Part 1 and the explanation can be found here.
Chas: How about your guys [at WR]? You have two 6’5″ guys but both have been inconsistent.
Jay: Four guys to keep an eye out for on our end. Stovall has all the tools – 6’5, big, strong, fast. The big complaint was that he has played, on occasion, smaller than he is.
Pat: One of the tall guys, Samaradzija, has actually been fairly consistent and improved throughout 2004. He had the most number of receptions in the Insight.com bowl.
Chas: Yet, he’s behind Stovall as the 3rd WR?
Pat: Stovall has all of the physical tools in the world. He just has been, as you said, inconsistent. Samardzija is a year younger, and really seems like he might take a big leap this season in terms of production. He has excellent hands and runs good routes, which is the quickest way for a WR to get on Weis’ good side.
Chas: How are they at blocking downfield?
Pat: Both are obviously big guys. Practice reports mentioned downfield blocking as a drill stressed during fall camp. Stovall has always been pretty good at it. Samardizjia isn’t quite as strong, since he is also a pitcher on the baseball team, which limits his ability to bulk up.
Chas: McKnight? Is he mainly a posession guy? Over the middle?
Pat: McKnight is probably the best at downfield blocking on the team now. He’s not a possession guy, not a deep threat, more of a jack of all trades type. He can take a 10 yard pass 65 yards through traffic like he did against BYU last season or he can be the guy on the receiving end of a Brady Quinn bomb, although he wasn’t used in that regard much last season.
Jay: Who’s #2 WR after Lee?
Chas: That would be flanker Joe DelSardo — pure possession WR. 5′ 7″ great hands, willing to go over the middle, not speedy, but smart and precise route runner. Despite Wanny loving speed and size none of the bigger kids could beat his consistency or hands.
Pat: Lee and DelSardo were two names you always heard. It seems that the real fall camp battle was over the #3 spot. Did anyone step up and really grab the job? Was it who you expected?
Chas: The guy everyone thought might even beat DelSardo was Terrell Allen. He came in with Lee and was actually more highly recruited. As a freshman (‘03) he provided late season spark in the return game. He got a season ending injury in ’04 spring drills and was easily injured again in fall practices. Very frustrating for all that he can’t stay healthy. It was a free-for-all with no one getting too consistent until the end. Derek Kinder is the #3 WR. He caught one pass last year as a freshment — a 3 yd TD against ND
Jay: I remember that play. Sadly. All right, all of this is just dancing around the big question on offense. Quinn vs Palko.
Chas: In a way, this will take us to coaching. Everyone expects Quinn to take this magical leap.
Jay: That’s a good way of putting it. Like Charlie’s got a magic wand.
Chas: I know he has the talent and the arm and such, but has he had the time?
Jay: Well, he has been playing for a long time now.
Chas: Tom Brady had a year to learn and watch while Bledsoe had the s–t pounded out of him.
Jay: Remember he started as a freshman. He’s on pace to break ND’s yardage records.
Chas: I remember him handing off to J.Jones the entire game in 03. I know that’s unfair, though, he was forced into action that season.
Jay: Heh. The one good game plan from Ty. Stick with what works.
Pat: It seems to me that most of the things that will help Brady have a great 2005 are the details that never seemed to be stressed under the previous coaches.
For example, his short passes always seemed to come out at a million miles an hour, if Weis can get him to dial down on those, that will help a lot in terms of his completion percentage
Chas: I think he’s very level headed and has the brain matter for it, but it still takes time with a system. Especially a system that relies heavily on trying to confuse the other side.
Jay: Weis has talked about BQ reading progressions better. Some of his first comments when joining the team were, “Brady’s got a lot of work to do.” So the curve wasn’t just about learning a system, it was also correcting bad habits and instilling new ones.
Pat: there are plenty of practice photos of Weis just watching Brady’s footwork.
Chas: I’m just saying, at least the first couple of games he could easily struggle. Palko looked horrible his first couple of games, but by the time you saw him, well…
Jay: He definitely could.
Chas: That’s why I think ND will be running — a lot. It’s a strength and it is much safer.
Jay: In a best case scenario — and I mean BEST case — Brady is Carson Palmer all over again. i.e., all-world talent gets stunted, noted QB guru takes over and he wins the Heisman. We can all dream.
Chas: Realistically?
Jay: Realistically, I’m pulling the Heisman out of my ass. But I think there’s an analog to Palmer’s situation with Weis in the Norm Chow role. Yoda, etc.
Pat: I agree Chas. We will run a lot. Because of Pitt’s d-line size, because it’s a good way to take a hostile crowd on our the game, and because I’m sure Weis would like to save something for Michigan’s secondary, which I don’t think is as good as Pitt’s.
Jay: It can only help Brady (crowd out of the game). But you’re right, it takes time, and this is game #1, so I’m not expecting to see Joe Montana incarnate out there all of a sudden. So, to Palko
Chas: Yes…
Jay: He’s taken a lot of flak recently among Irish fans and not just for the F-bomb.
While it’s true he went pass-crazy on us last year (400+ yards, 5 Tds), I think he’s being lightly regarded. Some comments have been made about padding stats against crummy teams.
Personally, my only frame of reference is the Pitt game last year, and he looked damn good. So a lot of this might be rationalization on the part of Irish fans.
Chas: Okay, so they want to find ways to bring him down perception-wise. I get it.
Jay: Right. Minimize him. What’s your take on Palko? Good as advertised? Worse? Better?
Chas: Good as advertised. His father is one of the top high school coaches from Western PA. Not just strong and athletic, but he has the head for it. Last year, he started very poorly — the Walt Harris offense was very complicated and no matter how much you practice until you play it for a bit, you will struggle.
Jay: I agree. He and Brady are the same year, but Palko looks so much more advanced.
Pat: Do you think Wannstedt and Cavanaugh will let him scramble as much as he did under Harris — at least it seemed he was always scrambling. That was one of his best weapons. I remember that really helped against BC last year.
Chas: Given the O-line last year, he had no choice.
Pat: So it was more survival than his personal preference?
Chas: Well, a little of both, he did his reads when he had time but he wouldn’t waste inordinate amounts of time if they weren’t there. At times he was prone to just taking off if he didn’t see something right away. He has said that he likes to smack helmets. ND recruited him to be a safety.
Jay: Nice.
Pat: I was thinking, assuming that our linebackers will have their hands full with the Pitt TE’s, a few QB draws and scrambles might be pretty effective if our D-line can’t keep him contained.
Chas: Well, to some degree it will depend on how the O-line for Pitt handles things. Another great unknown.
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