Kind of shocked me.

Iamhere2help said:

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Kind of shocked me.

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I think that is a projection from BI. But it does suggest that Brown has not been able to separate himself in any substantial way so far. JKS in most observers minds is the more talented passer. Experience is important though. If the OL is good you may be able to play a less experienced but more skilled player and still win. Decisions matter a ton at QB, but you have to be able to make plays as well.

If the OL is not genuinely good having a more experienced leader at QB seems to be helpful. JMO but I expect Brown unless he totally stinks in Fall camp starts vs OSU. But I think the leash may be a little shorter given the physical ability that JKS has. But if JKS has a great camp then all bets are off as to the starter vs OSU.

I agree, but the other big factor is how they're developing. If you have a neck & neck competition but one is a young guy who's taken steps to even the race while the other is a vet who's steady but relatively stagnant then traditional thinking says that you go with the young guy who's improving. All I want is good QB play though so however it shakes out in the Fall I'm OK with. The other years under Wilcox when we went right up to the season with a QB battle it . . . wasn't because we had multiple good options.

I don't need an embarrassment of riches situation but I think Wilcox has a habit of favoring his veteran transfers and it taking us half the season to sort out the QB situation where he should have gone with a younger, more promising option to begin with. It's cost us 2-3 winnable games multiple times over the past few years. We'll see if he's learned to be more flexible or if Brown just proves to be better though

All this is moot if OL isn't *drastically* improved. Any evidence of that?

My first thought - this should motivate Brown to get to the very top of his game and stay there.

PS What happened to Merriwether and Burrell on the depth chart?

Rushinbear said:

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My first thought - this should motivate Brown to get to the very top of his game and stay there.

PS What happened to Merriwether and Burrell on the depth chart?

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merriwether is in the portal

I used to follow players now I just care about wins and losses. Whole new roster every year and 8-9-10 win seasons along with it? great!! Nando who? Ott who? Get in or get gone, onward is the constant.

Burrell is injured.

Bearly Clad said:

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I agree, but the other big factor is how they're developing. If you have a neck & neck competition but one is a young guy who's taken steps to even the race while the other is a vet who's steady but relatively stagnant then traditional thinking says that you go with the young guy who's improving. All I want is good QB play though so however it shakes out in the Fall I'm OK with. The other years under Wilcox when we went right up to the season with a QB battle it . . . wasn't because we had multiple good options.

I don't need an embarrassment of riches situation but I think Wilcox has a habit of favoring his veteran transfers and it taking us half the season to sort out the QB situation where he should have gone with a younger, more promising option to begin with. It's cost us 2-3 winnable games multiple times over the past few years. We'll see if he's learned to be more flexible or if Brown just proves to be better though

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The "best chance to win" will ultimately be Harsin's choice at QB. No pre-determined veteran bias will factor into Harsin's decision, unless the competition in genuinely 'tied' when gets down to decision time. And even then...

bluehenbear said:

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All this is moot if OL isn't *drastically* improved. Any evidence of that?

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Do you really believe it is 'worse'?

bluehenbear said:

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All this is moot if OL isn't *drastically* improved. Any evidence of that?

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We won't find out until game 1. Even practice reports are inconclusive unless we *know* we have a dominant DL and the OL is holding their own. We went through that a couple years ago with reports that WRs and the offense were looking good and then we found out it was just because our secondary was awful.

If there is a reason for optimism it's that Famika seems to be highly thought of and Hardin & Rolovich have successfully run OL friendly systems with air raid concepts utilizing undertalented talent in the past. Again that's just a hope though and it's not concrete evidence; we won't get that until the games count

Bearly Clad said:

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bluehenbear said:

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All this is moot if OL isn't *drastically* improved. Any evidence of that?

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We won't find out until game 1. Even practice reports are inconclusive unless we *know* we have a dominant DL and the OL is holding their own. We went through that a couple years ago with reports that WRs and the offense were looking good and then we found out it was just because our secondary was awful.

