Yeah, because there's such a history of success and qb development at OHIO.
While some consider facts, and others just rehash pre-formed opinions, I'll toss out some facts, and two alternate theories to consider.
1. Theory #1 is that Ohio's QBs and QB recruiting was held back by the lack on an Indoor Practice Facility. The Walter Fieldhouse opened in mid year 2014, so 2015 was the first year it was available for over-winter practice. If this theory is true, you'd expect to see improved recruiting starting in 2015, and quarterbacks improving from year to year starting in 2015.
2. Theory #2 is that QB development and recruiting was not as good as it should have been under Gdowski. If true, you'd expect to see minimal QB improvement from year to year prior to 2014. You'd also expect to see a lack of QB development at Vanderbilt since 2014.
Under both theories you'd expect to see improved development since 2014, and improved recruiting as well. As far as recruiting, we are definitely seeing an improvement in recruiting for 2017, but we did not see it prior to this.
As far as QB development, I posted that information in this thread:
http://www.bobcatattack.com/messageboard/topic.asp?FromPa... Repeating some of that here, under Isphording and/or with the IPF:
Vick improved his passing efficiency from 100 to 134
Sprague improved from 100 to 137
Windham improved from 98 to 118
Maxwell started at 132 his first year, a much higher level than any of the above started at.
So, what about Vanderbilt? In the two years before Gdowski arrived, their team pass efficiency ratings were 138.9 and 135.4. In the three years he has been there, the QB efficiency ratings have been 102.4, 98.3, and 108.3. Did specific quarterbacks improve? Well, there was Johnny McCrary. His efficiency was 114.8 in 2014, and dropped to 101.3 in 2015, and then he seems to have transferred to Mercer. Kyle Shurmer did improve, from 93.9 in 2015 to 110.9 in 2016, but to put that in perspective, it's a fair amount lower than Windham this year.
Conclusions:
1. Individual Ohio quarterbacks have improved dramatically year over year since 2014. Is it because of the coaching change, or because of the IPF? I don't know.
2. Quarterback recruiting for 2017 is much better than prior years (Keszei, Rourke, and some transfer to be named later). 2016 was the first year where we've seen an Isphording recruit on the field, that being Maxwell. He's got a long way to go, but I think it's clear that his play as a Freshman is better than where other quarterbacks were as Freshmen.
3. Quarterback play at Vanderbilt has declined since Gdowski arrived. Is it because of coaching, offensive line play, or recruiting, or something else? I don't know. Vanderbilt also lost a QB to transfer since he arrived (McCrary). Ohio lost several to transfer while Gdowski was at Ohio (Petrziello, Snyder, Bell).
Opinion:
My opinion is that the people who believe that QB play has been an ongoing problem are at least partly correct. There have been good individual players, such as T3 or TT, but there has never been a solid lineup with dependable depth. On the other hand, I believe they are making a common error, and are seeing a problem only in the distant past. Just as the recruiting issues of 2010-2011 were not noticed until 2013-4 (which was after the problem had already been fixed), the QB problem was not really noticed until recently, but has already been solved.
Based on what I see, Ishpording seems to be doing a significantly better job of developing quarterbacks (or is it because of the IPF??). He did not have top QB talent to begin with, but has improved what he has. While fans haven't noticed it yet, recruits do see Ohio quarterbacks improving, and therefore recruiting is now starting to improve.
I think the situation is much like what we saw in the defensive line when Coach Williams arrived in 2012. Ohio's defensive line was depleted, and struggled in 2012-14. Recruiting started picking up in 2013, and now, 4 years later, Ohio has a dominating defensive line. I predict that within the next two years, we're going to see much, much better QBs.
Now, for those who want to attack Solich, go for it. Vanderbilt really helped Solich a lot, hiring away Lightner, and Gdowski. Why didn't Solich replace them earlier? I don't know, but that's the weak point where you can attack him, so go for it. I do believe that on a position by position basis, Ohio has had great player development at all but those two positions, and those two positions have really held Ohio back. I believe coaching at both positions significantly improved under Isphording and Johnson.
Last Edited: 12/30/2016 7:28:20 PM by L.C.