QB Matt Barkley ~ Southern California
Trojans ~ 6024/228
Trojans ~ 6024/228
Regarding QuarterBacks
All other considerations aside, I've boiled it down to a mere three Attributes to which I lend the vast majority of crucial importance ~ maybe 80% of the whole picture ~ when I'm evaluating QuarterBack Prospects:
Motor > How Dedicated is he to Conditioning his body & Mentally Mastering this Great Game?
Accuracy > Projection of the Projection or Anticipatory Vision > How consistently well does he Lead his Targets?
Diagnostics > Precision & Speed > How Effectively & Rapidly does he Process his Progressions + Read & React?
Arm Strength is vastly overrated, and scrambling ability, while exciting, is ultimately worse than useless, because History makes it clear that Scramblers, over the years ~ and indeed, the same could be said about the thousands of QuarterBacks who've failed despite a great Arm ~ ultimately fail to focus all their energy on QuarterBacking.
Mobility, alike, is vastly overrated. Steve Young is the only Scrambler who ever won a Super Bowl, and he won it because he was on a great team, because Barry Switzer can't coach at the NFL level or the CowBoys would've rolled the Miners again in 1994, and because he eased up on the scrambling. He became a QuarterBack.
Mind you: I'd hardly suggest that Arm Strength isn't nice to have...But the temptation to let'er rip ~ and to relying on that Capacity ~ can have a crippling effect on developing those skills that most matter, deep in the Heart of Winter.
And often they have been.
Countless times, in fact.
And don't get me started on Scrambling.
Motor, Accuracy, and Diagnostics are what ultimately win Championships.
It's not as easy as simply counting the Rings, because Fortune & Circumstance play a large part in the Fates of Men. And it sure as Hell isn't racking up gaudy Statistic during the regular Season. It's the Capacity and the Will to do the thousands of little things that put one's team in the best position to win, day in and day out ~ and doing them well ~ that is the ultimate measure of any QuarterBack, albeit one ~ ironically ~ that's impossible to quantify.
It's the ability to Read & React with Speed & deadly Accuracy against the nastiest, wiliest Defenses on the Planet, deep in the Heart of Winter...and the Will to dedicate Years to intensive Training & Study in order to be able to.
That is what separates Tom Brady from the Pack ~ including Peyton Manning, thank you ~ and always has been.
Motor > How Dedicated is he to Conditioning his body & Mentally Mastering this Great Game?
Accuracy > Projection of the Projection or Anticipatory Vision > How consistently well does he Lead his Targets?
Diagnostics > Precision & Speed > How Effectively & Rapidly does he Process his Progressions + Read & React?
Arm Strength is vastly overrated, and scrambling ability, while exciting, is ultimately worse than useless, because History makes it clear that Scramblers, over the years ~ and indeed, the same could be said about the thousands of QuarterBacks who've failed despite a great Arm ~ ultimately fail to focus all their energy on QuarterBacking.
Mobility, alike, is vastly overrated. Steve Young is the only Scrambler who ever won a Super Bowl, and he won it because he was on a great team, because Barry Switzer can't coach at the NFL level or the CowBoys would've rolled the Miners again in 1994, and because he eased up on the scrambling. He became a QuarterBack.
Mind you: I'd hardly suggest that Arm Strength isn't nice to have...But the temptation to let'er rip ~ and to relying on that Capacity ~ can have a crippling effect on developing those skills that most matter, deep in the Heart of Winter.
And often they have been.
Countless times, in fact.
And don't get me started on Scrambling.
Motor, Accuracy, and Diagnostics are what ultimately win Championships.
It's not as easy as simply counting the Rings, because Fortune & Circumstance play a large part in the Fates of Men. And it sure as Hell isn't racking up gaudy Statistic during the regular Season. It's the Capacity and the Will to do the thousands of little things that put one's team in the best position to win, day in and day out ~ and doing them well ~ that is the ultimate measure of any QuarterBack, albeit one ~ ironically ~ that's impossible to quantify.
It's the ability to Read & React with Speed & deadly Accuracy against the nastiest, wiliest Defenses on the Planet, deep in the Heart of Winter...and the Will to dedicate Years to intensive Training & Study in order to be able to.
That is what separates Tom Brady from the Pack ~ including Peyton Manning, thank you ~ and always has been.
Matt Barkley Scouting Report
Motor > No Red Flags, per se, but he seems to've peaked, and I have to wonder if it was Too Much Too Soon: Perhaps he thought he Had It Made. His Game seems to've taken a Step Back, this Year.
Accuracy > Outstanding on shorter Routes, but his Accuracy fades rapidly, the more developed the Route. It's unkind to say, but the more Time, the more Exposure, and the more Pressure, the less Accurate he becomes.
Diagnostics > Nobody at the College level makes better PreSnap Reads than Matt Barkley...before the Snap. But after the Snap: awful. It just feels like the Game is moving too fast for'm. He frequently locks on to his Primary Target, and often seems lost and confused when Defenses throw wrinkles at'm. And if he's having issues Rapidly Reading & Reacting to the PostSnap Action of PAC 10 Defenses ~ despite having the advantage of 4 years of experience in Southern California's System ~ then I have grave doubts about'is ability to adapt at the NFL level.
Prospectus
My impression of Matt Barkley is that he is ~ far beyond all other QuarterBacks in this Draft Class ~ mentally and emotionally prepared to take the helm of his team's Ship from the very first day and lead even a previously very bad team to immediate Respectability and perhaps even to Success, with a deep Supporting Cast...
But I don't envision'm leading them much further, even given 15 years to do so.
He just doesn't strike me as having the greatest Processing Speed, and I suspect that his Career Trajectory is going to feature impressive initial success, after which Defenses, having had an OffSeason to study NFL Tape of'm, will find his glaring weaknesses and exploit them, quite possibly with disastrous results for Barkley and'is Team.
He strikes me as a guy who will actually probably win the Starting job right out'f the gate...but then quite possibly lose in by the end of his First Contract. I call that an unusual & disturbing version of Potential Starter Grade.
But I don't envision'm leading them much further, even given 15 years to do so.
He just doesn't strike me as having the greatest Processing Speed, and I suspect that his Career Trajectory is going to feature impressive initial success, after which Defenses, having had an OffSeason to study NFL Tape of'm, will find his glaring weaknesses and exploit them, quite possibly with disastrous results for Barkley and'is Team.
He strikes me as a guy who will actually probably win the Starting job right out'f the gate...but then quite possibly lose in by the end of his First Contract. I call that an unusual & disturbing version of Potential Starter Grade.
Yank Rank: Starter ~ Vastly OverRated!!
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