I always say that good teams start with good players. Especially the QB. Coaches all know about the same thing so I think they largely get too much credit when things are going well and too much blame when things are going poorly.

Let me ask Urban Meyer how important a good QB is.

The Great GP1: "Coach Meyer, how important is it for a coach to surround himself with a great QB at the college level?"

Urban Meyer: "Excellent question. I'm not surprised that a man with your enormous intellectual ablility would see the ultimate question in football in modern times has a lot to do with the quality of QB. If you have a good one, you are a genious. If you don't, you are an idiot. Just ask any Gator fan...they all think I'm an idiot after this season. I'm the same guy, just with a less talented kid at QB."

The Great GP1: "Thank you for your kind words Coach Meyer. I'm probably even smarter than you may think as you don't know me very well. Can you elaborate on your previous answer."

Urban Meyer: "For such a gracious host, I'd be glad to. I started my head coaching career in 2001 at BGSU and coached there for two years. During my time, I had a really good QB named Josh Harris. You may remember him...he was one of the all time greats at BGSU. His ability allowed me to move on to Utah where Alex Smith was the QB. You may remember him as a guy good enough to play in the NFL and was one of the top college football players during my time at Utah.

When I moved on to Florida, I had Chris Leak as my starting QB. He was a solid player who won us a national championship, but there were better players to follow. You may remember a guy named Tim Tebow. He followed Leak and the rest is history. I became a genious.

This season, I have John Brantley. Around this time last season, I started to think about Brantley as my starting QB in 2010 and that is about when I started having panic attacks. As you have seen this year, the panic attacks were warranted. The kid is terrible and every time I look at him I can feel my chest tightening. God I wish I had retired last year when I wanted. Now I look like just another coach."

The Great GP1: "Coach Meyer, what will it take for people to think you are a genious again?"

Urban Meyer: "Another great QB."

Only the great, GP1.

But perhaps not quite as "genious" as he thinks.

You beat me to it.

It wouldn't matter if we had Tom Brady as our QB, our line is so terrible he'd have a half a second to throw every play, and when you have no WRs it's even harder.

Good find. I'll keep it as it for a laugh. The Great GP1 has always been a terrible speller. I'm much better with my Word Perfect program.

Great QB's can make a bad team better, and a good team great.

Great offensive lines can make a bad QB good, and a good QB great.

Great running backs can make a bad QB good, and a good QB great.

Great wide receivers can make a bad QB good, and a good QB great.

But most of all:
Bad offensive lines and bad receivers, can make a great QB good, and a good QB bad.


There are many formulas to get a winning football team. There is not just one. I hope we can find our formula soon with PN7 or without.
I would bet that it comes with him, but he needs to work hard. His footwork in the pocket needs to become better. He has a lack of confidence in the pocket right now. I hope the offensive line can provide him with better protection to gain more confidence next season. He also needs to have receivers to get open. I wish he had the Jalil Carter that played the last three games at the beginning of the season, I think that would have made a difference in his development. He also needs to start to make good decisions. Know what plays to give up on. PN7 has youth on his side and needs to work hard to have a successful junior year. Good luck to him.

What if they all stink? That was our problem this year.

I too hold out hope for Nicely. This was the year he needed to produce and he fell short of expectations regardless of what was going on around him. I believe the biggest growth spurt happens to a QB between his first and second years. Nicely is past that point. I hope he immproves next year, but if they can find someone better, they should take him.

Any advice for Coach Meyer pertaining to his panic attacks?

You will just have to trust me when I tell you that I believe that PN7 does not "stink". I have seen him look good at the times when he is givin a chance to succeed. My opinion is not shared with some others I have talked to whose opinion I consider. I would agree with you that from year 1 to year 2 should be a big improvement, but a few abnormal things happened to hinder that growth this year. Those situations will not be applicable next season, so it will be time to step up. We should look to improve the position anyway we can since it is THE most important position on a football team.

Retire rich and consult.

I'll let him know your thoughts the next time I talk with him...

"Having a winning QB in D-I football is immensly important."

