JD's plan for the bye week

[ZachTheZip]

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/62420867.htmlHe's trying to get the running game going. He's also not opposed to burning Nicely's redshirt.

[Kangaroo Craig]

Since Matt Rogers is struggling, give him one more week to prove himself. If he cannot show significant signs of improvement, given the extra week to prepare, against a much weaker opponent, then burn Nicely's redshirt. Nicely will then have eight games to gain valuable experience going into next season. If Nicely is anything close to what everyone says he is, give him the opportunity to start now! and let Rogers be his back-up. By the time he is a sophomore, he will hopefully be clicking on all cylinders and we will have three more solid years of his services left. If the season is truly lost, then what really do the Zips have to lose other than an extra year of eligibilty. Three years vs. four. So what.

[bUAkronG]

Since Matt Rogers is struggling, give him one more week to prove himself. If he cannot show significant signs of improvement, given the extra week to prepare, against a much weaker opponent, then burn Nicely's redshirt. Nicely will then have eight games to gain valuable experience going into next season. If Nicely is anything close to what everyone says he is, give him the opportunity to start now! and let Rogers be his back-up. By the time he is a sophomore, he will hopefully be clicking on all cylinders and we will have three more solid years of his services left. If the season is truly lost, then what really do the Zips have to lose other than an extra year of eligibilty. Three years vs. four. So what.

I agree with your post except for the last few lines. If the season truly is a bust we can consider it a rebuilding year. Then we can look forward to having four solid years from this kid.Idk. I'm just not sold on burning the guy's redshirt.

[Dr Z]

Since Matt Rogers is struggling, give him one more week to prove himself

...or give two weeks worth of first team snaps to Patrick and right this ship. I want to win now!

[Buckzip]

Since Matt Rogers is struggling, give him one more week to prove himself

...or give two weeks worth of first team snaps to Patrick and right this ship. I want to win now!

agreed

[Captain Kangaroo]

Does "Burning a Redshirt" mean the same thing as playing the best QB? If it does, I'm all for it.BTW - I don't see any of the guys in the Basketball Forum complaining that Dambrot is "Burning Zeke's Redshirt" this season.

[GP1]

Idk. I'm just not sold on burning the guy's redshirt.

Why are there some people obsessed with not burning red shirts? One year on scout team can do more to hurt a player than help their development. Players on scout team get very little instruction from the coaches and can lose more ability than develop.These kids make thousands a year in scholarships. Use them.

[HOLLYWOODZIPPY]

The way I see it is, we play next week, not next year. Do whatever it takes to win, and save your job J.D.!

[Dr Z]

I don't see anybody complaining that Dambrot is "Burning Zeke's Redshirt" this season.

Great point.Every time somebody posts "I just don't like burning his RS" I keep asking "why?" I haven't got a good response yet. What if Patrick plays and he can give us a chance to win the MAC east? We will never know unless you play him.

[new yorker]

So Rodgers gets one week of taking snaps with the first string and we now decide to give Nicely 2 weeks to take snaps with the first string, and 8 weeks of the season to get experience. If I were Rodgers I would run from this program as fast as I could. While Jacq was being Jacq, Rodgers did what he agreed to do when he accepted his scholarship. He attended classes and from what I understand gets fabulous grades, never missed mandatory or optional practices according to an inside source, and worked extremely hard in the off season to earn playing time, that coming from the coaches. All this while a tremendous amount of crap was apparently going on within a team that Brookhart was overseeing.I say start Nicely, burn his redshirt and give Rodgers the opportunity to walk. Don't think for a minute Brookhart hasn't seriously contemplated this. They may not need Rodgers to start but they need him on the team and perhaps that is what Brrokhart has been thinking all along. Come on there were plenty of opportunities to get Rodgers in the games last year when either they were blowing out a team or Jacq was stinking out the joint. And nothing changed. Do Rodgers a favor and start Nicely. No... that wouldn't be fair to Nicely. Run, Rodgers, run.. You deserve better.

[MDZip]

I think the flaw in the "let's not burn his redshirt" logic is that it assumes that we won't recruit another quarterback over the next four years who is also worthy of getting playing time. Is Nicely the last good quarterback we'll ever recruit? And we don't even know what kind of a player he will be, it's all conjecture at this point. Play the best player, period. It's not so hard. So far JD believe that's Rodgers. That's fine, but if he felt Nicely would give us a better chance to win, I don't believe he'd hesitate to put Nicely in. His job is on the line now, not four years from now.

