The Heaps Reclamation Project

[jay santos]

My opinion on this is:

1. Heaps is terrible. I do not blame the coaches for this. I don't think Heaps is showing anything whatsoever right now that makes me think he's about to turn the corner, this year next year or ever. There are a few passes a QB throws thousands of times in his life in practice, warm up's, games, etc. The 10 yard WR out or the half back dump off in the flat, for example. Heaps is absolutely horrible on these passes with no other factors involved: defensive pressure, coaching, etc. Heaps locks onto his primary receiver. He seems to have zero creativity or ability to improvise or "make a play". He's a kid with little athletic ability or instinct who's been manufactured into a QB, like a bad Todd Maranovich. On the flip side, he did start to look very good the last half of the season, so I do hold out a little bit of hope he can regain that form and build on it.

2. Riley Nelson is not a long term solution. He can't stretch a defense and we don't have great WR's that demand double teams to start with. It will not be difficult for average defenses to stack everyone in the box, cover the receivers one on one, put a spy on the QB, and completely bottle up a Nelson led offense.

3. Let's not despair. Things change very quickly in college football. Forcier/Robinson, Gerhart/McCoy stories happen all over the place. We went through four QB's in '92 and the fourth guy turned out to be pretty good. I don't know if our QB next year will be Nelson, Heaps, or other. But if we have good coaches and a good system in place, we can bounce back quickly.

[byu71]

I think Brandon Doman is still young a fiery competitor. I am worried that he might be another who is the first one dressed at the temple. Pity the fool close to him, i.e. within reaching distance of the slippers, who is pushing him for that distinction as he might find his footgear missing on occassion.

For the record aren't you one who bitches when highly talented players sit? Now they give one a shot early and he flops and you are bitching about it as well. I could be wrong but I think you just might like to bitch.

My opinion is that BYU made a huge youth movement in coaching, above and beyond Doman. You have a brand new OC, who really isn't that experienced a college coach, along with a relatively young RB coach who is brand new to BYU and a brand new WR coach who played the last 12 years in a league that only puts 10 players on the field. Some of the issues are their collective innexperience. Time will give them experience but time might not make them good at their jobs. This issue compounds Heaps' issues, which I think boils down to things in his life coming way too easy until this point. Jake is going to have to rise up and mature and earn his way. I agree with Mendenhall that the team sees his potential, but Jake has to realize it and fulfill it. It will not surprise me if the coaching staff and Jake both improve significantly over the next couple of years and improve significantly against even the good teams. I still think the kid is uberly talented and I think Doman will be good a OC in time. I am not sure how to proceed and I am not convinced the decisions made will be the best, but I do believe that over time both Jake and Brandon will do very well in their roles at BYU.

I also think that the Big-12 issue is going to disallow BYU from hiding behind a weak schedule. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Nice, after bitching about my bitching, you go on to make my point. The coaches need to get their heads on straight before they are going to be able to help Jake get his on straight.

You take the facts and then hope or project the future turns out bright. In other words you expect a big learning experience. I see a program that has gotten progessively worse since Bronco's first three years. I think he and the fans misread how good they were by the 10 win seasons. I got beat up for saying that and now we have the last two years, despite the fact we have more talent than ever.

I don't have the answers though and since you can get nastier than I can and you have no regard for my feelings, I will agree with you right now and say all it will take is time.

In addition, I don't think I griped at all about them playing the more talented Jake Heaps.

[Flystripper]

[QUOTE=jay santos;675951]My opinion on this is:

1. Heaps is terrible. I do not blame the coaches for this. I don't think Heaps is showing anything whatsoever right now that makes me think he's about to turn the corner, this year next year or ever. There are a few passes a QB throws thousands of times in his life in practice, warm up's, games, etc. The 10 yard WR out or the half back dump off in the flat, for example. Heaps is absolutely horrible on these passes with no other factors involved: defensive pressure, coaching, etc. Heaps locks onto his primary receiver. He seems to have zero creativity or ability to improvise or "make a play". He's a kid with little athletic ability or instinct who's been manufactured into a QB, like a bad Todd Maranovich. On the flip side, he did start to look very good the last half of the season, so I do hold out a little bit of hope he can regain that form and build on it.

