Looking ahead to 2020

QCillini48 · Dec 14, 2019

With all due respect to Robinson, that performance and outcome against NW was predictable. Many on the inside knew the potential of that happening. As did NW, putting 8 in the box and shutting down the run. Unfortunately he is just not a B1G quarterback, imo. Lights it up with the red jersey on in practice. But just not good enough to play in the Big Ten, and many in house had already known this for a while...

Why did he see the field then QC? I'm not trying to stir up this board, but again, I've already given the answers. There was much inter turmoil over this, which has now been cleaned up and the NW results wont happen again because the point has been proven...

And the attempted comeback against Michigan was counterfeit. They dropped into 2 & 3 deep coverages and backed there corners off once they were up by a mile, but quickly brought the pressure back and shut us down. He deserves credit and will do great at a smaller school imo, and they gave him a shot but some of the results were counterfeit and we definitely known and seen that and have effectively lifted our QB room in light of it...

If you want to win you have to have high level QB play, period. Especially against Power 5 competition, and no disrespect to Matt, but i just dont believe he sees the field here again.

QCillini48 · Dec 14, 2019

thunderwear said:
Plus, if Williams crushes it then Peters leaves. And we had a good enough Qb.

This statement scares me to the mindset and potential stubbornness of Lovie...

Will it be different next year? Or will Lovie try to lean on "old reliable" too long and have a reluctance to turn to the younger, more dynamic QB that will produce greater results when needed.

Hopefully I'm wrong and you are right that next year will be different. He plays freshman yes, but again, I fear Lovie may have an overriding loyalty to the upperclassmen, especially to a senior who led us to 6 wins at the Quarterback position...

Joel Goodson · Dec 14, 2019

QCillini48 said:
With all due respect to Robinson, that performance and outcome against NW was predictable. Many on the inside knew the potential of that happening. As did NW, putting 8 in the box and shutting down the run. Unfortunately he is just not a B1G quarterback, imo. Lights it up with the red jersey on in practice. But just not good enough to play in the Big Ten, and many in house had already known this for a while...

Why did he see the field then QC? I'm not trying to stir up this board, but again, I've already given the answers. There was much inter turmoil over this, which has now been cleaned up and the NW results wont happen again because the point has been proven...

And the attempted comeback against Michigan was counterfeit. They dropped into 2 & 3 deep coverages and backed there corners off once they were up by a mile, but quickly brought the pressure back and shut us down. He deserves credit and will do great at a smaller school imo, and they gave him a shot but some of the results were counterfeit and we definitely known and seen that and have effectively lifted our QB room in light of it...

If you want to win you have to have high level QB play, period. Especially against Power 5 competition, and no disrespect to Matt, but i just dont believe he sees the field here again.

Well put (and I agree). That said, Williams doesn't seem to have command of the playbook and didn't seem ready. He has to be able to throw well enough to keep defenses honest. Honestly, I saw none of that. Extremely hard to win in the BIG w/a one dimensional offense. So, Rod was damned either way.

QCillini48 · Dec 14, 2019

Given the chance and ample enough sample size, I think we all would have been to see that IW can sling the pigskin more than well enough to keep the defense honest! That arm is unbelievable for someone his size and his balls are beautiful (almost frightening to opponents) as they travel through the air! The accuracy is there as well. Just needs reps!

I personally am very confident still, that this is our Quarterback of the future for the next 4 years (hopefully)

Madco Illini · Dec 14, 2019

QCillini48 said:
Given the chance and ample enough sample size, I think we all would have been to see that IW can sling the pigskin more than well enough to keep the defense honest! That arm is unbelievable for someone his size and his balls are beautiful (almost frightening to opponents) as they travel through the air! The accuracy is there as well. Just needs reps!

I personally am very confident still, that this is our Quarterback of the future for the next 4 years (hopefully)

Rod smith has proven he will play the dynamic young guy over the veteran if it’s warranted. He was the guy stumping for Khalil Tate over the upperclassmen at Arizona.

thunderwear · Dec 14, 2019

QCillini48 said:
This statement scares me to the mindset and potential stubbornness of Lovie...

Will it be different next year? Or will Lovie try to lean on "old reliable" too long and have a reluctance to turn to the younger, more dynamic QB that will produce greater results when needed.

