I Hate You, John Crist: Big expectations for Jarrett Stidham at Auburn
By John Crist
Published:
We had plenty of news this week in the SEC, although it was entirely off the field since the coaching carousel continues to spin.
As fun as it might have been to see Lane Kiffin make a lateral move from Alabama to LSU as offensive coordinator, in the end he couldn’t turn down an opportunity to be a head coach again, even at lowly FAU.
Forced to move on from his pursuit of Kiffin, Tigers coach Ed Orgeron ended up hiring former Pittsburgh OC Matt Canada for the same position in Baton Rouge. Needless to say, going from the Panthers to the Bayou Bengals is a step up despite his job description being the same. But he better develop a quarterback ASAP.
We were also witness to signing day for the junior-college prospects. The most high-profile addition was probably one-time Baylor QB Jarrett Stidham making his way to Auburn, where he could start right away.
Here are some of my favorite comments from this past week. Readers can’t decide if I’m an Alabama homer or hater (hint: neither).
Members of the media are still removing egg off their face after the devastating “Jeremy Johnson for Heisman” disaster of 2015.
However, it’s far from a stretch to suggest that Stidham shows up on The Plains and immediately has success in coach Gus Malzahn’s offense. He completed 68.8 percent of his passes with a TD-to-INT ratio of 12-to-2 last season at Baylor.
Now the Bears play in the defense-optional Big 12, where seemingly every signal caller puts up huge numbers on a weekly basis. Stidham took over for an injured Seth Russell this past year and was even more efficient. Does that mean Russell wasn’t so good after all? That any QB could step in and light it up Air Raid style?
If that were the case, then why did Chris Johnson struggle so mightily — Stidham eventually got injured, too — when he had his opportunity as a third-stringer? He was only a 44-percent passer and threw just 3 TDs against 3 INTs.
Malzahn is quite creative. He’s scored a lot of points with mediocre passers. Stidham has a much higher ceiling than Sean White, though.
Having covered a couple of Florida games this season, I get the impression that fans of the Gators are split right now on Jim McElwain.
On one hand, UF has won back-to-back East titles and seemed to exceed expectations both years. But on the other, McElwain and Co. have been beaten up pretty badly down the stretch the last two seasons by some big-boy programs.
What’s most puzzling is McElwain’s reputation as an offensive guy, yet Florida has been nothing short of unwatchable on that side of the ball — aside from Will Grier’s abbreviated career in orange and blue — more often than not since he arrived. The quarterback play has been bad, plus the skill-position talent is sparse.
Additionally, as I mentioned in the video column, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of help on the way in McElwain’s next recruiting class. The Gators’ current list of commitments for 2017 ranks eighth in the SEC alone.
Still, Kentucky hasn’t won in this “rivalry” since 1986. It’s a way of life in Gainesville: death, taxes and beating the Wildcats.
Numbers, numbers, numbers. Missouri fans need a new argument when trying to convince me that Drew Lock has been sharp this season.
Yes, he sports a strong touchdown-to-interception ratio of 23-to-10. However, if you toss out the 10 TDs Lock threw — without an INT — at home against Eastern Michigan and Delaware State, his stats are much more ordinary.
As a matter of fact, his ratio against SEC defenses is 10-to-10. In eight conference matchups, he threw a measly 10 scores and was picked just as often. Is it all Lock’s fault? Absolutely not. It’s his first year with coordinator Josh Heupel. J’Mon Moore has dropped as many passes as he’s caught. His defense is atrocious, too.
But you can’t just see a box score, count up the statistics and make a rational conclusion about the effectiveness of a quarterback. The eye test alone tells me that the game hasn’t slowed down enough yet for Lock to be a difference maker.
There are plenty of passers that have been better, not just Austin Allen. SEC Offensive Player of the Year Jalen Hurts, for instance.
The top JUCO defensive end in the country, Isaiah Buggs, spurned LSU to sign with Alabama. The rich get richer.
But after doing some digging, I came to the conclusion that last year’s junior-college class has had almost no impact on the SEC in 2016. Remember when John Franklin III was going to be the next Nick Marshall at Auburn? Not so much.
The No. 1 JUCO player in the nation a year ago, another defensive end named Jonathan Kongbo, was supposed to make an instant splash with Tennessee. Instead, he has been credited with only 7 tackles all season long and hasn’t recorded a single sack. The pass rush in Knoxville continues to be all about Derek Barnett.
True, Nick Saban extracts more out of his players than Butch Jones does currently. He’s the best coach in America for a reason. If Buggs simply becomes a rotational player up front for Alabama, then adding him was worth it.
Don’t dismiss the Kongbo comparison, though. There are outliers, of course, but junior-college kids are even longer shots to become stars.
By “one of the more athletic guys,” I can’t imagine you mean Brandon Harris. I’m yet to meet an LSU fan lobbying for him to return to the huddle.
While Danny Etling offers a limited skill set at the game’s most important position, he played reasonably well after taking over for Harris. Sure, he got shut out by Alabama, but he was only part of the problem that night.
Harris was a four-star prospect from the class of 2014. Since he came to Baton Rouge, the Tigers have failed to sign any of the Top 50 passers nationally — Justin McMillan (2015) and Lindsey Scott (2016) were only three-star signees. They aren’t expected to compete for the starting job at this point, athletic or not.
Myles Brennan, a four-star recruit committed for 2017, is a pocket passer, not a running threat. But remember, Canada made magic happen with Jacoby Brissett at N.C. State and Nathan Peterman at Pitt. Neither is a big runner.
My guess is that you would settle for an improved aerial attack, no matter if the trigger man is fast as lightning or slow as a glacier.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
John Crist is an award-winning contributor to Saturday Down South.
