Oh My Gosh -- The Sky Is Falling!

[BringBackThePonies03]

Good to see another player pick SMU. We need a quarterback, Slater will get a chance, hopefully he can prove all of the doubters wrong on this board.

[OC Mustang]

Looks to me from the "More on Corey" thread that he might be a little more than we think. I don't know the guy...never heard of him....
I tend to treat Stallion's general point on our QB recruiting foibles as a pretty salient point indeed. But when Stallion originally pointed out he was a "platoon" QB, I wondered why. It is fairly easy to write off a recruit, especially a JUCO, since there is generally a good reason they took that route. And this guy didn't seem to wow any PAC-10 coaches.

BUT, that said, I think some dispensation ought to be dished out to the kid (not to the coaches...to the kid) for his being "platooned". Reason: if we peruse Corey's comments as posted in the "More On Corey" thread, he evidently was open and clear on his lack of willingness to stay at the Jr. College more than one year. If I am a Jr. College coach, and I have a guy who is going to stay 2 years, I am definitely going to play him first unless the alternative 1 year guy is particularly good. In this case, perhaps he was good enough to play, but was rotated in and out because he was only going to be a one year guy.

I dunno. Maybe I'm wrong. Law of averages and SMU's track record suggest I am. He definitely wasn't our first choice (neither were Romo or Eckert...we wanted some dude who went to Baylor and wound up leaving anyway). He may even be way down on the list. But I figure spring ball will validate him...or not. We'll shall see.

[Pony Up]

Good points, OC. Spring ball definitely will be worth watching. I'll make road trips to see it.
From what I've been able to find, Dixie does have some damn good athletes. Maybe there really were more than one QB who deserved some playing time - we certainly haven't seen this guy, much less any of the others out there.
This guy might be awful, or he might be great. Until we know, he gets the benefit of the doubt in my book.
Welcome to SMU, Corey!

[JasonB]

I would have liked to have a higher profile guy, no doubt about it. But hopefully the coaches know something that we don't.

Some points really quick...

- Dixie state is a highly regarded JC out west.

- Their LB, Misi Tupe, is not highly regarded in Rivals, but A&M wants him bad. (just FYI)

- He was the clear starter at the end of the season, after starting out the season coming off the bench.

I am not going to say the sky is falling, because I have never seen video or heard anything about this player. But certainly not the level of recruit I was hoping for.

Oh, his JC stats are much, much worse than Eckerts.

[Stampede]

People...relax and trust the coaches with their player evaluations.

This is a staff that has a good record of evaluating player thru the years and our team (meaning those of us who support SMU football and the evaluations of our coaches) is getting better year by year!

If the coaches offer a 'ship to a player this year ....rest assured, they are deserving of more than your immediate criticism or skepticism.

[Stallion]

He was NOT the clear starter at the end of the year as there are articles after the last game that clearly state they platooned up to and including the last game of the year-and ALL year long.

[50's PONY]

My comments about "The Sky Is Falling" were simply to see how long it would take to start knocking the young man before we really knew anything about him!

[Silk]

.... Maybe there really were more than one QB who deserved some playing time - we certainly haven't seen this guy, much less any of the others out there....

Pony Up is being more fair than most of us by admitting ignorance.

Welcome aboard, Corey!

[jtstang]

People...relax and trust the coaches with their player evaluations.

This is a staff that has a good record of evaluating player thru the years and our team (meaning those of us who support SMU football and the evaluations of our coaches) is getting better year by year!

Yes, in only 4 years, the talent they've accumulated is almost good enough to go .500!!!

[Silk]

Right - there's still a long way to go. I think we all agree on that.
But we also know that the talent he's gotten to SMU is vastly improved over what he inherited, with a few exceptions. I might not be quite as feel-good in my presentation as Stampede, but his argument that the talent is much better is beyond debate.

[JasonB]

He was NOT the clear starter at the end of the year as there are articles after the last game that clearly state they platooned up to and including the last game of the year-and ALL year long.

Not true. At the beginning of the year, he was clearly coming off the bench and getting a limited number of series. A true platoon, you basically switch out each series. The other QB was the starter and got the majority of the snaps. By the end of the year, he was the starter and got the vast majority of the snaps.

Last game of the year article: Quarterback Derek McAllister led the Rebels with 133 yards through the air and one rushing touchdown after replacing an injured Corey Slater in the second half.

[Silk]

The guy came out of the game just because he was injured? The nerve!
Quite the doubters in the spring, Corey!

[93Mustang]

Welcome to the QB shuffle, Corey.

My take is that between Willis, Slater, and our true freshman soon to be signee, we'll have some options. Not the ideal situation because none of those guys have D1 experience, but not a huge step down from where we started last season - Willis has a year of practice under his belt and JUCO experience trumps HS experience. With a better O-line and just about everyone else who had an impact returning (other than our kicker), I'm still hopeful that we'll improve on our record and post our second winning season since 1986. Lets not forget that we're on a three game winning streak.

[SMU88]

Come on guys give the guy a break. Before you start screaming and hollering for the coaches head and run this guy in the dirt, let's at least give him the chance at Spring practice. I hope he proves you all naysayers wrong!!

By the way.... a little known fact: Mississippi State cut Jerry Rice becuase they thought he was too slow!! So you never know this guy could become the next Brett Favre!!

[Charleston Pony]

let's just be thankful we have an easier non-conference schedule than usual. We've known since Romo was named starter over Phillips that QB was going to be an issue in 2006. Can only hope others step up to take the heat off whoever becomes the starter.

We are really going to need a strong year from DeMyron, but we'd better have enough of a passing threat that defenses can't completely key on the run. The QB situation smacks of another platooning situation, whether we like it or not. My guess is that we see the best two guys sharing time with one taking snaps and the other standing next to his coach on the sideline being schooled.

Just have to hope the guys we have can push each other so that one steps up and proves he can get the job done against CUSA competition.