Charleston Pony wrote:So when all is said and done, it would appear we "traded up" at the QB position, especially considering the fact that Buechele will have 2 years.
But can Boosh throw an out route?
Yes. He has plenty of arm talent and is a more accurate passer. His challenges have been more around making reads rather than throwing scripted plays (WR screen).
For Shane's career, he is well over 60%, improved every year, 2-to-1 TD to INT ratio, 7.2 yards per attempt and a 132 rating.
Ben was 56%, regressed this year, 2-to-1 TD to INT ratio, 7.2 yards per attempt and a 130 rating.
Pretty even outside of completion percentage, and Shane was doing that against a higher level of competition. I would hope that completion percentage bump will lead to a more consistent offense.
I don't know that Dykes wasn't thrilled to see Hicks leave, but I don't know that he was, either. He spoke very highly (frequently) about the way Hicks responded you getting benched, and acted like Hicks grew up a ton. I'm really hopeful about Buechele, but it felt like the coaches were impressed by Hicks toward the end.
PonyPower wrote:I don't know that Dykes wasn't thrilled to see Hicks leave, but I don't know that he was, either. He spoke very highly (frequently) about the way Hicks responded you getting benched, and acted like Hicks grew up a ton. I'm really hopeful about Buechele, but it felt like the coaches were impressed by Hicks toward the end.
I think they were mostly impressed that Hicks continued to give effort after everyone knew he was going to transfer. There was weirdness about that going on all season, I am pretty sure it was decided early on. Going into fall, when Sam won the starting job at UT in the spring, I bet Shane started sending out feelers, the staff let Ben know they were going to bring in a transfer, and Ben told them he would leave in that case.
They weren't impressed at all by Hicks in the last two games, nor were they impressed by him missing on easy throws over the course of the season. He gave a lot of effort, he just struggles with some things that kept the offense from being consistent or efficient.
