The element that everything else is going to need to flow from is making a decision on IW.
IW is the most talented player on the team, and he will return next year for his third college season as a FRESHMAN quarterback. He also could not have played quarterback for any previous Bielema team, period, full stop.
If IW is Bielema's guy, the OC choice has to flow from that, and it most likely means stepping away from everyone I named earlier. Retaining CPatt may be a non-negotiable part of that as well. Say goodbye to Peters and go get a transfer that fits as well.
If Bielema needs a more traditional QB, job #1 would be finding a suitable QB in the transfer market AND looking for a prep one for February to develop AND recruiting Peters to stay. It is crucial that he immediately fills his QB room with options that can execute what he wants to do, and critically, run his stuff for the entire roster in practice. Lovie's failure to do that was devastating to the development of the entire offense. They literally didn't have guys to adequately practice stuff with WR's.
And if it's the latter option, we all know it ends with IW transferring. Is ripping the band-aid now the best option? What does that mean for CPatt? What does CPatt mean for the St. Louis market? Would they stick around for a year to try things out at WR? Would that just make everyone miserable and poison your culture?
A lot of new coaches come in and there's a heavily recruited starting QB in the center of the locker room they need to take a position on. For that player to be returning as a freshman, and to be totally incompatible with your historical offense, makes for a pretty unprecedented conundrum.
I just really hope there isn't a lot of flowery, coachspeak pretending that IW can be Scott Tolzien. That would be a terrible waste of precious time in Bielema's tenure and guarantee total uncompetitiveness next season.
