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There is something to be said for both swapping out hicks and for keeping the course.


On one hand playing someone else, be it upshaw or brown, can be a benefit if only because they can move with their legs. While hicks has improved his mobility greatly since his freshman year, he is still a pocket passer without the arm to be a threat. Hicks is an extremely good ball distributor...if he has great play makers like Quinn and Sutton, he is very good at finding ways to get them the ball. However, he simply is not the Lone Ranger ΓÇ£tony romoΓÇ¥ type that is going to consistently be able to make something out of nothing and move the offense. I don’t know if he is injured, but his accuracy has regressed from last year and he doesn’t possess either/both the requisite strength or know how of throwing receivers open like GG was so great at doing. His experience means absolutely nothing if he can’t keep the defense honest with his legs, open up space for the running game, and make competitions despite receivers struggling To get open. That’s just where the offense is at right now. At minimum, if brown and upshaw are a tie with hicks as far as passing ability (I.e they aren’t throwing behind/over and beyond the running backs coming out of the backfield every time) , they at least have the skill set to make the defense leave a spy, potentially opening someone up down field, and free up some running backs to make plays on option hand offs. Though the offense improved against a vastly superior team this past week, The defense has been on the field far too long in both contests. Defense kept the game close enough for long enough that if the offense had just sustained some more drives and kicked a few fields goals, the momentum could have possibly changed the outcome of the game.


That being said, if the offense is just behind the ball and needs some June Jones type preseason with the nonceference schedule to get clicking, then it may be beneficial to keep the other quarterbacks on the bench and just let hicks get beat up while things sort themselves out. I’m afraid that approach is going to cost a few meaningful games, or at least turn some of the ones that would have been close into blow outs. There is a ton of talent on this team, it just is not producing.

I think if you look at the roster across the board, they have been very careful with allowing players to keep their jobs and give them game time to prove they should keep their spots. Look at guard with Todora ahead of Dennis. WR with Galliard listed as OR with Sanders. Corner with Sutton starting over the Hayes(side note, but IMHO both Sutton and Hayes have looked better than Wyatt so far, who obviously isn't quite back yet).

I don't think Hick's accuracy has regressed. 1) he is much more consistent than in the past at practice. 2) he and the receivers are disconnecting on what route to run. 3) his passing percentage was always inflated because of the bubble screens. The QB should be well over 60% in these offenses.

As Dykes indicated in the post game, I think you will see a lot more Brown, especially if we struggle throwing the ball over the next two games. They are trying to give Hicks and the WR as much film as possible to improve. The fact that Hicks wasn't pulled would seem to indicate the problem is just as much with the WR and OL as it is with him. But if they don't have their act together by the end of the HOuston Baptist game, I think we will see Brown and a predominantly zone read look heading into conference play.

JasonB wrote:I think if you look at the roster across the board, they have been very careful with allowing players to keep their jobs and give them game time to prove they should keep their spots. Look at guard with Todora ahead of Dennis. WR with Galliard listed as OR with Sanders. Corner with Sutton starting over the Hayes(side note, but IMHO both Sutton and Hayes have looked better than Wyatt so far, who obviously isn't quite back yet).

I don't think Hick's accuracy has regressed. 1) he is much more consistent than in the past at practice. 2) he and the receivers are disconnecting on what route to run. 3) his passing percentage was always inflated because of the bubble screens. The QB should be well over 60% in these offenses.

As Dykes indicated in the post game, I think you will see a lot more Brown, especially if we struggle throwing the ball over the next two games. They are trying to give Hicks and the WR as much film as possible to improve. The fact that Hicks wasn't pulled would seem to indicate the problem is just as much with the WR and OL as it is with him. But if they don't have their act together by the end of the HOuston Baptist game, I think we will see Brown and a predominantly zone read look heading into conference play.

"I don't think Hick's accuracy has regressed"

Correct........because his accuracy has always been horrible. Only a bit worse than his body language, and his spiral.

Doesn't help that Xavier Jones looks slower this year and I gather KeMon Freeman got dinged up last night?

Jones has had a knee injury since camp and isn't 100%. And yes, that was my point on Hicks accuracy.

I know Brown is raw throwing the ball, but he isn't any worse than DJ Gillans in that regard, which is probably why DJ chose to transfer.

[quote="JasonB"]I think if you look at the roster across the board, they have been very careful with allowing players to keep their jobs and give them game time to prove they should keep their spots. Look at guard with Todora ahead of Dennis. WR with Galliard listed as OR with Sanders. Corner with Sutton starting over the Hayes(side note, but IMHO both Sutton and Hayes have looked better than Wyatt so far, who obviously isn't quite back yet).

I don't think Hick's accuracy has regressed. 1) he is much more consistent than in the past at practice. 2) he and the receivers are disconnecting on what route to run. 3) his passing percentage was always inflated because of the bubble screens. The QB should be well over 60% in these offenses.



I am not privy to how hicks has been doing in practice and I am not referring to his completion percentage. It very well may be the case that he actually is better with his accuracy from the stand point of his ability to make certain throws, but that’s not what we are seeing on the field. Probably the proverbial ΓÇ£fog of warΓÇ¥ getting to his head and he is breaking down in his fundamentals under the stress. Several times when he has he a back or receiver open, he has thrown at their feet, out of bounds where they cannot reach it, or just otherwise sailed it, even while he wasn’t under pressure.

It’s just disappointing to me that this is a ΓÇ£learningΓÇ¥ season instead of a ΓÇ£do whatever it takes to win 6 gamesΓÇ¥ season. This coaching staff has been here for 9 months. That’s plenty of time to install an offense to the point of being functional and not looking like they started learning their plays and formations in fall camp. If they want to run a complicated scheme, cut the field in half for the qb the first year and gradually get more complex. This whole situation, from using the non conference as preseason, sticking with a lame duck qb, refusing to adapt to game conditions, and an a schematics standpoint reeks entirely too much of June Jones.

^^^ This 1000%

If nothing else, Sonny needs to give Ben a timeout on the sidelines to settle down and re-group. When he's angry or frustrated, the harder he tries the worse it gets. Timeout means pulling Ben out of the game for for the time it takes for him to calm down.