Willis quit

[ponydawg]

1. should Mitchell have been thrown in as a freshman when you had an experienced, quality QB

I think it all depends on Mitchell's play this season. If he is significantly better and we win some games, yes. If we see a repeat of last year, then no.

[Hoop Fan]

1. should Mitchell have been thrown in as a freshman when you had an experienced, quality QB

I think it all depends on Mitchell's play this season. If he is significantly better and we win some games, yes. If we see a repeat of last year, then no.

perfectly logical. Although i am personally not convinced that what BLM went through last year will make him appreciably better than what he would have been this year just having worked hard in practice last year. Lots of coaches don't believe in throwing young qbs to the wolves. Whether it just coach speak or not who knows, but JJ said last year he though BLM was ready. He was most certainly not ready. hey, no one is perfect, doesnt make JJ a bad coach, but a spade is a spade.

[Stallion]

Jones also said;

"It was probably unfair to him to throw him into the situation he was in, but we kind of knew that's what we had to do," Jones said. "He was feeling his way while the receivers are learning what they're doing."

He also pointed out that Mitchell was an I Formation QB in high school who threw the ball 12-15 times a game-which is a point I made BEFORDE the season. Willis would have had a distinct advantage over Mitchell last year whether it was 3 WR set or the Run and Shoot.

"To be quite honest with you, we put him in kind of an unfair situation," Jones said "He came from a high school where he threw the ball 10 to 12 times a game, he'd never lined up in a shotgun, never seen a four-wide formation, and all of a sudden he's in it every play."

[jtstang]

Personally, given that our defense was our achilles heel last year, I have my doubts that our record would have been appreciably different if we'd started Willis or Peruna at QB.

As for Willis's current status, I know the kid has faced a lot of on and off field adversity in he last couple of years, and the praise heaped on him in that time is for his ability to overcome it. But if it really comes down to quitting because you did not make the starting line-up, I tend to say good riddance. That's not the kind of mentality that helps you get better and this team desperately needs to get better.

[Stallion]

I was wondering what they were going to do with Willis. To me I don't think he had the speed to excell at that position last year. Probably wouldn't have played last year without the injuries. If he has lost more speed then I couldn't see how he fit into the 2-Deep this year. But to his credit-even with marginal speed he did make some plays when given an opportunity last year-probably because his ability to read defenses compensated for his lack of speed.

[HB Pony Dad]

I really don't think there is much doubt that Jones threw a freshman QB out there who was totally unprepared or ready to start at the Division 1A Level. He was totally lost out there for the first half of the season. I have little doubt that Justin Willis would have performed at a much higher level. That was my argument and I think it proved correct. That being said I think you wipe the slate clean and chalk it up to inexperience. Mitchell should not be judged totally based upon his freshman year because he shouldn't have been playing in the first place. I tried to make that distinction all last season. There are two different issues:

1. should Mitchell have been thrown in as a freshman when you had an experienced, quality QB and
2. Is Mitchell a quality QB prospect.

Apparently Pete Carroll has made a similar decision for the "Fighting Methodists" this year, however the USC Freshman has to face Ohio State in Columbus in his second game.

Good article this morning in the L.A. Times by Chris Dufresne

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/u ... 120.column


Bo should do fine as long as he gets some blocking and can mix in some runs to go with the Pony receivers.

The big question is still the "D".

[PerunaPunch]

First, demoting Willis was not an ego trip. I don't really think JJ was an ego, at least not that way, and certainly not to effect the performance of his team.

That said, I still believe demoting Willis was a mistake. But it was a mistake JJ made, IMHO, because he didn't have a sense of SMU history. In that, it would've been much better for the program (i.e. recruiting and butts in seats) had Willis played and won 5 or 6 games, than throwing BLM in there and growing for the future.

And yes, I think we would have won 5 or 6 with Willis starting. Willis has much more accuracy, threw less picks, and had the ability to sustain drives when plays broke down by running for the sticks.

And I also firmly believe that sustaining drives would have put less pressure on the D and helped hide some of its deficiencies.

[VarsityShop]

I like Justin Willis and he seems like a fine young man, but I think Coach Jones made the correct decision last year in going with Bo because Bo fits the system Coach Jones is going to run here and Justin does not. It would not have been prudent for Coach Jones to change his entire offense to fit Justin Willis when that is not in the long term plans. Sure it is painful making changes, but the quicker we transition to what Coach Jones was brought here to do the better. Yes, Bo was thrown in there, but Willis would have been a novice in that offense too. Everyone talks about the int's but I think Justin with his arm strength would have thrown as many or more interceptions if he was suddenly in a run & shoot offense and it would have been sudden because wasn't Justin suspended for academics in the Spring of 2008? I certainly hope Justin will reconsider and rejoin our team.