If there is a reason for optimism it's that Famika seems to be highly thought of and Hardin & Rolovich have successfully run OL friendly systems with air raid concepts utilizing undertalented talent in the past. Again that's just a hope though and it's not concrete evidence; we won't get that until the games count

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I'd love to hear from someone more knowledgeable than me, but my initial take is neither are Air Raid (that was Spavital two years ago and yes, it made our OL look good)..

Harsin is a Chris Peterson disciple, think Tedford's "multiple" ("pro" style and spread concepts)and definitely needs good OL play to be successful. Rolovich, on the other hand, is from the Run n Shoot school. It will be interesting to see how they mesh. It does seem like our new personnel (small, fast WRs, no TEs, big RBs) is more RnS oriented, so maybe Rolovich has more influence than is generally being assumed?

CalBearinLA said:

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Rushinbear said:

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My first thought - this should motivate Brown to get to the very top of his game and stay there.

PS What happened to Merriwether and Burrell on the depth chart?

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merriwether is in the portal

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we recruited Merri hard out of hs and he had 4 stars, I think. Turns out he didn't fight for the ball and he didn't block. Silver platter player, as it turned out.

Lol,
Shocked no more
Today They quickly changed it.

Brown is now number 1
Lol
I apologized to JKS
Smart: There's no reason to put the freshmen ahead of the number 2 quarterback from a national champion until the day before the game when your absolutely sure. Thus why I was shocked.

Iamhere2help said:

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Lol,
Shocked no more
Today They quickly changed it.

Brown is now number 1
Lol

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Bearly Clad said:

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I agree, but the other big factor is how they're developing. If you have a neck & neck competition but one is a young guy who's taken steps to even the race while the other is a vet who's steady but relatively stagnant then traditional thinking says that you go with the young guy who's improving. All I want is good QB play though so however it shakes out in the Fall I'm OK with. The other years under Wilcox when we went right up to the season with a QB battle it . . . wasn't because we had multiple good options.

I don't need an embarrassment of riches situation but I think Wilcox has a habit of favoring his veteran transfers and it taking us half the season to sort out the QB situation where he should have gone with a younger, more promising option to begin with. It's cost us 2-3 winnable games multiple times over the past few years. We'll see if he's learned to be more flexible or if Brown just proves to be better though

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Bingo!

upsetof86 said:

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I used to follow players now I just care about wins and losses. Whole new roster every year and 8-9-10 win seasons along with it? great!! Nando who? Ott who? Get in or get gone, onward is the constant.

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I have to agree. Being a Cal fan is like being an Oakland A's fan (before thir move to Sacramento/Las Vegas)

Every year an entirely new lineup

"Can't tell the players without a program"

Iamhere2help said:

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Lol,
Shocked no more
Today They quickly changed it.

Brown is now number 1
Lol
I apologized to JKS
Smart: There's no reason to put the freshmen ahead of the number 2 quarterback from a national champion until the day before the game when your absolutely sure. Thus why I was shocked.

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On the other hand, most observers agree Sagapolutele was the better QB in Spring and that fact was reflected in the first depth chart, but now, with no other competition, Brown was moved ahead of him?

Why not just list them both? They have done that before.

calumnus said:

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Iamhere2help said:

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Lol,
Shocked no more
Today They quickly changed it.

Brown is now number 1
Lol
I apologized to JKS
Smart: There's no reason to put the freshmen ahead of the number 2 quarterback from a national champion until the day before the game when your absolutely sure. Thus why I was shocked.

---

On the other hand, most observers agree Sagapolutele was the better QB in Spring and that fact was reflected in the first depth chart, but now, with no other competition, Brown was moved ahead of him?

Why not just list them both? They have done that before.

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My impression from the reporter on TOS was Brown was number one, not really a question, and JKS looked like a freshman QB...I could be wrong, and I don't mean to share pay info...

Iamhere2help said:

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Kind of shocked me.

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Are you still shocked?