Is Freddie are new QB?

[Bleeding Orange]

I suggested they do that last year with Omar and Turner.....I don't know jack, so you should not be proud of following on my footsteps...however unintenional it may be.

I certainly am not. In fact, I am ashamed. Had I known what I was doing I would have simply banged my head between a door and the jamb rather than post this.

Hey, how did your surgery go? All I remember is that you mentioned it last week. We want updates, and I hope to see you this Saturday!

[Schadenfreude]

It seems to me constant directional snapping would be an disaster waiting to happen. Could that be mastered?

Normally, it's only done on a fake punt or kick, and rarely at that.

But I could see something like that formation working if one guy or the other were to step into place just before a snap.

If Brandon could make that work -- and he would have years to figure it out (Barnes is a red shirt freshman -- he'd sure have ESPN talking.

Of course, I might be another one of those Internet idiots, too.

[Bleeding Orange]

Of course, I might be another one of those Internet idiots, too.

Don't worry, we all are. Though I prefer the term "guru."

[Bleeding Orange]

What I did forget to mention in my wild throwes of speculation was that the success of said formation would be predicated on the willingness/ability of the "off-QB" to block. I am not say that either Barnes or Turner is unwilling to do this, but it just dawned on me that this may be why the coaching staff didn't commit to this last year. And this is exactly why I am nothing more than an Internet Guru!

[MACMAN]

Turner screwed the pooch in my opinon and Barnes has demonstrated he is capable. Should the Coach go with Barnes Ill back him on that. but he should not toss At in a game against bufflaydown on thier back and be submissive, and think AT has earned a win is not right. Let Barnes roll against Buff, and if he can not handle the load go to AT. But lets roll with what we have
or he should come out and say At is our guy do or die thelater most likely...cause of that punt formation...maybe if we planted pot in the endzone At would realy be comanding of our O

[Columbus_Zak]

While it'd be impossible to prove, maybe Coach Brandon told Barnes, win lose or draw, AT is starting next week. If that's the case, then AT should play. Failing that, Barnes did nothing to play himself out of the starting roll.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

A 1-game sub, which the coaching staff has said all along that Freddie is, does not have to play himself out of the starting role. His job was to do the best he could against Wisconsin, and then be the backup. Freddie was terrific running the ball, but our staff and UW's staff knew very well he was not a threat through the air. Bielema said as much in his halftime interview. Maybe in time, Freddie could become Josh Harris, but right now, he is not the answer at QB. Maybe Turner isn't either, but I know he at least has the ability to throw the ball effectively. That's why he was highly recruited, and that's why he won the job in camp.


I don't think anybody is down on Freddie for his performance -- he executed the game plan as well as anybody could have, I think. He just isn't a QB right now. He's an athlete, and I would expect we see him in a number of different roles this year, just not as the regular QB unless Turner is injured or plays terribly.

To be honest, if Turner goes down, I would rather see Sheehan get a chance before we put Freddie back in. That is, if the coaching staff thinks he is ready.

[98_BG_GRAD]

I'll throw in my two cents here, if anyone cares. During the game I made the comment that Barnes should be our starting QB after his performance against Wisconsin. My feeling is AT screwed up and opened the door for someone else to take the job. However, it sounds like GB made the decision that no matter what Barnes did Saturday, Turner would start against Buffalo. With that being said, I guess I will be satisfied with Turner starting against Buffalo and if he plays well, let him continue. BUT, if he struggles, be it against Buffalo, FIU, Kent, OU or whoever, get Barnes in the game behind center ASAP and go forward. I want the best players on the field at all times and the players that give BG the best chance to win.

Listening to coach Brandon's comments after the game Saturday, Barnes will play no matter what. I think it will add a dimension to the offense that will keep defenses on their heels. I am not sure about him being a true running back however. Could a guy be better running after getting a direct snap rather than taking a hand-off? I think we will see him all over the place on the field, taking snaps, reverses, runs, catching the ball (can he do that?). I think naming him the next Cole Magner might be a little premature since Cole had the best hands of a receiver I have ever seen.

