Mr. P

One of the few games where I root for both teams.

Oh, I agree. I think he could use another season to develop. It's not a foregone conclusion that he's a Day 1 pick. As much as this was a breakthrough season for him, next year would've been even bigger. Stutsman could've totally vaulted into the first round with a few great performances in SEC play. We've got primetime matchups against Tennessee, Alabama, and LSU next year. It would be the perfect opportunity to become a legend.

His numbers and wins were better his freshman year (2020), but I think his game has actually improved since then, albeit the stats and results don't show it due to playing in a tough league, for a middling program. But yeah, his stock fell of majorly during the offseason before 2021. Even before Caleb Williams took over during the RRS game. Rattler was too high on his own supply. Didn't stay on the grind. Williams actually overtook him that summer, even though Riley kept Rattler at QB1.

LB is a high-contact position, so I don't blame him for cashing out after getting a solid draft grade.

I just noticed that Bearliever's winning percentage (.650) was near the top! DannyZuco finished first with .664. It's too bad he missed several weeks.

I love the Star. I think it's a great venue for any level.

It's gotta be an Invision issue. That's well above my paygrade. @ComputerBear01 gonna have to step in on this'n.

Welp...

Played DL and OL for UT. He's versatile and disciplined. Excellent work ethic and intelligence.

Yep... not saying I'm not happy with our guy (because I am), but I would not have been upset if we'd made this hire.

Hey, it'd be hilarious if Vandagriff ends up at USC and proceeds to wreck shop. It'd totally put me in my place.

Undergrad—University of Oklahoma Post-Graduate—St. John's College: our fencing and croquet squads are dynasties!

Yes, as is Brock Vandagriff. For all Riley's "genius," Vandagriff was the QB he wanted. Caleb Williams was the QB he settled for. Clearly his talent assessment ain't all it's cracked up to be.

My success is an utter repudiation of paying for Fantasy Football advice. If any of you are spending a dime on Fantasy Football, you're a sucker. Nothing but dumb luck. That's it. Total crapshoot.

Addendum: both Spencer Rattler and Tanner Mordecai failed to reach the levels of legit Heisman candidates, and yet they too were, at one point, Lincoln Riley starting QBs. Why? They were both highly-rated coming out of high school (Rattler was a five-star #1 ranked QB recruit, featured in a Netflix documentary!) And yet, Rattler had solid but hardly Heisman-worthy stats/results. Mordecai lost his job at OU and has since bounced around from one program to another. These were his recruits. Riley's hand-picked guys! Not transfers from other programs. Could it be the simple fact that they were just not as able to make something of themselves in a way that Mayfield/Murray/Hurts/Williams were and are? Could it be that Riley's was and is the beneficiary of the remarkable fortune of having had 4 future NFL QBs on his roster? And that all he had to do was not get in the way of destiny? I submit that Riley can NOT develop a QB. He can't do it. Malachi Nelson better have that IT factor, or USC's gonna be in a bad way. And THAT is exactly why he's trying to poach Dillon Gabriel. DG is yet another finished product, where all Riley has to do is craft a system that augments his talents and minimizes his shortcomings.

Culture. Discipline. Better gameplan and adjustments. Shall I go on?

I'm oversimplifying to be sure. Clearly, Riley had something to do with it. But I reject the premise of him being a QB whisperer. He's an ace play designer and game planner. He doesn't micromanage his QBs and lets them be themselves. That's not nothing! But it's not as though he created something out of raw material. These guys were ALL dogs, who would've busted their behinds to make the most of themselves regardless of who was leading the program. Baker Mayfield was Big XII Freshman Player of the Year and a candidate for the Burlsworth Trophy... at Texas Tech. Baker could ball. Baker was an alpha dog. He didn't need Riley to make him that. That's default setting. It's why he's still a starting QB in the NFL despite having a small frame and limited natural talent. Kyler Murray is a freakish athlete. Incredible natural speed, strength, and body balance. None of those things were coached into him. The fact that A&M blundered by not turning him loose to adjust to the speed of the college game was to our benefit. All Riley did was put him in the right system. Jalen Hurts, again: alpha dog. Ready right out of the box. Ridiculous work etic. Would hit weights after every game. Did Riley teach him that? Nah. That's all him. Riley adjusted his offense to Jalen's skills and put him in a system that featured his abilities to the maximum. Again: credit to Riley. Caleb Williams came off the bench and led OU to a comeback win over a better UT team basically playing sandlot football. He continued this to a Heisman win last year. But the reality of Riley's poor development and adjustments were exposed this season. Williams is extraordinary talent though, and will likely be a 1 pick in the draft and (possibly) a solid pro. But I do not see a significant progression in his skills or abilities from his time at OU 'til now. He's simply bigger faster and stronger, and better adjusted to the speed of the game. All things that could've happened virtually anywhere.

FIFY. Riley didn't do squat in developing any of them. I give him credit as a play designer and game planner. That's all. He is garbage at adjustments and development. Mayfield, Murray, Hurts, and Williams all came to him fundamentally the same as they left him. All he did was provide the best vehicle to feature their skills. Gabriel is a talented QB with a lot going for him, but he's not a "generational talent." Unless Riley portals in five elite linemen between now and August, next year's gonna be rough for whoever's at QB for the Trojans. Frankly, it was tough for Caleb, and he is a "generational talent."

Aledo wins. Easily. Congrats.

That's an excellent pick. I really like Klein's system.

Surely he's seen how LR has squandered QB talent. Surely.

Just saw this tweet... what's your snap assessment?

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; It is the man who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

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