[Dr Z]

New Yorker, I'm not sure I understand the angle of your post. You seem angry. Maybe you are family. This is a hypothetical case, but consider this, Patrick comes in and plays well and takes over the starting job. Every good team needs a backup and I would guess Matt would be it, and I bet he would still get spot play as he did with CJ. Matt can still be a contributor on this team and I would bet the majority of Zip fans would want him too (me included). You seem new to ZN judging from your limited posts, but this sort of thing happened when Charlie Frye first came in. Nick Sparks the "other" QB at the time decided to move to WR and help the team. It takes a lot of people in the right positions to make a good team. I hope Matt finds his, whether it is starting QB, back up QB, or another position. As a long time Zips fan, I just want to win!

[g-mann17]

So Rodgers gets one week of taking snaps with the first string and we now decide to give Nicely 2 weeks to take snaps with the first string, and 8 weeks of the season to get experience. If I were Rodgers I would run from this program as fast as I could. While Jacq was being Jacq, Rodgers did what he agreed to do when he accepted his scholarship. He attended classes and from what I understand gets fabulous grades, never missed mandatory or optional practices according to an inside source, and worked extremely hard in the off season to earn playing time, that coming from the coaches. All this while a tremendous amount of crap was apparently going on within a team that Brookhart was overseeing.I say start Nicely, burn his redshirt and give Rodgers the opportunity to walk. Don't think for a minute Brookhart hasn't seriously contemplated this. They may not need Rodgers to start but they need him on the team and perhaps that is what Brrokhart has been thinking all along. Come on there were plenty of opportunities to get Rodgers in the games last year when either they were blowing out a team or Jacq was stinking out the joint. And nothing changed. Do Rodgers a favor and start Nicely. No... that wouldn't be fair to Nicely. Run, Rodgers, run.. You deserve better.

Yep Matt, you deserve to play on a team run by Mike Rasor where 4 interceptions in a game and 6 sacks is acceptable and 0 inteceptions and 5 sacks is "vast improvement"The kid deserves a shot at improving but face it, he has had 3 years, he should know the system, no it's up to ability. Right now he feels like Carlton Jackson, athletic, but makes bad decisions.

[InTheZone]

Here's the thing... while some of you might want to save Nicely for the next 4 years, you can be damn well sure JD is not at all concerned about saving the eligibility of his best quarterback for the coach that's going to take his place next year. It's win now or get out of town for Mr. Brookhart, and mark my words, we may see a lot of redshirts come off in the next few weeks. JD has to play the best players now, because now is all he's got.

[Captain Kangaroo]

So Rodgers gets one week of taking snaps with the first string and we now decide to give Nicely 2 weeks to take snaps with the first string, and 8 weeks of the season to get experience. If I were Rodgers I would run from this program as fast as I could. While Jacq was being Jacq, Rodgers did what he agreed to do when he accepted his scholarship. He attended classes and from what I understand gets fabulous grades, never missed mandatory or optional practices according to an inside source, and worked extremely hard in the off season to earn playing time, that coming from the coaches. All this while a tremendous amount of crap was apparently going on within a team that Brookhart was overseeing.I say start Nicely, burn his redshirt and give Rodgers the opportunity to walk. Don't think for a minute Brookhart hasn't seriously contemplated this. They may not need Rodgers to start but they need him on the team and perhaps that is what Brrokhart has been thinking all along. Come on there were plenty of opportunities to get Rodgers in the games last year when either they were blowing out a team or Jacq was stinking out the joint. And nothing changed. Do Rodgers a favor and start Nicely. No... that wouldn't be fair to Nicely. Run, Rodgers, run.. You deserve better.

From what little I've seen of Matt, he's an outstanding person. He's always been great to my son at the Meet the Team events. His grades and character are a coach's dream. I spoke to the coaching staff a few years ago when Matt was recruited and the first thing they mentioned was his leadership qualities. He was a big part in the reason why many of the kids in his recruiting class came to UA, as he kept in touch with a lot of them during the recruiting process, telling them "You gotta come here!" I hope he doesn't run. I want him to succeed. He has his chance. Unfortunately there are 3-4 QB's on every team that want the ball. Only he QB that gives the team the best chance to win gets it.

[new yorker]

G-mann I knew I could get a rise out of you. Correct me if I'm wrong but CJ was in his 2nd year of STARTING last year and threw 4 interceptions. Rodgers deserves his chance and if not, run Rodgers, run.

[g-mann17]

G-mann I knew I could get a rise out of you. Correct me if I'm wrong but CJ was in his 2nd year of STARTING last year and threw 4 interceptions. Rodgers deserves his chance and if not, run Rodgers, run.

