quote:
Ahh, but there in lies the rub. We asked Eason to single handedly win games with his arm last year on a much worse team. That alone made his numbers look substantially lower than they might otherwise while there where many more drops as well. No one is making Godwins catch in the endzone on last years team. Wimms isn't snatching a for sure interception out of a defenders hands for a 30yrd gain.

Fromm has had his share of receivers dropping balls, too, but I think part of why he hasn't had more drops is precisely because he doesn't throw it as hard as Eason. Eason also didn't consistently throw tight spirals, which can certainly impact how receivers judge the trajectory of the ball. That mixed with the ball going so fast just made it more difficult for receivers to catch the ball last season. His throwing mechanics also weren't good last year, which made for less accurate passes that made it even more difficult for receivers to catch the ball given the other two issues listed. You're right that Eason won games with his arm, because his mechanics were terrible and he was literally forcing the ball to his receivers through arm strength alone.

Those issues aside, you're right that we asked Eason to do more through the air than Fromm has been asked to do so far, but that's precisely because the offense was bad last year and it's improved this year. The question about Fromm is whether or not he can make the throws that he needs to make, and I think the answer to that so far has been a resounding "yes". Eason had to throw the ball more, but you would think that would result in faster improvement in throwing the ball. I would argue that his throws at the end of the season weren't that much more improved over the ones at the beginning, in spite of having to throw so much. It's not quantity, but quality, that matters in our offense.

quote:
I found it amusing hearing the announcers label Fromms penchant for throwing to his primary receiver at all costs a "pre-snap read" essentially excusing him for never going through his progressions.

There is truth to what you're saying. Fromm has had several instances of the typical Freshman mistake of staring down receivers that he's determined to throw to. However I think something is different with Fromm. Most of the time, he is staring down the correct receiver and delivers a nice ball to pick up yards. He hasn't forced a lot of balls where they shouldn't be going. That tells me that he does make good pre-snap reads and that he does go through his progressions when his receivers aren't open. He's definitely a work in progress there, but he's definitely made the most of his limited throws each game.

quote:
We don't ask Fromm to do what we asked Eason to do last year and under far worse circumstances. Yet he did rise to the occasion several times. We just can't know what Eason is capable of when surrounded by a decent supporting cast. It certainly could be worse, but it could be incredible.

Maybe, but just like starting Eason over Fromm in the first game, I think it's a matter of going with what we know vs. what we don't know. Fromm could wind up being the best QB we've ever had or he could be a complete bust. We wouldn't know until we gave him a shot (and continue to give him a chance to compete). Likewise with Eason, we don't know how much he's progressed since last year without giving him a chance to show us. The safe bet is to go with the QB that has proven that they can get the job done and move the offense down the field to score points in this offense, and that safe bet right now is Fromm.

Eason did that better than anticipated last season but Fromm is doing that very well so far this season. Do we break up the cohesion and the flow of the offense for the sake of "fairness" in giving Eason a shot to win his spot back? I don't think we should. Let Eason win his spot in practice and with opportunities given to him in the game when we don't need to worry about breaking stride with our current setup, such as in garbage time or after we're up a few scores against a clearly inferior team. Even though Eason has had a very limited amount of times to throw the ball around, he hasn't made those throws like he should have.

quote:
Labeling Fromm the better QB is extreme folly to say the least. Doesn't make it untrue, just a bit of a gamble on limited info.

I don't think we know who the better QB is right now but we know what we had with Eason last year and we know what we have with Fromm this year and in my humble estimation, this year's Fromm has out-performed last year's Eason in terms of consistency and leadership if nothing else. He's given the offense a much needed spark that was clearly visible as soon as he stepped foot on the field for the first time after Eason went down. He's as polished as any true freshman I've seen and he's done what we've asked him to do very well considering.

quote:
Fromm running last years offense throwing as much as Eason is likely a record number of interceptions. He loves the 50/50 balls and sooner or later they fall on the other teams 50 too.

Regarding the interceptions, maybe, but maybe not. Fromm has mostly made very good decisions throwing the ball and his timing has been spot on most of the time. I recall seeing Eason struggle a lot last year overthrowing his receivers and not delivering the ball in time; he frequently held on to the ball too long and missed open windows and had to force the ball where he wanted it. In the few instances where Fromm was not on time with his throws, they could have been picked off or were picked off, but again, his timing has been spectacular considering not getting the lion's share of the throws with the #1's in the off-season.

Those 50/50 balls have been few and far between, but they have also been to receivers that had excellent match-ups with the defenders. Several of them have also been under-thrown where only the receivers could get them. I don't know if they were on purpose or not, but if they were, he's shown himself to be head and shoulders above Eason in terms of his football IQ and QB skills. What Fromm has done has shown trust in his receivers to make plays and so far he's been rewarded for it. I can't fault him for that. It's not like the receivers are just bailing him out of bad situations; they are doing their job and Fromm is benefiting from it by being aggressive enough to take shots down the field.

This post was edited on 10/3/17 at 11:45 am