2. Riley Nelson is not a long term solution. He can't stretch a defense and we don't have great WR's that demand double teams to start with. It will not be difficult for average defenses to stack everyone in the box, cover the receivers one on one, put a spy on the QB, and completely bottle up a Nelson led offense.

3. Let's not despair. Things change very quickly in college football. Forcier/Robinson, Gerhart/McCoy stories happen all over the place. We went through four QB's in '92 and the fourth guy turned out to be pretty good. I don't know if our QB next year will be Nelson, Heaps, or other. But if we have good coaches and a good system in place, we can bounce back quickly.[/QUOTE]

[Goatnapper'96]

Nice, after bitching about my bitching, you go on to make my point. The coaches need to get their heads on straight before they are going to be able to help Jake get his on straight.

You take the facts and then hope or project the future turns out bright. In other words you expect a big learning experience. I see a program that has gotten progessively worse since Bronco's first three years. I think he and the fans misread how good they were by the 10 win seasons. I got beat up for saying that and now we have the last two years, despite the fact we have more talent than ever.

I don't have the answers though and since you can get nastier than I can and you have no regard for my feelings, I will agree with you right now and say all it will take is time.

In addition, I don't think I griped at all about them playing the more talented Jake Heaps.

I don't know what you mean by people overestimating how good BYU was as a program I never thought this program can be a national power, but I still think this team will win double digit games by the time the season is over. I think that while the offense is struggling and I don't think Nelson is the long term answer I think this offense is a good quarterback away from becoming pretty effective - and that is without a real good rushing threat. Right now this BYU team is a solid team that I would put somewhere between 40-50 nationally and that is with very poor qb play. A good qb and this club is hovering around top 25.

I also am not entirely convinced that TCU will thrash BYU. In fact I think the two teams are looking pretty similar and it will be interesting to see if Mendenhall can come close to replicating the improvement that Patterson is likely to manufacture.

[Goatnapper'96]

[quote=Flystripper;675955]

My opinion on this is:

1. Heaps is terrible. I do not blame the coaches for this. I don't think Heaps is showing anything whatsoever right now that makes me think he's about to turn the corner, this year next year or ever. There are a few passes a QB throws thousands of times in his life in practice, warm up's, games, etc. The 10 yard WR out or the half back dump off in the flat, for example. Heaps is absolutely horrible on these passes with no other factors involved: defensive pressure, coaching, etc. Heaps locks onto his primary receiver. He seems to have zero creativity or ability to improvise or "make a play". He's a kid with little athletic ability or instinct who's been manufactured into a QB, like a bad Todd Maranovich. On the flip side, he did start to look very good the last half of the season, so I do hold out a little bit of hope he can regain that form and build on it.

2. Riley Nelson is not a long term solution. He can't stretch a defense and we don't have great WR's that demand double teams to start with. It will not be difficult for average defenses to stack everyone in the box, cover the receivers one on one, put a spy on the QB, and completely bottle up a Nelson led offense.

3. Let's not despair. Things change very quickly in college football. Forcier/Robinson, Gerhart/McCoy stories happen all over the place. We went through four QB's in '92 and the fourth guy turned out to be pretty good. I don't know if our QB next year will be Nelson, Heaps, or other. But if we have good coaches and a good system in place, we can bounce back quickly.[/QUOTE]

Without question the offensive staff has some challenges but it really could be that the offensive system is impossible to evaluate yet. Right now their bigger shortcoming is the inability to develop Jake Heaps. Like many I no happy, but I tend to genuinely believe that Brandon Doman will be a good OC and I have yet to decide Jake Heaps is going to suck forever.

