For many years now I️ have been a big fan of the Oregon Ducks. As a high school kid, I️ loved their offense, their uniforms, and Chip Kelly.
This year, their stud sophomore QB, Justin Herbert, went down with a broken collarbone. Their coach’s options were a 5th year senior or a true freshman. Oregon went with their true freshman, and he was terrible. Now, that may seem bad, but is it? He stunk. Everyone watched him stink. Maybe he wasn’t ready. Or maybe he wasn’t the answer. Regardless, the staff now knows what they have in this kid based on several games of film. Their assessment is what it is. Maybe he’ll improve, maybe he’ll move on. But at least they know and can adjust their recruiting strategy accordingly.
The biggest difference here is that Ben is not a 5th year senior, he’s a 3rd year sophomore. But if he practices like he plays, how can any coach in their right mind think “he may figure it out.” We’re now at 2 games left, against what I’d imagine to be two of the more talented defenses we’ll face and now Narduzzi may pull the cord on “let’s see what he can do,” which I️ think will set Kenny up for failure.
There’s a right way to handle things when you’re a marginal program and your starting qb goes down. Could it be chalked up to Narduzzi never managing a program before? Perhaps. But I’ve been following both QB situations all season and thought it was worth sharing.
This year, their stud sophomore QB, Justin Herbert, went down with a broken collarbone. Their coach’s options were a 5th year senior or a true freshman. Oregon went with their true freshman, and he was terrible. Now, that may seem bad, but is it? He stunk. Everyone watched him stink. Maybe he wasn’t ready. Or maybe he wasn’t the answer. Regardless, the staff now knows what they have in this kid based on several games of film. Their assessment is what it is. Maybe he’ll improve, maybe he’ll move on. But at least they know and can adjust their recruiting strategy accordingly.
The biggest difference here is that Ben is not a 5th year senior, he’s a 3rd year sophomore. But if he practices like he plays, how can any coach in their right mind think “he may figure it out.” We’re now at 2 games left, against what I’d imagine to be two of the more talented defenses we’ll face and now Narduzzi may pull the cord on “let’s see what he can do,” which I️ think will set Kenny up for failure.
There’s a right way to handle things when you’re a marginal program and your starting qb goes down. Could it be chalked up to Narduzzi never managing a program before? Perhaps. But I’ve been following both QB situations all season and thought it was worth sharing.