Sincerely,
Greg McElroy-Alabama-2009
Matt Flynn-LSU-2007
Chris Leak-Florida-2006
Craig Krenzel-Ohio State-2002
Ken Dorsey-Miami(FL)-2001
Josh Heupel-Oklahoma-2000

All QB's who aren't going to appear on anyone's list of all-time NCAA greats. All with national championships. All within the last 10 years. Sure, that means that the other 4 national titles went to great college QB's like Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Tim Tebow. The point is there is more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to college football. You don't have to have an elite QB to do well. An average QB can win you a lot of games if you have talent around him on the offensive end and a good defense.

There are very few elite QBs in college football (see how few start on Sundays their first year or even get drafted). In terms of elite college QBs, these guys were elite for college with the exception of Krenzel and Flynn. You can't win with an average college QB...I take that back....You can win some games with an average college QB. The Zips are never going to get to where I would like them to be with an average QB. If you guys want 4-6 wins a year, stick with average. I want more.

I guess you and I have different ideas of what an "average college QB" is. To me all of the guys listed were average college QB's. They were game managers. McElroy won last years title by relying on a superb defense and turning around and handing the ball to a Heisman winning RB. Leak was the starter at Florida, but split time with a Freshman who I think both of us consider a "winning QB" in Tebow. He had a lot of hype coming out of high school and never really lived up to it. Flynn only got to start as a 5th year senior and backed into a national title behind a very good defense. Krenzel was a lot like McElroy, very good defense, superb running back. Dorsey had just a ridiculous amount of talent around him (Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Jeremy Shockey, Andre Johnson, Ed Reed, Jonathan Vilma to name a few). Heupel was an erratic QB at best who threw nearly as many INT's as he did TD's in 2000. Only one of these guys (Dorsey) was a regular starter in the NFL and even he didn't last very long. I consider all of them to be rather average QB's.

You can certainly win without a great QB in college.

Obviously you need to make it up other places.

If you have a great defense, a great o-line and great running game, you will only need a decent QB.
If you have a QB that manages the game, doesn't lose it, you will be fine.

UT wont he NC the year after Peyton Manning Graduated. Krenczel was as average as you can get.
Dorsey was nothing special. Leak was nothing special. All fo those guys had great running backs and a great defense. That is the difference.

UF problems go much deeper than Tebow. UM has been sick and that is affecting his coaching. Their current QB doesn't fit the offense that Meyer runs. The gimmick offenses are shut down once they are figured out.

That's because Tamaurice Martin was a better QB. ...AND he did it in his JUNIOR year.
Just ask GP1 how great Tamaurice was, T got drafted by his favorite NFL team.

PS Tee is now the UK's wide receiver coach (kind of funny).

Holy crap. I always thought his name was Tee. I didn't know it was Tamaurice. I would have gone by Tee too.

Why does that comment make him a 'genius'? I thought Einstein was a genius. Haven't found anybody who comments on sports blogs to be a genius. Me too. Yet.

No one in football is a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.

Yes, he makes great Bagels

I've really been trying to forget the long line of average to bad QBs the Steelers had between Bradshaw and Big Ben. Thanks for the horrible trip down memory lane.

It's no coincidence the Steelers didn't win a Super Bowl in that time period. Great running games, great defenses and a average/poor QB play....It was great at winning the horrible division they were it, but typically it fell short in the playoffs. Big Ben comes along and the win again...go figure.

Thats genius!

The only genious around here is the Great GP1. You guys got that?

Meyer resigns... again.

Isn't he the guy who spent all his time at the Cheer's bar. He didn't seem all that smart.

There's a certain "element" here that's soooo sold on Ianello's unseen-recruiting acumen, and are also anxious to give him the always-a-good-idea "more time" (never fails, ya know!).

He's such a hot commodity, can someone please contact Florida and tell them it would be a supreme sacrifice---after all, the "iCoach" has completely won over the Akron fanbase---but if they want to steal him away, I will gladly pay his airfare, one-way, from CAK.