Hopefully I'm wrong and you are right that next year will be different. He plays freshman yes, but again, I fear Lovie may have an overriding loyalty to the upperclassmen, especially to a senior who led us to 6 wins at the Quarterback position...

Honestly, when you look at Arizona, when Dawkins was injured, they brought Tate in and he made his mark. I would guess a similar progression for Williams, barring Williams blowing up camp. Peters wasn’t great, but he was good enough to win 6. My guess is that next year, with some reps, he will be much improved. I think Williams will also be much improved. So it will be fun to watch down the stretch

LHIllinis · Dec 14, 2019

IW was also hurt this seadon. Peters will be the starter next season and thats ok.

Deleted member 654622 · Dec 15, 2019

QCillini48 said:
Given the chance and ample enough sample size, I think we all would have been to see that IW can sling the pigskin more than well enough to keep the defense honest! That arm is unbelievable for someone his size and his balls are beautiful (almost frightening to opponents) as they travel through the air! The accuracy is there as well. Just needs reps!

I personally am very confident still, that this is our Quarterback of the future for the next 4 years (hopefully)

You have to know that you are overstating his current ability right? In time, sure. But right now you are as high on orange Kool-Aid as I have seen sir.
If we are all trying to be realistic and temper our expectations that every recruit isn't the next Juice or Randle El, then we should not be surprised if IW does not ever start at QB for us.

If there was a bet. I would take the field

Sneaky john ekey · Dec 15, 2019

QCillini48 said:
With all due respect, no, I dont believe I am sir. & Kool-aid or not, in time we will see. He does need time yes, but what he really needs is live reps and I look for him to be the #1 QB in the room when the time comes for us to open up next year!

Why in the hell would we sit a senior QB that won us 6 games and played solid football for most of the year? I like IW but u need to get out of rankings and hs stats and see his development.

thunderwear · Dec 15, 2019

Peters didn't turn the ball over. I don't think we can say that Williams would not have turned the ball over. At this point, Peters is the safer play. I look forward to seeing Williams on the field, but I think next year he will have to earn his minutes. I believe he will do that, but I think, at this point, Peters is the starter moving into the beginning of the season. If we see something special in camp, then possibly Williams starts. But at this point, I think Peters is the guy. We already know that Rod is willing to go to bat for the best QB (at Arizona). And he will do that if he feel strongly about it.

ILLHangOut · Dec 16, 2019

I have no idea how good the backup QBs are, but I do know that QB play was one of the biggest weaknesses this year. If its not addressed in the offseason, then I won’t be surprised if this team regresses; especially with the losses at RB, and *maybe* WR (bhebhe).

Peters seems to be most qualified on paper but he has a lot of work this offseason to improve on his accuracy and timing.

TooHot4Tots · Dec 16, 2019

thunderwear said:
Peters didn't turn the ball over. I don't think we can say that Williams would not have turned the ball over. At this point, Peters is the safer play. I look forward to seeing Williams on the field, but I think next year he will have to earn his minutes. I believe he will do that, but I think, at this point, Peters is the starter moving into the beginning of the season. If we see something special in camp, then possibly Williams starts. But at this point, I think Peters is the guy. We already know that Rod is willing to go to bat for the best QB (at Arizona). And he will do that if he feel strongly about it.

Peters had his share of turnovers. Still a better play at QB than a young and fragile IW. That said, QB development is somewhat bothersome and something I hope is addressed with a much improved 1,2 and 3 this coming season.

Ander1345 · Dec 16, 2019

Peters made plays when he had to.

My faith in Rod Smith to put players in to position to make plays is still shaky.

BWBW · Dec 16, 2019

Ander1345 said:
Peters made plays when he had to.

My faith in Rod Smith to put players in to position to make plays is still shaky.

I'm hoping third year Rod puts it all together.

Deleted member 654622 · Dec 16, 2019

TooHot4Tots said:
Peters had his share of turnovers. Still a better play at QB than a young and fragile IW. That said, QB development is somewhat bothersome and something I hope is addressed with a much improved 1,2 and 3 this coming season.