[Hoop Fan]

Personally, given that our defense was our achilles heel last year, I have my doubts that our record would have been appreciably different if we'd started Willis or Peruna at QB.

As for Willis's current status, I know the kid has faced a lot of on and off field adversity in he last couple of years, and the praise heaped on him in that time is for his ability to overcome it. But if it really comes down to quitting because you did not make the starting line-up, I tend to say good riddance. That's not the kind of mentality that helps you get better and this team desperately needs to get better.

I don't know, maybe thats right. I look at it more practically or possibly synically i guess in that I think Willis' SMU career was over when he was no longer option at qb for whatever crazy reason. 4th string?? that was the absurd part, true frosh Braden Smith beat him out too? He was never going to be a good D-1 receiver, too hard of a transition to make with or without injury.

and before we all pile on willis as a quitter, consider this: maybe he needs to make money for his daughter and family. Perhaps he could have held off a bit longer from working if he was going to be an integral part of the team, but sometimes when youre not, going through all the crap and spending all the time it takes is just not worth it.

[Hoop Fan]

First, demoting Willis was not an ego trip. I don't really think JJ was an ego, at least not that way, and certainly not to effect the performance of his team.

That said, I still believe demoting Willis was a mistake. But it was a mistake JJ made, IMHO, because he didn't have a sense of SMU history. In that, it would've been much better for the program (i.e. recruiting and butts in seats) had Willis played and won 5 or 6 games, than throwing BLM in there and growing for the future.

And yes, I think we would have won 5 or 6 with Willis starting. Willis has much more accuracy, threw less picks, and had the ability to sustain drives when plays broke down by running for the sticks.

And I also firmly believe that sustaining drives would have put less pressure on the D and helped hide some of its deficiencies.

thank you, well said sir.

[Hoop Fan]

I like Justin Willis and he seems like a fine young man, but I think Coach Jones made the correct decision last year in going with Bo because Bo fits the system Coach Jones is going to run here and Justin does not. It would not have been prudent for Coach Jones to change his entire offense to fit Justin Willis when that is not in the long term plans. Sure it is painful making changes, but the quicker we transition to what Coach Jones was brought here to do the better. Yes, Bo was thrown in there, but Willis would have been a novice in that offense too. Everyone talks about the int's but I think Justin with his arm strength would have thrown as many or more interceptions if he was suddenly in a run & shoot offense and it would have been sudden because wasn't Justin suspended for academics in the Spring of 2008? I certainly hope Justin will reconsider and rejoin our team.

some people believe in systems and some people believe in football players. Willis was a football player and a good one for SMU.

[jtstang]

and before we all pile on willis as a quitter, consider this: maybe he needs to make money for his daughter and family. Perhaps he could have held off a bit longer from working if he was going to be an integral part of the team, but sometimes when youre not, going through all the crap and spending all the time it takes is just not worth it.

That was not meant to start a dogpile, just an personal observation/opinion. Obviously I have no information as to his personal life situation. I'll add that the great thing about any kind of spread offense is that even the backup recievers typically get a fair amount of PT and contribute, for whatever that is worth. I will add further that I hope he reconsiders. He has a lot invested up to this point.

[SoCal_Pony]

Hoop,

I have no idea why JWill didn’t start last year, I do recall reading on this board VERY EARLY that we might see a ‘Big Surprise’ from JJ in regards to the QB position. When you see where JWill ended up on the depth chart, you do wonder what was really going on. It is hard for me to believe the decision was based solely on talent.

Having said all that, I think BLM had a so-so to decent year given that he was a true freshman. I can name 3 or 4 QBs in our conference I think he outperformed. By my definition, that is hardly a debacle. Defense WAS a debacle.

It would also not surprise me if we are better this year with a ‘seasoned’ BLM than a Sr. JWill, but once again that is debatable.

And for the record, I would have started JWill last season and probably this year as well.

[EastStang]

I really think this was a long term decision by Jones to get BLM some trial by fire experience and no ego was involved. Given that Willis had to sit out spring ball last year and had to learn the offense from scratch as well during 2 a days just like BLM, Jones opted to give the true freshman a year to learn on the job since he could tell we were not going to be a bowl eligible team last year.

[One Trick Pony]

Bottom line is, some of us are dropping $400.00 to go watch the team & BLM beat UAB, and that’s exactly what I expect to see. BLM at his best, the team at its best, a great win for the program.

This game is HUGE; it is going to define our season! They can not lose this game; losing is no longer going to be an option for this team, or the coaching staff!

We will win, we can win, we have to win!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsmybQKpmTw