I'm going to throw a stat out there for you guys. Morris (an average qb as you call him) was
29th in qb rating out of 126 QB's. Considering the average is near the middle usually, that would be around the 60's. Here is a better number for you.
ESPN Total QBR (adjusted qb rating) has Stephen Morris at
17th out of 127 QBs. Sounds pretty average I guess since he is in the top 20%. Think about these numbers as you read the rest.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/collegeQuarterbackRating
http://espn.go.com/college-football/qbr
Lets keep in mind with every QB we've had since Berlin I believe we have had
3 different OCs for almost every QB. Lets look at Alex Smith. Kid is a smart qb and while he is a game manager, he is not a scrub. This dude had like 4 OC's in his first 5 years in the pros. You don't think that screwed up his development? Morris had 3 OC's. Whipple who loved the deep ball, Fisch where we all saw a significant improvement from Morris and JH and now Coley where we saw Morris just not able to adapt. You don't think this has had any effect on Morris's confusion on the field? Imagine learning a new one of those play books nearly every year of your college career with a different coach telling you different things.
It makes me laugh that most people here also seem to forget Morris had a
lingering injury that effected his throwing mechanics most of the year. That's ok though, I want to see some of these stud QB's development with 3 different OCs in a 4 year period, learning each one's play book while still trying to adjust to new receivers, while playing on a jacked up ankle/leg whatever.
By your senior year you should be mastering the offense you started with, not learning your 3rd one. Show me how many QB's have succeeded in college with 3 different OC's. The only guys I see that could succeed in this style are the athletes whose whole gameplan is not about pass timing, but about their ability to run down the field and create opportunities for themselves, but a pocket passer will not succeed unless it's Peyton Manning or something. Morris has managed to be a good QB despite all of these issues.
Like I said Morris is not a superstar, and he definitely is not a game manager type. Believe it or not, Morris reminds me of Stafford, big arm and slings it around. Stafford is not a stud, but he's decent and he has Calvin Johnson to throw it to so he tends to look like a stud.
For all you guys who keep thinking Morris is garbage, consider the numbers he's put up while dealing with the injuries and the different OCs. Think about what he could have been with the same OC over 4 years, or maybe Fisch with 3 years. Show me one of the guys ahead of him on those rankings that have had more than 2 OCs. **** I'd be willing to bet most of them have had the same OC their entire time at their school.
