The Heaps Reclamation Project

[SoCalCoug]

Bad coordinators consistently call plays that their QBs struggle with.

I liked the Raiders in the 80's. I remember being so frustrated with Steve Beuerlein, and there was one play that epitomized my frustration with him. They were between the 5 and 10, and a naked bootleg to the right was called. Beuerlein had a wide open receiver running along the goal line, 10 yards away, and he threw it in the ground at the receiver's feet. I was so mad at Beuerlein.

I guess my frustration was misplaced. Had the Raiders had a better offensive coordinator, Beuerlein would have made that throw successfully.

[Goatnapper'96]

I liked the Raiders in the 80's. I remember being so frustrated with Steve Beuerlein, and there was one play that epitomized my frustration with him. They were between the 5 and 10, and a naked bootleg to the right was called. Beuerlein had a wide open receiver running along the goal line, 10 yards away, and he threw it in the ground at the receiver's feet. I was so mad at Beuerlein.

I guess my frustration was misplaced. Had the Raiders had a better offensive coordinator, Beuerlein would have made that throw successfully.

Jake got worse from 2010 to 2011. Coaching has to bare some of the culpability. But every program will always have that happen to them, what sets apart great programs is what the next guy is capable of doing and how the coaching staff handles it.

[SoCalCoug]

Jake got worse from 2010 to 2011. Coaching has to bare some of the culpability. But every program will always have that happen to them, what sets apart great programs is what the next guy is capable of doing and how the coaching staff handles it.

Did the other QB's also get worse from 2010 to 2011?

Why is it that the same coordinator that made the all-world Jake Heaps look crappy also made the crappy Riley Nelson look serviceable? Isn't it the consensus that Riley overperformed because he's really not that good?

[ERCougar]

Did the other QB's also get worse from 2010 to 2011?

Why is it that the same coordinator that made the all-world Jake Heaps look crappy also made the crappy Riley Nelson look serviceable? Isn't it the consensus that Riley overperformed because he's really not that good?

You take your fancy logical tricks somewhere else. We stick to practice stats and high school ratings here!

[Indy Coug]

If BYU had reversed the order of their 2011 schedule, it would have been very interesting to see what Heaps' results would have been.

[MarkGrace]

Why is it that the same coordinator that made the all-world Jake Heaps look crappy also made the crappy Riley Nelson look serviceable? Isn't it the consensus that Riley overperformed because he's really not that good?

Riley looked (mostly) the same as he did last year to me. I didn't see any magic happening there either, other than the fact that he became a security blanket for a clueless coordinator becuase he could make something happen when everything broke down (another thing Doman admitted in his interview).

[Hsaru]

Ugh....I hate this Nelson vs Heaps argument so I'll probably regret saying anything but I still haven't heard a good reason why a bad coordinator or situation would make a good quarterback consistently throw into the dirt on a simple out pattern.

Being comfortable in an offense does wonders for accuracy on even simple throws. Comfort is the #1 thing for a pocket passer

[MarkGrace]

If BYU had reversed the order of their 2011 schedule, it would have been very interesting to see what Heaps' results would have been.

It would have played out the exact opposite. Riley ran over crap, and then we he played good teams (TCU, Tulsa) looked every bit as awful as he did the year before (when he again faced good teams).

I can't believe we're having this dicussion again.

[Indy Coug]

I can't believe we're having this dicussion again.

Welcome to May.

[Hsaru]

Did the other QB's also get worse from 2010 to 2011?

Why is it that the same coordinator that made the all-world Jake Heaps look crappy also made the crappy Riley Nelson look serviceable? Isn't it the consensus that Riley overperformed because he's really not that good?

Do you really not understand this? Riley Nelson is a backyard football player, he hardly plays in an offensive system, his ability to play QB up to his mediocre level is not very impacted by how crappy the offensive system is. A pure pocket passer does not have that luxury, they need to work in an effective system that they feel 100% comfortable in.

[Jacob]

Heaps succeeding or failing at Kansas is a completely different story and will vindicate neither his supporters nor critics.

End of story.

This last bit is baloney. If Heaps turns out to be all-world at Kansas, it will show that there was a great failure at BYU.

But there is no point in re-hashing all the tired arguments of yesteryear. We'll have to wait 2 years to see what happens.

[Indy Coug]

This last bit is baloney. If Heaps turns out to be all-world at Kansas, it will show that there was a great failure at BYU.

But there is no point in re-hashing all the tired arguments of yesteryear. We'll have to wait 2 years to see what happens.

There were so many moving parts at BYU, even if Heaps succeeds at KU it will be very difficult to tell if it was "BYU's" fault. Everyone has a share of the blame at BYU and that includes Jake. Making a clean break may have allowed Jake a better shot at redeeming himself than trying to make up for past faults at BYU.

[jay santos]

This last bit is baloney. If Heaps turns out to be all-world at Kansas, it will show that there was a great failure at BYU.

But there is no point in re-hashing all the tired arguments of yesteryear. We'll have to wait 2 years to see what happens.

I agree there's no point in rehashing, and I don't intend to. I have my opinion of what happened, but I've stated it many times, and I don't have anything new to add today.

But let's say Heaps does great at Kansas, how does it prove the coaches screwed up? Is the following possible?

The coaches did a good job (or at least no worse than average) in coaching him, preparing him, giving him an offensive system, game planning, play calls, etc, and he still did poorly. The coaches believed he could be a great QB someday, but they knew Nelson was the best to win games right now and maximize the program's value.

[Hsaru]

I agree there's no point in rehashing, and I don't intend to. I have my opinion of what happened, but I've stated it many times, and I don't have anything new to add today.

But let's say Heaps does great at Kansas, how does it prove the coaches screwed up? Is the following possible?

The coaches did a good job (or at least no worse than average) in coaching him, preparing him, giving him an offensive system, game planning, play calls, etc, and he still did poorly. The coaches believed he could be a great QB someday, but they knew Nelson was the best to win games right now and maximize the program's value.

With what we saw and what Doman has said 10+ times by now, no I don't think your scenario is a possible explanation for what happened at the start of 2011.

Funny that we hear Doman now using all the same language Anae used to use and the same philosophy on the offense.

I really thought Doman was a smart enough guy to know that Bronco was not promoting him for his offensive genius and his plan to revamp the offense. He was promoted to keep Anae's system and be a much better motivator/developer/recruiter than Anae was. Doman's head got way too big and tried to be an offensive genius and fell flat on his face.

[Jacob]

I agree there's no point in rehashing, and I don't intend to. I have my opinion of what happened, but I've stated it many times, and I don't have anything new to add today.

But let's say Heaps does great at Kansas, how does it prove the coaches screwed up? Is the following possible?

The coaches did a good job (or at least no worse than average) in coaching him, preparing him, giving him an offensive system, game planning, play calls, etc, and he still did poorly. The coaches believed he could be a great QB someday, but they knew Nelson was the best to win games right now and maximize the program's value.

No. The last sentence doesn't make sense. If Jake Heaps is all-world, then the best thing for the program would have been to make it work. There would have been no "maximizing the program's value" but playing Nelson. The coaches may not be totally at fault, but the buck stops there.

But none of that is true unless Heaps in fact turns out to be all world. As it is, he sucked. And I'm not shedding any tears.