How come we never tried Russel Sheppard as QB?

Okay, this question has been confusing me the whole time. Have any of you guys ever seen Russel Sheppard throwing the ball in practice? Is it really bad? We all know RS was a 5 star QB when recruited. I guess there is no way that everyone all counted him as a QB when he can't even throw the football! Besides, with what we have seen on JJ, I deeply doubt if there is any other Division I QB that would throw the ball worse than him. Jarret Lee? He might be the answer for our QB position in most Tiger fans' eyes, only until this Auburn game. Of course you can name the bad pass protection and awful play calls, but that don't say everything about our QB problem. So why not just give RS a try at QB? Especially when both our starting and backup QBs are so horrible at throwing the ball under pressures. I know RS's weakness as QB could be his height which may cause him a bad vision, but we can play the Wildcat formation and stick with the rushing offense. Now the issue just comes down to whether RS can throw the ball when necessary. CAN HE??

 

I think when you saw Spencer Ware throw the touchdown pass that tells you all you need to know about why Shep isn't playing quarterback. They didn't have enough faith in Shep to use him on that play so they used a guy who is a true freshman. He is often confused with the play calls also.

 

I always thought it was because he had trouble remembering the playbook and was a worse passer than Jefferson. But after seeing what CN did today, I say why not give him a shot? It's not like AU has Sean Payton's play book. They probably only have 10-12 plays themselves, but only needed to run5-6 of them against us today. Newton sweep, Newton power, Newton counter, Dwyer counter. Then mix in a couple of passes and there you have their game plan. Hell, the passes don't even have to be complete. Just take a couple of shots to keep the defense honest.

Give RS a shot at QB and see what he can do with a handful of plays. It couldn't be much worse with him at QB vs what we already have.

 

I don't know but he dam sure has trouble catching it.

 

If a lumbering ox like Jefferson can pick up almost 100yrds rushing on the 4 or 5 plays they let him run, imagine what RS could do. Jefferson is no threat passing, so what are you really losing with RS at QB? You'd actually be gaining a lot of speed and maybe he breaks a few long runs himself.

If you've ever seen RS's recruiting tape from when he was in high school, it looks a lot like what CN did to us today. I've done a complete 180 on this and am all for giving him a shot.

Of course Miles' stubborn a$$ will continue trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, so we'll never see it.

 

1. RS is not 6'-5" and 230+ (I have rarely seen RS break a tackle)
2. RS has trouble remembering plays so I would imagine he also has trouble reading defenses.
3. RS makes us completely one dimensional. Be careful what you ask for.
4. RS is a great kid and probably one of the better leaders of this team. But if they put him in THE leadership position, I see failure. Just my opinion.

 

yeah i think he would be nice for a package or two. but not the fulltime quarterback. i wonder if the offense would gel a little better with Lee starting and Jefferson coming in off the bench. Jefferson played alot better coming in after Lee, and we screwed ourselves by not scoring on our first drive.

 

Please no - I can't handle, RS on first down, JJ on 2nd down and JL on 3rd down - don't give any ideas :milesmic:

It probably would have been nice running RS out of the qb position a couple of times against McNeese and letting Auburn think about it but obviously there are reasons (playbook) that we can't do that. Btw, someone mentioned on here tonight about him tripping all the time. For Goodness sakes please get him some shoes with smaller cleats because I'm tired of seeing him falling forward before he is hit. He is running like they are 2 inch spikes on the bottom and he keeps tripping. Also, take the butter off of his fingers. I'm a RS fan and live in Houston so I've seen what he can do but it seems he has lost some of his magic in this offense.

 

I say at least give him a shot or let him throw once during a real game so as to let everybody, not only the coaching staff, SEE how he does at QB position. One question: Based on what would you tell that he is often confused with the play calls? We barely saw him coming on the field as QB (as far as I recall, he only played as QB no more than 10 snaps in his Freshman year). There is no sufficient evidence to prove that at all. Or, are you able to see him practicing?

 

Spencer Ware's pass was the best I saw in the whole game (for either team.)


I thought when I saw it that maybe Ole Spencer might need to start taking some snaps at QB for the tigers. :miles: