QB1 battle?

[RadioNeer98]

Just curious as to who we think will be QB1 under center come Aug 29th?

JJ Kohl & AJ Swann are I assume the two front runners for the gig. Gotta believe that Billy Wiles is 2nd string if the loser of the Kohl Swann battle transfers out. Of course all speculation but just curious what people may think?

[AppSt94]

I feel like it still pretty wide open. Neither of them demonstrated control over the offense after spring but that wasn’t a surprise.

[RadioNeer98]

I feel like it still pretty wide open. Neither of them demonstrated control over the offense after spring but that wasn’t a surprise.

I agree with you. Neither ran away with anything from the spring game. I personally do think whichever one wins the gig we will be in good hands.

[AppSt94]

I feel like it still pretty wide open. Neither of them demonstrated control over the offense after spring but that wasn’t a surprise.

I agree with you. Neither ran away with anything from the spring game. I personally do think whichever one wins the gig we will be in good hands.

I think that all four have some positive attributes to be excited about, or at least comfortable with. Of course the OL will factor into how each one performs.

[311neers]

As of about 3-4 weeks ago, I’d heard Swann was in the lead. Things could change, still have summer/fall camp.

[ASUFan4863]

Will be either Swann or Kohl. I would say 60/40 lean towards Swann. Gillon is not quite ready but will be 3rd. Wiles is there to have fun and be a great teammate - which he has been doing. FWIW, Neither guy will transfer out in August because they weren’t QB1.

[T-Dog]

Kohl looked better in the spring game, but when Swann made good plays, you can see why he's in the lead. Quicker hand on an RPO, zips the ball in, better decision maker.

[AtlAppMan]

Kohl looked better in the spring game, but when Swann made good plays, you can see why he's in the lead. Quicker hand on an RPO, zips the ball in, better decision maker.

Interesting observation and how you explained it. It reminds me of what we saw in Burger vs Aquilar in Game 1 two years ago. Aquilar seemed quicker and more crisp in his decision making and execution. Burger seemed a bit slower in the game. When you get to this level those small intangibles are the difference makers in a game situation, especially against stronger competition. That is what typically differentiates the starters from the backups.

[ASUFan4863]

You get that experience with game time. Aguilar had the “real-world” experience over Burger because of JUCO and Swann has the experience over Kohl because of starting at Vanderbilt.

We know now why Burger was named the started over Aguilar - the staff wanted players to fit their scheme instead of fitting the scheme to the player, which is a stark difference and publicly stated point of emphasis from Loggains.

[AtlAppMan]

You get that experience with game time. Aguilar had the “real-world” experience over Burger because of JUCO and Swann has the experience over Kohl because of starting at Vanderbilt.

We know now why Burger was named the started over Aguilar - the staff wanted players to fit their scheme instead of fitting the scheme to the player, which is a stark difference and publicly stated point of emphasis from Loggains.

I don't disagree with your assessment of likely rationale that previous staff used to pick their horse. However, interesting that Burger has not been able to acquire a meaningful playing role with any team since leaving App. That basically tells me that other coaching staffs have not been as impressed with Burger and likely our staff may have overrated his abilities.

[mike87]

You get that experience with game time. Aguilar had the “real-world” experience over Burger because of JUCO and Swann has the experience over Kohl because of starting at Vanderbilt.

We know now why Burger was named the started over Aguilar - the staff wanted players to fit their scheme instead of fitting the scheme to the player, which is a stark difference and publicly stated point of emphasis from Loggains.

I'm not a football coach but some of you that are, explain how you fit your scheme to the player when there's 11 players. If you've recruited 10 guys to play within your scheme, the 11th needs to as well.

[T-Dog]

Interesting observation and how you explained it. It reminds me of what we saw in Burger vs Aquilar in Game 1 two years ago. Aquilar seemed quicker and more crisp in his decision making and execution. Burger seemed a bit slower in the game. When you get to this level those small intangibles are the difference makers in a game situation, especially against stronger competition. That is what typically differentiates the starters from the backups.

The quickness of Swann pulling a ball from an RB and zipping a pass up the middle caught my attention. That's almost unstoppable if done correctly.

[ASUFan4863]

You get that experience with game time. Aguilar had the “real-world” experience over Burger because of JUCO and Swann has the experience over Kohl because of starting at Vanderbilt.

We know now why Burger was named the started over Aguilar - the staff wanted players to fit their scheme instead of fitting the scheme to the player, which is a stark difference and publicly stated point of emphasis from Loggains.

