Confidence in our QB

[ProudUte]

I was out running errands and listened to the local sports radio.  They said that this is the first time since Utah has been in the PAC12 that they really had confidence in the QB1 going into spring ball.

They did mention that Huntley had a great senior season, but that it was not expected.  I had great confidence in Huntley.  I have confidence in Rising too.  I really like Rising and I feel he is a near-perfect fit for our offense.  However, I believe I was even more confident in Huntley )his senior year).  Rising will be a junior and if he continues to progress like he has – I suspect he will have a great senior season.

Your thoughts?  Are you more confident in Rising than you were with TH?

 

[Utesbyfive]

If he continues to progress like this, he will declare for the draft without question.

[chinngiskhaan]

I think some of the confidence was actually just confidence in Moss and our ridiculous defense.

im not saying Huntley didn’t have a great year, but knowing you have NFL players all over your defense and at RB gives you a lot of room for optimism.

[Hellhound152]

It’s apples and oranges.  I don’t think there was real doubt about Huntley’s abilities going into 2019, it was the unknown with the scheme, new coordinator, and how it would mesh with Huntley’s skill set.

Cam has the benefit of a second year in the offense so the scheme, player, and playcaller mesh isn’t unknown but proven to be the most prolific (I said it dammit!) offense in the PAC12.

[UtesRule]

More like it’s his 4th year in the Ludwig offense, which is HUGE!!! He’s basically a senior as far as knowledge and understanding of the offense.

[ProudUte]

Good point.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

I think I’m more comfortable with Rising as Junior than I was when Huntley was a Junior.  But that said, I think a “Sr” Huntley gets the slight edge over a “Jr” Rising.

The biggest knock on Huntley was his slight frame.  That’s clearly not an issue with Rising.  Both QBs were very accurate, but the “Sr” Huntley’s accuracy was better than the “So” Rising’s.

Bottom line:  So long as Rising stays relatively healthy, we’re in GOOD SHAPE at the QB position.

[2008 National Champ]

I think it depends on what level of confidence you think you had in Huntley prior to the 2019 season. My memory of that fall camp was that a lot of us felt there was not a big difference between Shelley and Huntley. I certainly don’t remember anyone predicting the season Huntley put together in 2019. He had missed multiple games the previous two seasons due to injury, only completed 64% of his passes, and didn’t run effectively.

2017: 199-312 (63.8%), 2411 yds (7.7 ypa), 15 td, 10 int, 3.2 ypc
2018: 150-234 (64.1%), 1788 yds (7.6 ypa), 12 td, 6 int, 2.8 ypc

If you saw the following statline coming after those two seasons, you were frickin’ Nostradamus.,,

2019: 220-301 (73.1%), 3092 yds (10.3 ypa), 19 td, 4 int, 2.8 ypc while playing the final 10 games with lower body injuries limiting his mobility.

I have much more confidence in what Rising can provide in 2022 than I did in Huntley prior to the 2019 season. I did not doubt that Huntley was QB1, but I was very prepared to be disappointed in another pedestrian QB performance and wanted to see what Tuttle could do in 2020.

[ProudUte]

Your point is valid.  What I remember most about TH is what he did with his body during the off-season before his senior year.  He went from a boy to a man.

I was not a big Shelley fan, at least in comparison to Huntley.

[Hellhound152]

The Pac12 championship game ended any Shelley illusions in my eyes.  Tyler was on fire from the Stanford game until he got injured.  The Utes would have won the PAC12 in 18′ had Tyler stayed healthy.

[2008 National Champ]

The parochial school and P-12 games were what sold me on Shelley. UW had an absolutely dominant defense in 2018 that had already shut Huntley and Moss down earlier in the season, and Shelley didn’t have Moss to lean on in the CCG.

Shelley threw a perfect pass that Mariner tipped a couple of times before Murphy took it to the house. That play was not on Shelley. And when you consider that Covey got hurt in the game, Shelley didn’t have the same weapons available as Huntley did when he was healthy.

In retrospect, Huntley is obviously the better of the two. At the time.,,

[Utesby1]

I watched the highlights of Huntley’s last game versus BYU and then I watched the highlights of Rising’s games against Oregon and tOSU. There is no question that Rising is a better QB. As much as I love Huntley and all he did for us there isn’t any aspect of his game that is better then Rising. The surprising thing abound Rising is how he stretches the field with his running ability. He does not seem to be running that fast but no one catches him from behind.

It is hard to beoeive that, experience wise, Rising was basically a freshman last year. I can’t even imagine how much better he can be in his second year. It seems that there is very little chance of him coming back again in 2023.