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I think Max's major hurdle lies between his ears. QB's need to be confident, but Max seems to be confident and foolish. Anyone who watched him play last year with half-a-mind about football could see his short comings. But the most dissappointing thing about him is that he and coach Anae publicly admitted that he was locking on, forcing throws into double and triple coverage, yet, Max continued to do it.
That is the concern, ignorance of your shortcomings is one thing, but having publicly addressed them personally and with your OC and having supposedly spent "hours" in the film room looking for ways to correct the issue and still continuing to repeat the same mistakes shows to me that it didn't matter what was coming out of his mouth; he was going to throw to Collie and Pitta regardless of defensive scheme.
This shows to me that he thinks he is above coaching, above scheming defenses and that he can't do anything he wants if he simply "executes at a high level". That isn't swagger, that is arrogance coupled with idiocy. I think the real test of how Max will do this season will be unveiled at Tulane and at home against FSU. Tulane is a must win and it needs to be a convincing win. It will be very difficult to get amped for Tulane after OU, regardless of the outcome. A mentally strong QB will be able to focus on a "lesser" opponent and use the game to hone his skills. Make good throws, use more personnel, look for crisp execution in preparation for a tough FSU team. FSU will challenge his accuracy with man press coverage on the edge. He will have to use all of his weapons (including the dinks and dunks to Tonga and Unga) to move the ball. If he does this successfully, I think it will show that he truly has learned that in most cases 4 or 5 shotguns in your arsenal is better than 1 or 2 Uzis.
That is the concern, ignorance of your shortcomings is one thing, but having publicly addressed them personally and with your OC and having supposedly spent "hours" in the film room looking for ways to correct the issue and still continuing to repeat the same mistakes shows to me that it didn't matter what was coming out of his mouth; he was going to throw to Collie and Pitta regardless of defensive scheme.
This shows to me that he thinks he is above coaching, above scheming defenses and that he can't do anything he wants if he simply "executes at a high level". That isn't swagger, that is arrogance coupled with idiocy. I think the real test of how Max will do this season will be unveiled at Tulane and at home against FSU. Tulane is a must win and it needs to be a convincing win. It will be very difficult to get amped for Tulane after OU, regardless of the outcome. A mentally strong QB will be able to focus on a "lesser" opponent and use the game to hone his skills. Make good throws, use more personnel, look for crisp execution in preparation for a tough FSU team. FSU will challenge his accuracy with man press coverage on the edge. He will have to use all of his weapons (including the dinks and dunks to Tonga and Unga) to move the ball. If he does this successfully, I think it will show that he truly has learned that in most cases 4 or 5 shotguns in your arsenal is better than 1 or 2 Uzis.
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