Crowton better realize quickly that LSU is not Oregon and we recruit and sign much better athletes than he ever had access to in Oregon. With JR going No. 1 in the draft, we stand to have even better access to 5-start QBs.
There's a reason why Coach Miles hired Crowton. Oregon has plenty of access to top athletes. Remember they recruit more than just Oregon. California is incredibly fertile ground and particularly for QB's. A significant part of Oregon's roster is filled with California prospects. Not to mention that Oregon is considered by many to have the best facilities in the Pac10. Just this last recruiting season, Oregon was the #9 rated team in the country and the 2nd rated Pac10 team (Scout). Malachi Lewis and Kenny Rowe are 2 reasons. They will be AA's one day. Oregon was in on Aaron Corp from OLu, the other 5* QB from Cali. Just this season they were in on Dayne Crist and are still in on Dominique Blackman, a 6'4", 249 QB prospect considered to be a great talent. Oregon's QB for several years, Kellen Clemens (who was a 3*) is now on the Jets roster and the Ducks had 3 players drafted on Sunday. IMO, the biggest threat to their program is the over involvement of Phil Knight. The more $$ he gives, the more control he gets and I don't believe he is taking the program where it could go. If nothing else, he's made a mockery of their unis. Edit: Here's a link explaining why Knight is making mistakes. He engineered the buyout of long time athletic director Boos to hire one of his best friends........an insurance exec.........no experience in managing sports programs. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2007-02-14-oregon-ad_x.htm?csp=34
I'll trust the coaches but everything I've read about Elway since this topic was posted has not been all that great. We would never have offered him if Crowton was not coaching here. I doubt he would even be on our radar screen. There are much better prospects in areas of our traditional recruting base.
To Crowton's credit, he's coached and developed some QB's that have stuck around in the NFL dispite coming into college as unknowns.
Are you talking about BYU QB's? With the incredible stats that BYU QB's historically put up isnt it ironic that only 2 of them have done anything in the NFL? Steve Young and McMahon is all that I remember. It seems like every year they have a QB breaking some kind of record. I think it has more to do with the conference and the offense they run.
No. I'm talking about Tim Rattay at Louisiana Tech who finished 10th in Heisman voting and is still hanging around in the NFL getting spot-starts every now and then and Crowton was the QB's coach at Boston College in '93 when Glen Foley finished 5th in the Heisman voting and went on to have a few years in the NFL. He also coached Kellen Clemens at Oregon, who is a backup QB for the Jets. Rattay, Foley and Clemens are 3 QB's that went to college as unhearalded passers only to make it to the NFL under Crowton's watch. Look, not to take anything away from the job that Jimbo did with JaMarcus, but it's easier, IMO, to take a QB who's ranked among the nations best out of high school and turn him into a top-level pro quarterback, than it is to produce 3 no-name QB's as Heisman finalists and NFL players.
Good point but I still think LSU doesnt need to be taking unheralded project QB's when we have so much high profile talent that we can recruit in our traditional base. However, you always need backups so again, I'll trust the coaches. Like I said though, if Crowton wasnt here Elway wouldnt have received a sniff from us.
Probably true, but that is just because of where he's from. Had he been a local guy that we knew about, he would've received some attention.
Have any of you guys seen video on him? I watched some recently and his mechanics look pretty dang good. Very solid foot work, and a decent release. We are spoiled after watching JR's lightning release. He looked very good on timing routes, short, intermediate, and long throws. Also appeared to have some wheels. At 6'4", 187 lbs, he also looks like the right frame to build into a DIV 1 QB. I know submitted videos are highlights and can tend to hide flaws, but I honestly was impressed with what I saw. Crowton probably has an idea of what to look for in a QB and I am sure he has seen considerably more of this kid than any of us.
I don't take anything away from a coach who puts players in the NFL. Oregon has had a solid program in the PAC10 for several years. I'm not convinced it would be much better than an Ole Miss in the SEC.
