Re: Loston Ready to Play, Jury out on Shep That did not happen. As explained above and no QB on the black team had better stats. Gilbert was battling for the starting spot with Shep all week and Shep won the battle in practice as well (that is why Gilbert got the 1st series after the half). I think Gilbert will be a great QB as well but he was forcing too many throws and holding the ball too long. That is what happens with a bad performance from an oline and limited action to get into any sort of pattern.
Re: Loston Ready to Play, Jury out on Shep It depends. When the Saints went to the NFC championship game against the Bears one of their best plays was Deuce up the middle with a fake or pitch to Reggie running around the end after being split out wide. Most of the time we gave it to Deuce, but it kept the defense honest enough so they couldn't crash the middle. Arkansas ran this same play on us when Nutt was there very successfully. The point is sometimes you can find a series of plays for specific personnel that works with limited risk. When Florida played Bama this year a shuttle pass that wasn't run the entire game was a key play in winning the game. It looked like an option wide with Tebow, and Bama couldn't see it coming. So no we are not "better than that". We are not better than Keiland's halfback passes. We are not better than the onsides kick in the bowl we just played. We are not better than the incredible fake kick against South Carolina when Flynn threw it over his shoulder without looking. It takes everything you can pull out your butt to win in the SEC, even going for it 4 or 5 times and converting of 4th down. That is how we won a championship!
Other than Shep, the only QB I was impressed with in the two all-star games was Matt Barkley, who I thought looked great. Gilbert (Texas commit in UA game) and Murray (Georgia commit in the Army game) disappointed. But I still think they are probably great QBs. Gilbert getting stripped of the football: Matt Barkley poses with his MVP trophy following his stellar performance.
Re: Loston Ready to Play, Jury out on Shep I loved it. I will miss seeing Big Herm standing next to Trindon an seeing the size differential. We didn't do it, but people forget there was a successful "fumblerooskie" pulled off by Nebraska in a championship game when Tom Osbourne was coach. Don't forget Boise St. beating Oklahoma and Stoops on that last trick play in the bowl game.
My whole point is that I didn't see anything about the kid that suggests he is better than our currents starters at any position, so significant playing time will be hard for him to come by next year. A redshirt makes more sense for him unless he can prove otherwise in practice. And the decision to redshirt or not is not his to make. The coaches will make that call. He'll do great things here, but he'll have to wait his turn and you all know it.
We all know he has to wait his turn but we are not saying he is going to be the starting QB when he steps foot on campus. I do not expect the staff to redshirt him because I think they will use him in the open space and a change of pace running QB.
I understand this position, and they certainly could do that...but my question is do they NEED to? And if not, would it be worth losing the opportunity to get an extra year of eligibility out of him.
