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Kaaya as the starter- Kind of long

We can always use him in spot duty. The more experienced guy in heaps can get the start at Louisville and maybe through Nebraska with Kaaya getting a drive here or there and more against Ark st and Florida A&M. It doesn't need to be he starts week 1 or he doesn't start at all this season. I fully expect him to take over the starting job, but it doesn't have to be right away.
 
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College is changing. No more are guys coming in taking Red-shirts dudes play all year long and are way more prepared. i dont think we will ask him to do something different than what he has been doing his last 4 years in school
 
It would be exciting to see him take first snap of season, but it probably be better for him to redshirt. But the kid is smart and that is the biggest need. Kosar prboably could have started as true freshman but I think we had Kelly playing QB. Vinny got burn as true freshman, if I remember correctly, but then redshirted the next year as Kosar took us to NC.

Got to believe Al goes with Heaps, but Kaaya should make it interesting. I only hope that Olsen get fire under his rear watching a true freshman ripping his career from his hands.
 
If he's the best he should start. That's what I want to see, none of letting the seniors play because they have experience. The only way you learn is from playing and if Kaaya has that "it" factor let him loose and learn on the field.
 
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Tad Footeball said:
Barkley and Chad Henne are the only other two pro-style QB's at big time programs that I can remember starting as true freshmen and having success in like the last 15 years. I seem to remember Barkley being an early enrollee too.
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And re-look at Barkley's alleged success. USC lost 4 or 5 games that year, including a lower tier bowl game.
 
canesfanmpls said:
1. Awesome original post - nice insight
2. Winning with a True fresh QB is very tall order unless all the right pieces are around (including defense)
3. In these early stages at his first practices it seems HBK is being molded into a starter even if there is a temp starter senior transfer this season
4. Olsen could be a **** good and experienced (with the play book) #2 for a couple years while we develop Lawson and possibly Allison if Olsen cleans up his act
5. Depth at the QB position is key
6. I just realized after typing all of this that everybody knows all of this crap already. I bring nothing to the table.
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I don't see Olsen sitting around for two years as backup. I believe if he sees that Kaaya is ahead of him, he's gone. Which is fine.
 
Posters continually trot out the claim that Golden refuses to play younger players even though they are better. Maybe they weren't better than the older players.

He played Duke, Stacy, Chickillo, among others as true freshmen.
 
drifters1234 said:
Posters continually trot out the claim that Golden refuses to play younger players even though they are better. Maybe they weren't better than the older players.

He played Duke, Stacy, Chickillo, among others as true freshmen.
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agree...if kaaya has it in practice.. makes the right choices and makes the right reads and performs better than the other guys i think he will start.
 
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As I have been saying again and again. EVEN if Kaaya ends up becoming the starter as a Frosh, he's not going to start the season off as the starter. Not unless Williams cannot go, and Heaps is a disaster.

If its even close, AG will start Heaps first, then bring Kaaya in slowly. Throwing a true Frosh into the fire, in a big game, on the road, right out of the gate, is a recipe for disaster. Very few true Frosh QBs are going to even be decent, much less "good". Those that have the best chance, are mobile Read Option type guys that can compensate with their legs and speed for their gaps as young passers.

Kaaya is a pure pocket passer. Pocket passers have the longest evolution curve because their strength is passing, reading a defense, checking down, etc. Even if he's lighting it up, it would be stupid to throw him in as the starter the first game. You work him in through out the season. Let him get comfortable.
 
drifters1234 said:
Tad Footeball said:
Barkley and Chad Henne are the only other two pro-style QB's at big time programs that I can remember starting as true freshmen and having success in like the last 15 years. I seem to remember Barkley being an early enrollee too.
Click to expand...

And re-look at Barkley's alleged success. USC lost 4 or 5 games that year, including a lower tier bowl game.
Click to expand...

Yep. People don't seem to realize that pro style QBs just don't start as true Frosh. Takes at least a year or two, even for the best of them. Under the absolute BEST case scenario here for Kaaya, he will see some series and start to get more reps as the season goes on, but he's not going to step in and be starting the first game of the season.
 
Kaaya is going to be the starter at Louisville...unless Williams makes a remarkable early comeback.

Sorry fellas, but Heaps was ranked 127 out of 128 qb's last year...that kinda stat isn't an accident, he earned it. Kaaya looks like a kid that can handle the pressure....start the kid and live with the growing pains til Williams is ready to go.
 
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Guys like Rivers are one in a million. Very rare you get that, and he had one of the best QB coaches in the game. EVER.

Kaaya was not an EE. This is his first real camp and college practices. AND, IIRC, wasn't there something mentioned last year, that the staff said they would actually try to RS him or at least not throw him into the fire. I could be totally wrong, or it could have been a bad rumor, but I recall something about Coley promising him and his mom that we were not going to throw him into the fire before he was ready. Even some discussion that he WANTED to RS.

Of course all that could change even if true, and the coaches are going to go with who gives them the best chance at winning, but all those factors lead me to think that even if he is the hot hand, and ready, they aren't going to start him at the beginning of the season. They will work him in and see how he reacts and let him get his feet wet. That is, unless Heaps is a total disaster, and Williams is simply not able to go.
 
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drifters1234 said:
Tad Footeball said:
Barkley and Chad Henne are the only other two pro-style QB's at big time programs that I can remember starting as true freshmen and having success in like the last 15 years. I seem to remember Barkley being an early enrollee too.
Click to expand...

And re-look at Barkley's alleged success. USC lost 4 or 5 games that year, including a lower tier bowl game.
Click to expand...

And PC severely limited him and simplified the playbook during his freshman year. It's clear Kaya has the greater upside. But man, no matter how well he plays in camp, I would be uneasy starting him game one. I think Heaps needs to absolutely sh*t the bed over the next three weeks for that to happen.
 
things are changing quickly, the Heisman trophy odds for Kaaya are now at 54-1. moving in the right direction
 
Chrisitan Kackenberg's stats from last year.

2955 yds 58.9% 20tds 10 ints.

I realize Bill O'Brien is also a great QB coach, his numbers show you can be successful even with a depleted PSU squad.
 
Way too much over analysis going on. If he's the best player, he should start. Heaps is garbage.
 
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