes around him, too, but he made many of the big plays by himself. On the ATHLETIC FREAK chart, he's good, but he's not Young-good.

I hear this arguement often that Young made many of the big plays by himself and Leinart never made any crazy super human plays, just used the assets around him very well (which he did). But thats where people stop. Young had to make super human freaky plays because he didn't have the ability of a Leinart to make the sound, not super human freaky, typical football play. Leinart is a pocket passer and would pick defenses apart using the weapons he had in his outstanding skill position players. Young would scramble around and make all sorts of jaw dropping plays because he simply did not have the polished ability that other QBs have at being a pocket passer. Yes Young was PHENOMENAL at what he did, but it was partly out of neccesity for what he lacked. Everyone plays to their strengths which is why Leinart stayed in the pocket and Young scrambled all day. They were both great college QBs in my mind in their last season.

Don't get me wrong -- I don't mean to suggest Leinart didn't make great plays. But like you said, his were more within the framework of a conventional role for a quarterback.
Who are we kidding? They both were amazing to watch.