Let us keep in mind the talent level of the QB room, or should I say the lack thereof during Rod's tenure. I would say we are going to get a taste of what Rod is this next year with an offseason with Peters and 1 full year of IW. In three years, if all stay, we have IW - Spann - Collier in that room. Different level talent group than we have seen at QB for a while

TooHot4Tots · Dec 16, 2019

Dude said:
Let us keep in mind the talent level of the QB room, or should I say the lack thereof during Rod's tenure. I would say we are going to get a taste of what Rod is this next year with an offseason with Peters and 1 full year of IW. In three years, if all stay, we have IW - Spann - Collier in that room. Different level talent group than we have seen at QB for a while

Well aware of the QB room and why I am hoping to see improvement this year. Time for the Rod show.

thunderwear · Dec 16, 2019

Ander1345 said:
Peters made plays when he had to.

My faith in Rod Smith to put players in to position to make plays is still shaky.

Peters also messed up when he needed to make plays. Hoping that a year of work with receivers, on progressions, and reads will help him. But I also believe that about halfway through the year, IW will make a push to take the starting spot. I may have made that prediction last year, but I understand why the coaching staff couldn't make that move given the state of the QB room. I think this coming year we are going to see a jump in production.

Also, worth note, the play calling was, at times atrocious. Getting the ball to Bhebhe should have been more of priority. Also utilizing our tight ends would have produced a better results. Ultimately, our QB was not great at progressions, hopefully this will improve.

Twangers · Dec 16, 2019

thunderwear said:
Peters also messed up when he needed to make plays. Hoping that a year of work with receivers, on progressions, and reads will help him. But I also believe that about halfway through the year, IW will make a push to take the starting spot. I may have made that prediction last year, but I understand why the coaching staff couldn't make that move given the state of the QB room. I think this coming year we are going to see a jump in production.

Also, worth note, the play calling was, at times atrocious. Getting the ball to Bhebhe should have been more of priority. Also utilizing our tight ends would have produced a better results. Ultimately, our QB was not great at progressions, hopefully this will improve.

Bold: Not the issue, not in this offense.

illini80 · Dec 16, 2019

Twangers said:
Bold: Not the issue, not in this offense.

Interested in your analysis on this. It seemed to me that if the primary guy was covered, he struggled to find secondary receivers.

Fighter of the Nightman · Dec 16, 2019

I haven't done my research properly, but I would be disappointed with anything worse than 7-5. I mean, sure, it took "miracles" to beat Wisconsin and MSU, but in a "normal year," we beat EMU, Nebraska and Northwestern, IMO ... we beat NU with Peters. I think we need to show improvement from last year in a tangible form, and anything less should just simply be a disappointment, no?

gapillini · Dec 16, 2019

Dude said:
cant tell if that is a ten or a five. But what's ten pounds when you talking about how easy that was for him. Dude is very strong already

Yes he is. Green has been the strongest player on the team for quite a while. He will play on Sundays soon, hopefully for my Bears, if not maybe Seattle.

thunderwear · Dec 16, 2019

Fighter of the Nightman said:
I haven't done my research properly, but I would be disappointed with anything worse than 7-5. I mean, sure, it took "miracles" to beat Wisconsin and MSU, but in a "normal year," we beat EMU, Nebraska and Northwestern, IMO ... we beat NU with Peters. I think we need to show improvement from last year in a tangible form, and anything less should just simply be a disappointment, no?

Yes and no. Yes, the team we have next year is better than a 7 win team. But winning games in football is a matter of inches and seconds. It is conceivable that we lose more than expected without taking away anything. Illinois does not have a history of making bowl games, anyone that can get us consistent at qualifying is stepping the program in the right direction. I would like 3 bowl games in a row and then a breakout

Ander1345 · Dec 16, 2019

illini80 said:
Interested in your analysis on this. It seemed to me that if the primary guy was covered, he struggled to find secondary receivers.

Gonna guess Twangers was talking about the offense not asking him to make multiple reads.

Joel Goodson · Dec 16, 2019

Dre Brown is not going to try to get another year. Bummer, but completely understandable.

Guess I should've checked the home page first, lol.

Sneaky john ekey · Dec 16, 2019

I really think that Reggie love will come in and compete for carries right away.

Looking ahead to 2020

QCillini48

QCillini48

Joel Goodson

QCillini48

Madco Illini

thunderwear

LHIllinis

Deleted member 654622

Guest

Sneaky john ekey

thunderwear

ILLHangOut

TooHot4Tots

Ander1345

BWBW

Deleted member 654622

Guest

TooHot4Tots

thunderwear

Twangers

illini80

Fighter of the Nightman

gapillini

thunderwear

Ander1345

Joel Goodson

Sneaky john ekey