I think people are also jumping on Barnes a little too harshly about his throwing ability. For his first collegiate game against a Big 10 team, I thought he showed a lot of upside in the passing game. Sure, he missed some throws, but who doesn't? The one deep ball that keeps coming up, the receiver (I think it was Charles) did in fact get tangled with the DB. Barnes threw that ball about 50 yards in the air. His completion percentage was okay but he didn't throw for many yards which is as much on the coaches and receivers, IMO. I also wish the coaches would have allowed him to throw more late in the game, just to get more comfortable doing it, when the game was out of hand.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Let me clarify -- my opinion of his passing ability has absolutely nothing to do with his performance against Wisconsin. I thought he performed very well using the 3 passing plays we ran.

My opinion comes from practices, spring games, coaches comments, but most importantly this: Look at our gameplan against Wisconsin. It was painfully obvious that we have exactly zero confidence in Freddie's ability to throw anything but short curls and out cuts. What's even worse, Wisconsin, and now every other team on our schedule knows it. We can not beat legitimate defenses with that kind of attack.

[BGSUFootballFan]

I agree with J4H on his last 2 comments in that the coaches have no confidence in his throwing ability as I said earlier. That will be too easy for teams to defend and we need teams to respect the deep ball or some kind of passing threat and they wont with Freddie at QB. I am also glad to see that the "No" vote is up to 40%. I understand why the voting is so close, but it is good to see the correct answer IMO, starting to come out on top!

[hammb]

Let me clarify -- my opinion of his passing ability has absolutely nothing to do with his performance against Wisconsin. I thought he performed very well using the 3 passing plays we ran.

My opinion comes from practices, spring games, coaches comments, but most importantly this: Look at our gameplan against Wisconsin. It was painfully obvious that we have exactly zero confidence in Freddie's ability to throw anything but short curls and out cuts. What's even worse, Wisconsin, and now every other team on our schedule knows it. We can not beat legitimate defenses with that kind of attack.

I think you hit it on the head J4H. In watching the practices, scrimmages, etc over the past year or so it has been pretty obvious that Barnes does not have the arm to be a legitimate passing threat. Comments from the coaches, and our gameplan on Saturday, made it adamantly clear that the coaching staff also doesn't believe Barnes can be a passing threat.

I love what Barnes did on Saturday. He's definitely done enough to put Turner on a shorter leash, IMO. Still, unless we are willing to go to a full on option type attack, I think we have to stick with Turner as the starter.

[Globetrotter]

To anyone who watched the game and has seen this offense run in the past it is blatantly obvious that Freddie Barnes should not be the QB. His limitations, limited our offense tremendously. He played himself onto the field. IMO, he did not play himself into any role besides emergency QB.

[Warthog]

The above alert was issued because I am a self-proclaimed moron, and this is only a bunch of Internet speculation, but I have had an idea. Everyone here is bickering about who should be our quarterback because both are capable runners and, based on what we have seen in game situations from both Turner and Barnes, they are both capable passers. Good, so what if we ran a 4-wide set like this:

Code: Select all

Turner (QB)


                                  Center


Barnes (QB)

Now, you want to talk about an offensive set that would really throw people off? Boy...

I like your innovative thinking BO, but I think something like this only works in flag football or on the playground. I also think it eliminates any use of a HB as the backfield would be way too crowded for things to move quickly. I think having a 2nd QB on the field is intriguing, but I think you need to line him up somewhere other than the backfield so that the defense always has to be worried about a trick play. When both QBs are in the backfield like this, it is still easy for the defense to look at them as just being split backs and play defense against that formation.

[kdog27]

It was painfully obvious that we have exactly zero confidence in Freddie's ability to throw anything but short curls and out cuts.

Or maybe we have no condifence in a bunch of unproven receivers? They don't exactly look like the next thing either.

[Warthog]

It was painfully obvious that we have exactly zero confidence in Freddie's ability to throw anything but short curls and out cuts.

Or maybe we have no condifence in a bunch of unproven receivers? They don't exactly look like the next thing either.

What came first, the chicken or the egg?