Position Breakdown – Quarterbacks August 22, 2011
12 days until Arkansas State (12 days!). 12 positions to break down. That was easy.
Tonight: Quarterbacks
Aug. 23: Running Backs
Aug. 24: Tight Ends/Fullbacks
Aug. 25: Wide Receivers
Aug. 26: Offensive Guards/Centers
Aug. 27: Offensive Tackles
Aug. 28: Defensive Ends/Bandits
Aug. 29: Defensive Tackles
Aug. 30: Linebackers
Aug. 31: Cornerbacks
Sept. 1: Safeties
Sept. 2: Kickers/Punters/Returners
Sept. 3: FOOTBALL. Football football FOOTBALL.
Right to the most important position on the field.
Starter: Nathan Scheelhaase
This should be pretty easy, no? You know more about him than any other player on the team.
I’ll start with this: 53 is still my goal. I want Nathan Scheelhaase to start 53 consecutive games for the University of Illinois. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 48 regular season games, 4 bowl games, and 1 Big Ten Championship Game. That’s it. That’s the goal. Dream big or go home.
To be honest – and this isn’t an assessment on the 2011 Illini as much as it is an assessment on the Big Ten – this season might be our best shot at the Big Ten Championship Game. Sure, it might only be a 14% chance, but next year and the following year, as Ohio State regroups and Wisconsin grows and Penn State climbs and Indiana gets back on track and Purdue tries to return, those odds probably drop. Right now we have the most stable quarterback situation in the Leaders division. Here’s hoping we can exploit it.
My biggest concern with Nathan right now is the fact that he hasn’t been hit since Houston. Since he ran the most naked bootleg in history to close out the Texas Bowl, he hasn’t taken a live snap. All spring and all summer, he’s been wearing the red jersey. I totally understand why, but I feel like it might take him a few games to adjust to the violence of the game. Know-when-to-fold-’em and know-when-to-run instincts aren’t really fine tuned until you go live. Thankfully, he’ll have Arkansas State and South Dakota State to adjust to the speed before Vontaze Burfict comes tearing in off the corner with brass knuckles and a machete.
I think all of Nathan’s numbers go up in his sophomore season. More passing attempts, more passing yards, higher completion percentage, more touchdowns. And more interceptions. We’ll throw a bit more, which means he’ll get picked off a bit more. It’s just probably going to happen.
But where I think he’ll make a really big difference is with his feet. I think he can become the fourth Big Ten quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards. If he does that, I think we’re in a bowl game for sure.
Backups: Miles Osei, Reilly O’Toole
I’ve considered, but have taken no action towards, a “Redshirt O’Toole” campaign. T-shirts, billboards, bumper stickers, coffee mugs – apply some public pressure to the offensive coaches so that they’ll be so intimidated by the public outcry they’ll leave Reilly on the bench. I want two great years from O’Toole, not one, so leave him there in his redshirt. Miles Osei can do a decent job running this offense the way it’s currently configured. If something happens to Nate – Osei is the backup. Only if Nate is out long term (and let’s be honest, he won’t be – he’s going to start 53 games for the University of Illinois football team) do you consider pulling Reilly’s redshirt.
Nathan kept his redshirt on in 2009, and because of that, we’ll get a 2013 season from him. I want O’Toole’s redshirt to stay on as well. I want 2015.
Thing that most Illini fans probably don’t know about Miles Osei: he’s really, really quick. So quick that I think he could somewhat seamlessly run the pistol/read option parts of our offense. I’m not sure he has Nathan’s awareness or his decision making (or his ridiculous quotient of leadership), but I’d feel OK with Osei running the offense. Hey – I think I just found a back for my t-shirt.
What happens with Miles next season? Good question. I could see an Eddie McGee scenario. He’s the backup QB, but we need his speed on the field, so he runs a few plays at wideout. O’Toole can handle the back-up duties as a redshirt freshman, and Miles can get some work running some routes underneath the defense.
But for this year (and the two years after this one), it’s all Nathan, all the time. But you knew that already.
Tomorrow: Running Backs
I still wonder about the Osei thing. From my recollection, he looked completely overmatched in every play he ran last year, and completely incapable of being a qb. Maybe I’ll be proven dead wrong, but that’s my memory of his back up role.
If I’m right though, knowing that Nate is a running qb and therefore likely to get dinged up (at best), we are going to need a better back-up than Osei. If Nate goes out in the middle of a big drive versus Ohio State, I have little faith that Osei can be the guy.
Taz…. Osei was a TRUE freshman last year! Most true freshmen look “completely overmatched”. We are all excited about O’Toole but I agree with Robert, there’s no need to burn the redshirt.
I agree that Osei was really raw last year – a boy playing a man’s game, if you will. I think he will progress, but it’s hard to say that he will progress a lot given the amount of real experience/playing time he will receive.
Like Taz, I worry that there may be a time when Nate gets his bell rung a bit and needs a break – will Osei’s progress be enough to get us through? Also, having not seen them this Fall – how does sophomore Osei compare to raw freshman O’Toole? I’m just not sure.
Reading Robert’s reports and feeling O’Toole has an edge (even if slight), I am also unsure about how the decision will be made: Will Zook play for the ‘future’ by redshirting O’Toole – or will he feel pressure to win “now” due to the new AD and burn O’Toole’s reshirt at the expense of the future.
I guess this is what makes it all fun…or nerve wracking! I’m gonna hope that Nate goes through 13 games unscathed!