Athan finishes season ranked 14th in passer rating in B1G

Donate To GopherHole
IceBoxGopher said:
I'm not comparing AK to these players, I'm just saying if the talent is there, they can make some magic happen. Outside of Wisconsin last year, AK hasn't done much, and I honestly think it's a good thing that Tanner Morgan had to step in during the bowl game last season because I'm not sure Athan would have won the game.
Click to expand...
I've been keeping this opinion to myself because I think when Athan went down he was like 7 for 8 and the Gophers were winning, but Tanner entered that game and immediately threw an inch-perfect dime to score the second touchdown that Athan is just not yet capable of throwing. I agree with you.

 

Coaching and offensive philosophy are bad, but...
None of that is what is ultimately wrong with AK.
He's not very good.
Strong arm, but...
Innacurate
Inconsistent
Lacks even an iota of touch
Locks in on one receiver
Poor decisions on RPO

He can NOT be QB 1 next year
 

IceBoxGopher said:
I don't know how true this really is. I'm sure coaching has to do with it somewhat, but putting all of the blame on the coaches and none on Athan seems unfair. If AK was truly a great quarterback, I feel like he would be able to use his raw talent to overcome some of the poor coaching.

A talented player is a talented player. Sometimes scheme A might fit them better than scheme B, or a different coach can give more appropriate advice. But I feel like if AK was who we all wish he was, he would be able to make at least a few more plays this season that would have made the difference between wins and losses.

There have been plenty of players in college football who've been talented enough to excel even with poor coaching, too. Denard Robinson was really good even though he was being led by two coaches that didn't last long at Michigan. Johnny Manziel was able to win games on the fly even though he was coached by Kevin Sumlin who flamed out.

I'm not comparing AK to these players, I'm just saying if the talent is there, they can make some magic happen. Outside of Wisconsin last year, AK hasn't done much, and I honestly think it's a good thing that Tanner Morgan had to step in during the bowl game last season because I'm not sure Athan would have won the game.
Click to expand...
Agreed. The coaches aren't making absolutely awful throws to open receivers five yards down field, or failing to go through the route progression. If AK wasn't half of the problem we'd have a QB making blown plays work out through raw talent. The problem is that we have a combination of shitty playcalling, shitty qb development, and shitty qb play. I've wanted AK to succeed just as much as everyone else because losing fucking sucks. It just isn't working out and the stats as well as the eye test show that. Cut the play callers, cut the qb coach, and encourage AK to look at a G5 program where the game is a bit slower.
 

Ewert86PC said:
See that's where we differ. The breakdown in coverage in the defensive secondary in both those games was being exploited. If we had our foot on the gas the whole time on offense, why wouldn't NW & IL have tried other plays that would have challenged the repeated breakdowns and actually succeeded in scoring more too?
Click to expand...
That bullet pass against Illinois was one win.
 

I think PJ finds it difficult to admit that they may have just missed with Athan. Looking at PJ's coaching history, at W. Mich he had Zach Terrell who played for PJ for all 4 yrs when he was there. Then he has Tanner do well and he leads MN for the next 6 yrs.

I go back to his comments after the NC game where PJ praised Kaliakmanis for his response during practice and said the Athan needs more game experience to improve. Athan's high school junior season was cut short because of injury, and his senior season consisted of only six games because of COVID-19 (Senior season stats: completed 77 of 132 passes for 1,158 yards, and 15 touchdowns to just one interception). PJ went on to say he has seen a quarterback who's been accurate in practice but has thrown behind targets in games (which would end up being the story for the season). I think they took a bit of a chance with him having such a small amount of experience in his Junior & Senior seasons.

Then if you looked back at my post earlier where I provided Drake Lindsey's stats, you can quickly see that Drake has twice as much experience as Athan with just his Senior year alone compared to Athan. They probably had too small of a sample size with Athan and it just hasn't worked out. I have no doubt he's a great kid but that doesn't do anything to guarantee success.
 


Taji34 said:
Micheal Penix Jr. was #38 QB in the B1G in 2021 based on QB rating, now he's #3 in the Pac-12 and #10 overall in FBS.

OC and QB coach can make a HUGE difference in the performance of a QB.....
Click to expand...
With his clear display of nowhere near passes and missed reads there isn't much to redeem
 


Athan 10th in official B10 standings; Jackson third in receiving; Dragan had most field goals in the conference.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
If the Gophers can find a QB in the portal (who is willing to come to MN and play in this offense), then Fleck should have one of those tough conversations with Athan, and maybe "suggest" that Athan consider his options.

He might be the greatest guy in the world - but he is not a P5 level QB, and the Gopher coaches clearly have failed to help Athan improve.
Click to expand...
Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Coach Fleck.
What do you want?
Come over for breakfast.
 





Great Plains Gopher said:
Athan 10th in official B10 standings; Jackson third in receiving; Dragan had most field goals in the conference.
Click to expand...
Dragon and Jackson will both be all conference first or second team I would guess then it will be interesting to see what the coaches do with Nubin. I don’t see a lot of other players making the list.
 

I'm watching the Michigan Division 7 (small school) state title game right now (which is oddly on Bally's Tampa Bay) and the QB from Menominee looks to be more mobile than Athan and also able to make throws our guy can't.

Menominee lost to my old high school this year. The best player in the last 30 years of that school was a walk-on who played sparingly at Brady-era Michigan. No other player to my knowledge has played P5 ball in that period.

This guy is a future D3 QB probably. Might get picked up by a D2 if lucky. And he's visibly faster and more accurate than AK.
 



You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom