bluehenbillk wrote:
"May very well get drafted higher than Whitney"?? You do realize Devlin has been prognosticated by some to be a 1st round pick next April right?? I think you'll see a pretty good leap this year with his 2nd year in the offense. And yes, it was 32 NFL teams I was referring to. Yes, where you get drafted or even if you get drafted only means so much. Otherwise, guys at the FCS level would have no shot at pro careers assuming there's triple digit FBS schools.
You guys are really on a roll here. I forgot to mention Whitney is 3 - 0 against UD.
In his freshmen year, he beat a Flacco led Blue Hen team 16 - 10.
In his sophomore year, he beat a Schoenhoft led team 21 - 7.
Last year, he beat a Devlin led team 30 - 12.
See any kind of a trend here??
No disrepect to Devlin, there have only been 4 FCS QB's in the last 3 years who have beaten Whitney;
Coen (UMASS - 07), Ward (UR - 07), Landers (JMU - 08 2x's), and Toman (UNH - 09). Toman is the only QB remaining with a win over Whitney, and Whitney is 2 - 1 against him.
The kid's a winner. The draft next April will take care of itself. Right now, you have to give Whitney the #1 stamp of the top QB in the CAA.
As I previously posted.. I would rank Whitney as the top QB in the CAA headed into this season. He deserves that spot based on his past performance. Whitney is a proven winner and an ideal QB for Nova's run first offense.. as he is just as much a threat rushing the ball as he is throwing it. Devlin no doubt is a better passer and he may have more 'potential' than Whitney.. but I don't rate players based on potential.. their accomplishments on the field is what matters. So based on that criteria.. I have to give Whitney the top spot.. for now.
ps.. you are however well off base relative to Whitney's NFL prospects as a QB.. they are very poor to say the least.. what makes Whitney an effective college QB doesn't translate at all to the NFL game. Devlin however does have a decent shot to play on Sundays.. as his game is much more geared to what the NFL needs in their QBs.
"the closest thing to immortality on this earth is a Federal government program"... Ronald Reagan
Whitney is essentially the Andy Hall of 2009-2010. He's a proven winner and a gamer. I think Devlin will win us our fair share this year and get a shot in the pros. The farther he takes us, the more the NFL scouts will see Flacco in his eyes, and take him sooner off the draft board.
That said, KC needs to figure a way to improve our first year QB learning curve and I think a lot of that has to do with a dominant running game and stellar defense. Burns and Sasek look the part. Anyway back to the current CAA QB's.
Devlin, Paulus, Corp, Whitney, etc. what conference around the league has that type of notariety at the QB position. Looks like some quality football if these guys live up to the hype.
Word leaked out to me from Blue Hen camp towards the end of last season that Devlin snaps at his OL when they miss a block. That was the first time I was given the "ME FIRST" impression.
What, "ME FIRST"? Hardly, that's what a leader on a football team does, especially QBs. Make on the spot corrections and give 'em hell if necessary. Is this a new concept to you?
ME FIRSTS also don't get voted as captain by a team of their peers. Whitney is good and so is Devlin, but I think the offense Nova runs is more adept for college athletes at the 1AA level than what we have going on. Flacco made it work, but time will tell with Hofner. Congrats to Whitney (and Nova) on their 3 year run against us though.
Tribe4SF wrote:
That's a harsh judgement on Devlin, and I know of no justification for it. He showed his heart and "team" approach against Ohio State before he even became a Blue Hen. Whitney is a fine QB, and a fine football player, but I don't agree he'd outperform Devlin in a same situation match-up. Be careful with your "homerism" before it renders your column an afterthought to other CAA fans.
4SF,
Word leaked out to me from Blue Hen camp towards the end of last season that Devlin snaps at his OL when they miss a block. That was the first time I was given the "ME FIRST" impression.
After the Nova vs UD game in the post game press conference, I asked Devlin why he did not run for a first down when he had an opportunity to do so (3 to 4 yds) to keep the sticks moving early in the 3rd qtr, also asking if he didn't like to run. Devlin replied that he would run if the team needed him to run, but his answer was not convincing. On the play he was caught from behind by a Nova DL and there was no one in front of him. K.C. Keeler followed up on Devlin's answer by recalling the play and stating Devlin could have picked up the FD, and that is something Devlin still needs to learn to do. Both the play, and the post game press conference reaction is something you had to have seen. My writing skills cannot accurately depict the scenes.
I don't deny Devlin has skills, and I've always given credit where credit is due. However, as the title of this thread is rank the CAA QB's, I look for the guys with heart, and the guys that will make and/or fight for a play. I also took in consideration the team surrounding the QB. Whitney wins IMHO.
Delaware's OL needed to be snapped at last year. If Devlin wasn't going to move that offense, no one was going to. As to the play you describe, if you go looking for an answer, you can usually find it. I'm sure he was thrilled that you asked him if he didn't like to run. I only saw the kid play once in person last year, and he showed plenty of heart against the Tribe. I was thoroughly impressed.
It's hard to separate the system and the team from the QB. It takes different skills to succeed in different systems and with differing personnel. From my vantage point, Whitney and Devlin are the head of the class. I would give the nod to Whitney at this point, but if the UD line and running game gel that could change.
I could be wrong, but I don't think Corp will have the OL to prosper this year. I expect both Toman and Smith will be better than last year.
As for the Tribe, I'm not sure who will be the starter (Paulus/Caprio), but expect with the system and personnel in place our QB will turn in a good year, although not in the Whitney/Devlin range. W&M has a good record of developing QB's, but it would appear that the W&M QB may be better in 2011 than 2010.
PenthouseClosedEnd wrote:Pat Devlin is the best QB in the CAA.
I think Devlin may be the best pure passer in the CAA, but there are lots of different facets involved in being the best overall QB. Sorry to say, but it is hard to argue against Whitney's resume as far as claims to be the best overall at his position.
PenthouseClosedEnd wrote:Pat Devlin is the best QB in the CAA.
I think Devlin may be the best pure passer in the CAA, but there are lots of different facets involved in being the best overall QB. Sorry to say, but it is hard to argue against Whitney's resume as far as claims to be the best overall at his position.
If Chris Whitney was the best QB in the CAA, he would be an NFL Prospect like Devlin is ... and Paulus and Corp probably will be.
Whitney is a fine quarterback with an excellent coach and the best player in the country as teammate. He's a winner because he has a whole bunch of winners around him.
This argument is silly...take Devlin off Delaware last year and they win 3 maybe 4 games. Take Whitney off Nova and they probably still have a long playoff run. Why? Because Nova had a better OL, better TEs, better RBs, more dynamic offense, and the best player in the country next to him in Szczur. Not to mention their defense was a beast and forced turnovers.
The debate here isn't a Devlin led UD vs. a Whitney led Nova...because for the past 4 years Nova has been the better team more often than not. College talent isn't always NFL talent. If I had to win one game in the FCS I'd pick Ricky Santos over any other QB (including the Flacco's of the FCS that are in the NFL). His game was perfect for the FCS level.
With that being said, Devlin is a more polished QB, doing more with less than Whitney does. Position for position Nova has been better than UD. Put Whitney on UD last year and we are no better than we were before. Probably worse because we passed so much being down vs. the better teams
This is a silly arguement. Devlin is clearly the better QB. If he was on Nova last year, he would have won the NC. Whiteny is a great athlete and a gutsy player. Pat is a potential first round pick to play QB in the NFL. From our own standpoint, using the logic of this board, Andy Hall won a NC for us in 03 and got drafted in the 6th round. Does that make him a better QB than Joe Flacco. It's crazy. It's the same arguement we had with AE vs. Flacco. Joe's the better QB, AE the better athlete. That's why Joe takes snaps and AE will be catching passes and returning punts. A great QB is a great QB...doesn't matter at what level. Devlin will play QB on Sundays because he's a great QB. He was great in HS, he's great in college. Period.
SunCoastBlueHen wrote:
I think Devlin may be the best pure passer in the CAA, but there are lots of different facets involved in being the best overall QB. Sorry to say, but it is hard to argue against Whitney's resume as far as claims to be the best overall at his position.
If Chris Whitney was the best QB in the CAA, he would be an NFL Prospect like Devlin is ... and Paulus and Corp probably will be.
Whitney is a fine quarterback with an excellent coach and the best player in the country as teammate. He's a winner because he has a whole bunch of winners around him.
If that was the case, you're essentially saying that guys like Tracy Ham, Tommy Frazier, Peter Crouch, Armanti Edwards and Ken Dorsey were worse college quarterbacks than Joe Montana simply because Montana translated into the NFL
What do Trent Dilfer and Jeff Hostetler have in common? They both won a super bowl as a starting quarterback
What do Marino and McNabb have in common? They have yet to win a super bowl.
I'm not saying that Dilfer and Hos were better quarterbacks in the pros, but there is a difference between a good college QB and a good pro QB.
Fact wrote:What do Trent Dilfer and Jeff Hostetler have in common? They both won a super bowl as a starting quarterback
What do Marino and McNabb have in common? They have yet to win a super bowl.
I'm not saying that Dilfer and Hos were better quarterbacks in the pros, but there is a difference between a good college QB and a good pro QB.
And there's a difference between a QB being on a team where the team around him is so good that he looks like a good QB versus a QB being on a team where there is limited talent around him. For me, the best measure would be swapping the QB's - Whitney's biggest plus going for him is he's a winner - however, you put him on UD last year and UD would end up exactly where they were. You put Devlin on nova and they win the title as they did. So if Whitney's biggest edge is being a winner, and if the QB had negligible impact on nova winning, what does that say?
People bring up the pro angle because it's one way to look at the attributes of a QB (primarily his arm and ability to read a defense) minus the impact of the team around him. Clearly Devlin is superior in that regard.
Fact wrote:What do Trent Dilfer and Jeff Hostetler have in common? They both won a super bowl as a starting quarterback
What do Marino and McNabb have in common? They have yet to win a super bowl.
I'm not saying that Dilfer and Hos were better quarterbacks in the pros, but there is a difference between a good college QB and a good pro QB.
And there's a difference between a QB being on a team where the team around him is so good that he looks like a good QB versus a QB being on a team where there is limited talent around him. For me, the best measure would be swapping the QB's - Whitney's biggest plus going for him is he's a winner - however, you put him on UD last year and UD would end up exactly where they were. You put Devlin on nova and they win the title as they did. So if Whitney's biggest edge is being a winner, and if the QB had negligible impact on nova winning, what does that say?
People bring up the pro angle because it's one way to look at the attributes of a QB (primarily his arm and ability to read a defense) minus the impact of the team around him. Clearly Devlin is superior in that regard.
How about the things that you can measure empirically like mobility, accuracy etc. Whitney still led the team in rushing yardage last year despite the number of times he was sacked.
Whitney still had a Higher completion percentage, higher touchdown percentage, lower interception percentage, higher passer efficiency rating, higher yards per attempt (probably the most important stat in football,) and he had 5 fewer total interceptions in four more games. Plus single handedly beating temple wasn't too bad.
GannonFan wrote:
And there's a difference between a QB being on a team where the team around him is so good that he looks like a good QB versus a QB being on a team where there is limited talent around him. For me, the best measure would be swapping the QB's - Whitney's biggest plus going for him is he's a winner - however, you put him on UD last year and UD would end up exactly where they were. You put Devlin on nova and they win the title as they did. So if Whitney's biggest edge is being a winner, and if the QB had negligible impact on nova winning, what does that say?
People bring up the pro angle because it's one way to look at the attributes of a QB (primarily his arm and ability to read a defense) minus the impact of the team around him. Clearly Devlin is superior in that regard.
How about the things that you can measure empirically like mobility, accuracy etc. Whitney still led the team in rushing yardage last year despite the number of times he was sacked.
Whitney still had a Higher completion percentage, higher touchdown percentage, lower interception percentage, higher passer efficiency rating, higher yards per attempt (probably the most important stat in football,) and he had 5 fewer total interceptions in four more games. Plus single handedly beating temple wasn't too bad.
Well, last statement first - "single handedly beating Temple"?? At some point you just have to take off the nova blinders and look around. Unless I'm not remembering correctly, I don't recall Whitney causing any one of the 5 Temple turnovers in that game, including 4 of them in nova's territory. One of those turnovers was returned directly for a TD and the last one was the one that set up the winning FG. So 10 of the 27 nova points came almost directly from the defense. Maybe you can tell us which defensive number Whitney changed to when he ran out on the defensive side of the field.
As for the other items, are you seriously putting forth that playing behind perhaps the best offensive line in FCS, getting to play on the same field as probably the best wildcat player in FCS in Sczsur, and getting to have one of the best defenses on the other side of the ball, had no impact whatsover on Whitney's performance last year? All just neat, happy coincidences? I'm glad Whitney overcame all those shortcomings around him on his team last year.
Fact wrote: Plus single handedly beating temple wasn't too bad.
I've heard a lot about being a winner & a leader, now this. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is the same Whitney last year that was benched in the Penn game & lost his starting job & split time with Young in the N'Eastern & W&M games??
Fact wrote:What do Trent Dilfer and Jeff Hostetler have in common? They both won a super bowl as a starting quarterback
What do Marino and McNabb have in common? They have yet to win a super bowl.
I'm not saying that Dilfer and Hos were better quarterbacks in the pros, but there is a difference between a good college QB and a good pro QB.
You are starting to argue yourself in circles here.
Fact wrote: Plus single handedly beating temple wasn't too bad.
I've heard a lot about being a winner & a leader, now this. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is the same Whitney last year that was benched in the Penn game & lost his starting job & split time with Young in the N'Eastern & W&M games??
Don't worry - in 10 years the story will be that Whitney is the only nova player that suited up that day, he stood 20 feet tall, and so on. Heck, the single handed thing is a myth and it's not even a year since the game happened. This will make the Ryan Carty feats performed to defeat nova in '03 look miniscule by comparison.
