calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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Mendoza would have gone early in the draft at the very least had he stayed at Cal, in the top 3 QBs and perhaps even ahead of Miami's Carson Beck. Although I think JKS has a higher ceiling than Mendoza, FM as a third year starter would have had a somewhat better season at Cal than true frosh JKS, we would have finished around 9-4, possibly 10-3, instead of 7-6, tied for 2nd in the ACC and he would have garnered enough national exposure to cement a decent draft position.

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I think you overestimate the talent we surrounded Sagapolutele with last year. We had the #135 rushing offense, the second worst rushing attack in the entire country. Indiana had the #12 rushing offense.

WR drops were the worst I've ever seen. That from slow WRs too. DeJesus was the one bright spot, but I don't think Mendoza would have found him and fitted throws into tight windows any better than JKS did.

Bottom line is Mendoza played in the #3 scoring offense while Cal had the #86 scoring offense. Mendoza would not have improved it appreciably. QB was our strength.

The year before with Mendoza and a lot more talent surrounding him at RB, WR and TE we had the #90 scoring offense. That year Fernando was #10 in completion percentage, but #29 in passing yards, #35 in passing rating, #40 in yards per attempt, #67 in passing TDs, anf #91 in TD percentage.

If Mendoza played for us last year, given the lack of talent we would have surrounded him with, I am pretty certain he would not have left early and would still be playing college football his senior year, either for Cal or with a new team as he did last year.

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sycasey said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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Mendoza would have gone early in the draft at the very least had he stayed at Cal, in the top 3 QBs and perhaps even ahead of Miami's Carson Beck. Although I think JKS has a higher ceiling than Mendoza, FM as a third year starter would have had a somewhat better season at Cal than true frosh JKS, we would have finished around 9-4, possibly 10-3, instead of 7-6, tied for 2nd in the ACC and he would have garnered enough national exposure to cement a decent draft position.

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I think you overestimate the talent we surrounded Sagapolutele with last year. We had the #135 rushing offense, the second worst rushing attack in the entire country. Indiana had the #12 rushing offense.

WR drops were the worst I've ever seen. That from slow WRs too. DeJesus was the one bright spot, but I don't think Mendoza would have found him and fitted throws into tight windows any better than JKS did.

Bottom line is Mendoza played in the #3 scoring offense while Cal had the #86 scoring offense. Mendoza would not have improved it appreciably. QB was our strength.

The year before with Mendoza and a lot more talent surrounding him at RB, WR and TE we had the #90 scoring offense. That year Fernando was #10 in completion percentage, but #29 in passing yards, #35 in passing rating, #40 in yards per attempt, #67 in passing TDs, anf #91 in TD percentage.

If Mendoza played for us last year, given the lack of talent we would have surrounded him with, I am pretty certain he would not have left early and would still be playing college football his senior year, either for Cal or with a new team as he did last year.

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Part of the issue is that a lot of our skill position talent followed Mendoza out the door. If we'd kept those guys then we probably would have had a much better offense.

Though the OL still wouldn't have been great so there still would have been issues.

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Cal88 said:

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BearlyCareAnymore said:

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calumnus said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlyCareAnymore said:

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sycasey said:

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JOB said:

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Wilcox brought in Mendoza. Dykes brought Goff. Tedford, Rodgers. Pretty good pulls, each of them.

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He did get Mendoza and JKS. Though in Mendoza's case he didn't seem to realize he was good until he absolutely had to.

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I'm not sure he ever realized he was good.

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The way he took the ball out of his hands in late situations (like at Pitt) is evidence in your favor there.

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Miami was worse. Every one of our "come from ahead" losses that year were characterized by building a lead with Mendoza throwing downfield then getting conservative and running, mixed in with a screen pass and punting. That does not get you drafted anywhere close to #1. However, I wouldn't say it was Wilcox not knowing Mendoza was good as much as it was Wilcox's discomfort with prolific high scoring passing offenses, his desire to win with defense, and his mistaken belief that "Four touchdowns is enough" and once you have that it is up to the defense to hold the other team to less.

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Regardless of the offensive strategy, he started two horrible QB's over him, then recruited a transfer to take his job, but the transfer sucked. Which I'm sure did not make Mendoza feel very secure when we signed JKS which may have contributed to whatever comments Mendoza may or may not have made. And I think Mendoza was right to be insecure because I think there is a good shot that Wilcox would have started JKS given how good JKS is and Wilcox's failure to see that he had a very good QB who was held back by his own incompetence as a coach.

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You have a tendency to be a bit too negative about Wilcox. Yes he wasn't a very good HC and his tenure was far too long, but you still have to give him credit for having landed Mendoza, even as a 2nd or 3rd choice, because there were literally dozens of other QBs across the nation who were also competing for our plan B. This was a prospect from Miami who was going to go to Yale, so that was a very wide net cast, and Wilcox' staff does deserve full credit for having snagged FM.

As well Mendoza progressed and developed his talent at Cal, as a relentless student of the game with a very high work ethic and QB IQ. He was named starter midway through his redshirt freshman year, which is pretty early in a player's career, so he wasn't held back that much at Cal if at all. It is pretty normal for an unheralded RS freshman to not be named a starter on day 1 and to earn his way by being inserted in game situations several games into the season.

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AmadorBear said:

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Only QB overlooked was Fred Besana.

He was Joe Roth's back up and he was drafted in the 5th round in 1977 by the Bills. Local boy from Yuba City. Played with the Bills and then Giants, then moved on to the USFL.

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