Yep Ball State. Than he threw 3 against Can't and we won and then 3 more against Temple.The problem being most of those balls were off of a receiver's hands and into a defenders.Understand, I want Rodgers to succeed. I was rooting for him in both games. I was cheering as he rushed to the 1 yard line against Morgan State. The problem is, when I've watched him, he doesn't look like he has it.Now if I talked to him, I would never say that to his face. I would say "Matt, you have a heck of a lot athleticism and it's up to you to decide how to best use it; you're a roll out passer, make the coaches understand that you are not good in the pocket, and play to your strengths."

[Captain Kangaroo]

G-mann I knew I could get a rise out of you. Correct me if I'm wrong but CJ was in his 2nd year of STARTING last year and threw 4 interceptions. Rodgers deserves his chance and if not, run Rodgers, run.

We had two consecutive losing seasons with Jacquemain @ QB. He's not the benchmark.

[skip-zip]

Replying specifically to the subject of this thread, I'm reading between the lines a little bit in that article, and what I think I am seeing is a coach trying to light a fire under some people by suggesting that other people might replace them if they don't start performing. And I like that he's doing that. Now...on to the QB situation.I'm no football expert, especially when it comes to the handling of your field leader, the QB. But, I'm still a little puzzled that over only a 4 game stretch, some of my fellow fans seem to have breezed through this progression of thought:1) I look forward to seeing our Sr. QB play his last season and lead us to a lot of victories.2) Hey...wait a minute...that Rodgers guy has been in for a few plays here and there, and he looks good. I want him to be the starter now.3) Nope...Rodgers doesn’t look like he’s good enough, but hey...what about that Freshman I heard about?All of this...in just a 3-week period of time. I want our best players on the field. But, if coaches actually operated their programs this way, I don’t think it’s a winning recipe for a number of reasons. And unfortunately we have the Browns to thank for giving us a glaring example.

[GP1]

I thought this was JD's plan for the bye week..... I bet it is to polish up his resume and network some.

[g-mann17]

I thought this was JD's plan for the bye week..... I bet it is to polish up his resume and network some.

You're the one that usually says it, but...How do you polish a turd?I suppose he will look at his great receivers that he created (both of them Hixon and Fitzgerald), I agree if he leaves the University of Akron he will have a job somewhere, but it won't be high on the proverbial totem pole.

[g-mann17]

Replying specifically to the subject of this thread, I'm reading between the lines a little bit in that article, and what I think I am seeing is a coach trying to light a fire under some people by suggesting that other people might replace them if they don't start performing. And I like that he's doing that. Now...on to the QB situation.I'm no football expert, especially when it comes to the handling of your field leader, the QB. But, I'm still a little puzzled that over only a 4 game stretch, some of my fellow fans seem to have breezed through this progression of thought:1) I look forward to seeing our Sr. QB play his last season and lead us to a lot of victories.2) Hey...wait a minute...that Rodgers guy has been in for a few plays here and there, and he looks good. I want him to be the starter now.3) Nope...Rodgers doesn’t look like he’s good enough, but hey...what about that Freshman I heard about?All of this...in just a 3-week period of time. I want our best players on the field. But, if coaches actually operated their programs this way, I don’t think it’s a winning recipe for a number of reasons. And unfortunately we have the Browns to thank for giving us a glaring example.

Skip, I would choose Jacq, unfortunately he isn't an option. I gave Rodgers the benefit of the doubt (still pray he improves everyday and everynight) but from watching him the past three years, he hasn't improved on the weak points that I and everyone else (coaches included) identified. Pocket presence and being too quick to run. (I chalk decisioning up to those two lacking) so yeah, I still say let's see what we get with him, but Nicely had better be getting some reps. Additionally it has been rumored here for a while that Matt hurt his shoulder (if true, it could only take one hit and then what)

[uafan]

The kid deserves a shot at improving but face it, he has had 3 years, he should know the system, no it's up to ability. Right now he feels like Carlton Jackson, athletic, but makes bad decisions.

Thank you!

[uafan]

jD's plans for the bye week? Job searching!

[Dave in Green]

BTW - I don't see any of the guys in the Basketball Forum complaining that Dambrot is "Burning Zeke's Redshirt" this season.

Apples and oranges. Not all freshman are automatically redshirted. If a player is obviously good enough to contribute immediately, the player is rarely redshirted. If not, the redshirt option is available to develop the player without burning up a year of eligibility. Burning a redshirt is deviating from original plans due to unforeseen circumstances. There was never any consideration to redshirt the highest-rated men's basketball recruit in MAC history, so he never had a redshirt to burn.Nicely is far from the highest-rated football recruit in MAC history. He was originally evaluated as the 3rd best QB option for this season, and they wanted to maintain four years of eligibility in the future after option #1 graduated. After option #1 screwed up, #3 moves up to #2. He may eventually become #1 this season, or maybe not.