I'm not a football coach but some of you that are, explain how you fit your scheme to the player when there's 11 players. If you've recruited 10 guys to play within your scheme, the 11th needs to as well.

This could be a long and nuanced answer so I’ll try to keep it as short as possible. The short answer is that you play the person who fits your scheme vs the most talented person.

In the case of Burger vs Aguilar - Aguilar was and is the more talented player. We have the stats and recruitment beyond App as mentioned above to prove that. However, the prior offensive staff overlooked that talent and prioritized a player who fit their scheme better.

The opposite view is what Loggains is implementing and what occurs in the NFL. There are principles of any offense that will exist, but whether we are an RPO team, spread team, pro style offense, Inside zone, outside zone, pass-first, etc.. will be determined by what the player can do best NOT by what the coach determines is best because of prior success.

To your point, it starts with recruiting. The staff passed on players because they weren’t “App guys that don’t fit what we want to do” (actual quote by the way). That’s fine and works when the players you pivot to are equally talented. If you pivot to a lesser player because they are an “App guy”, are you recruiting the best players or recruiting the easiest player? This creates the answer to whether the prior issues were the scheme or players or both, which was both.

[JTApps1]

You get that experience with game time. Aguilar had the “real-world” experience over Burger because of JUCO and Swann has the experience over Kohl because of starting at Vanderbilt.

We know now why Burger was named the started over Aguilar - the staff wanted players to fit their scheme instead of fitting the scheme to the player, which is a stark difference and publicly stated point of emphasis from Loggains.

I don't disagree with your assessment of likely rationale that previous staff used to pick their horse. However, interesting that Burger has not been able to acquire a meaningful playing role with any team since leaving App. That basically tells me that other coaching staffs have not been as impressed with Burger and likely our staff may have overrated his abilities.

I think Ponce was a poor judge of QB talent. We basically had two hits in QB recruiting while he was QB/OC Coach (Lamb and Thomas), and Zach was a late pickup after others flipped. Only one other HS QB brought in under his watch completed their career at App, and many never finished their college career at any school.

[hapapp]

Or maybe Burger just performed better in the preseason.

[BambooRdApp]

If he got Lamb and Thomas, that was pretty good he left and we had the Brice years. Burger was supposedly destined to be the four year starter. He was a 3 star recruit. It did not work out.
If he starts for the full season at liberty, we will get to truly see his value, whether good, bad or indifferent.
Although he did not look good in the bowl game, liberty overall did not look good and the OL was atrocious. Salter did not look like the same QB as the year before.

Not sure what liberty has done in off-season to recruit a QB in portal or if they have a young HS recruit last year.
Time will tell on Burger. So far, Burger has been less than stellar compared to expectations.

[AtlAppMan]

I know hindsight is 20/20 but, I could easily see in the first few series of Burger vs same for Aguilar that Joey was obviously better. Keep in mind it was against inferior competition, Gardner Webb, and anybody we believed would have been the starter (and 1st or 2nd backup) should have been able to easily move the ball up and down the field. When Burger couldn't do it and appeared to struggle a red flag went up and told me he wasn't the guy. It appears to me that the old staff frequently saw what they wanted to see and that was probably part of their problem. Now there are multiple articles out saying Aquilar is one of the better players in college, yet our staff didn't think he should start.

https://www.si.com/college/ucla/bruins- ... volunteers

https://collegesportswire.usatoday.com/ ... 965170007/

[AppStFan1]

I know hindsight is 20/20 but, I could easily see in the first few series of Burger vs same for Aguilar that Joey was obviously better. Keep in mind it was against inferior competition, Gardner Webb, and anybody we believed would have been the starter (and 1st or 2nd backup) should have been able to easily move the ball up and down the field. When Burger couldn't do it and appeared to struggle a red flag went up and told me he wasn't the guy. It appears to me that the old staff frequently saw what they wanted to see and that was probably part of their problem. Now there are multiple articles out saying Aquilar is one of the better players in college, yet our staff didn't think he should start.

https://www.si.com/college/ucla/bruins- ... volunteers

https://collegesportswire.usatoday.com/ ... 965170007/

I think part of it is the 2023 season he had and the fact that people believe Heupel will get the most out of him and probably have him looking like he did in 2023.

I'm not saying I know for a fact this is the case for Joey but take articles pushing a player that hard with a grain of salt even more than before due to agents. These players have NIL agents who get in the ear of media and push them to promote their client and in return I'm sure the media member is going to have info leaked to them.