[Flystripper]

Right now this BYU team is a solid team that I would put somewhere between 40-50 nationally and that is with very poor qb play.

wow you really ARE a homer!

[jay santos]

But if we have good coaches and a good system in place, we can bounce back quickly.

Notice the if.

I put more emphasis on the system than the coaches. I've said before, the brains required for position coaches in college football is not the level required for nuclear physics. Our guys are smart and committed. They may not have as much experience as others, but they are getting it fast.

And I think we have a good system. I liked the system under Anae, and I don't think much has changed. Our system/coaching is not just Doman and the gang. Our system is an evolution of the BYU offense for the last 30 years. Reynolds is still here and has a huge influence.

Doman started out emphasizing play action, QB on the move, and more short stuff. But it seems to be coming back to looking pretty much exactly what Anae was running. The biggest issue right now is the high risk/low reward kind of plays like the three yard WR out across the long side of the field. Let's get rid of that stuff and we'll be on track.

[ERCougar]

wow you really ARE a homer!

Sagarin has them at 52. Massey ratings (a compilation of a bunch of computer ratings) at 56.
Utah is at 34 and 46 respectively.

[Flystripper]

Sagarin has them at 52. Massey ratings (a compilation of a bunch of computer ratings) at 56.
Utah is at 34 and 46 respectively.

Where is USU? Cause they are better than us even though we won.

[ERCougar]

What's the difference from the confidence builder Heaps had last year?

An extra year under his belt?

Really, I meant that as a reason to start riley, not to defend heaps. Riley won't last long anyway.

Like many, I'm curious about lark. I remember people were excited about getting him. Whats to lose? We need to figure out a solid qb for next year.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Where is USU? Cause they are better than us even though we won.

I have never understood this kind of logic.

[byu71]

I don't know what you mean by people overestimating how good BYU was as a program I never thought this program can be a national power, but I still think this team will win double digit games by the time the season is over.

When I say people, I don't mean "everyone". There was a good size contingency that thought we had arrived and were a small step away from BCS games. We were going to get all the "good" LDS athletes. Utah recruiting wise was not a threat.

You may have not thought they could become a national power and I certainly didn't think those 4 10 win seasons was proof we were just around the corner from being a national power, but many did.

As far as winning 9-10 games this year, sure we can. I think the defense is good enough and Nelson is adequate enough. If we schedule like we have this year, we should win 9-10 games every year and plenty of folks will claim we are one of the very good programs.

[ERCougar]

Where is USU? Cause they are better than us even though we won.

97.
I'm not sure why you say that. in what cases are we allowed to use ' scoreboard'?
Was BYU better than utah last year?

[Goatnapper'96]

wow you really ARE a homer!

Indeed. BYU this year has a struggling offense but Mendenhall rarely loses games to teams he should not. I think that trend will continue and BYU will gut out many wins. While the opponents up to now have not been real good they have not sucked either. If BYU were to play every team in FBS I think they would win 65 of the games. When the dust settles I think BYU will have defeated the CUSA champ (UCF) and the likely WAC champ (USU or Hawaii). Saying that other than USU, I don't think BYU has taken its opponents best shots.

Saying that, BYU finished last year that good and it is a bit frustrating to me that this team is "coagulating" two years in a row. That should not be neccesary without injuries or things outside of the coach's control.

However, I think the shitty offensive play has many thinking the overall team is much worse than it really is. I think that Riley Nelson will allow BYU to move the ball against just about everyone on the schedule save TCU and I think Nelson would move the ball consistently enough against most FBS teams. That is not to say that I think Riles is going to make BYU an offensive juggernaut against even the competition BYU will face the rest of the year, but I think the would be able to move the ball consistently enough that stout defensive and special teams play would be enough to win.

[Goatnapper'96]

Where is USU? Cause they are better than us even though we won.

USU played what will likely be its best effort of the year. They are a solid team but I would put them right in the middle of FBS clubs at about 60.