My takeaways from the WKU game:
1) Zion is a GREAT runner, but CAN'T throw on the run or if he's hurried at all.
Yes. He also overthrows (or underthrows) his receivers, resulting in frustrating incompletions or worse, interceptions.
But when he's "on" he's the deadliest weapon we have at QB. He has the best understanding of the offense, the quickest reactions, and, from what we've seen, the best reads. That's why he's starting ahead of (primarily) a bunch of freshmen and redshirt freshmen.
Smothers is a junior, but he's new to CRR's offense and is sometimes slow to pick up reads. He's not in reaction mode -- he's in thinking mode. As fast as the Gamecocks play, this makes it seem at times like he's moving at a turtle's pace. Basically, he's in the exact same boat as all the freshmen and redshirt freshmen in the room, just with a bit more collegiate experience under his belt.
It's scary how young our QB room is.
Frye probably has the best arm. Lambert or Woods probably has the best legs. Smothers and Smoot are a blend of both.
None of the QBs have a Patrick Mahomes arm. None of them run like a young Michael Vick. But the reverse is also true: none of them have terrible arms and none of them are slow, immobile stumps when it's time to run.
They're just young and/or inexperienced in Rich Rod's offense.
We also have at least one commitment from a stud high school QB who will step right into the mix. (Is he better than the rest? We'll find out in camp, I guess.)
Rich Rod and Rod Smith will have to make sure one of these guys is ready to be the starter next fall, because Zion's 7th year is pretty much guaranteed to be his last.
This year, our QBs and receivers have had to adjust from being matched up against ASUN defensive backs to CUSA defensive backs. That's a huge upgrade in the depth of talent, even if you accept that CUSA is among the weaker G5s. That's another small part of why we're running so much. (And remember that part about Zion being a great runner but not so great a passer...?)
Our receivers are playing -- a lot -- and they're getting to do it on national TV. When a recruit watches our games, he'll see the inexperience at QB -- we have a room full of young ones and recruits on the way, so that's easy to overcome -- and he'll see that many of our plays are designed to allow runs after the catch. That's gold to a player who wants to play at the next level. He'll see we that we don't just play our top 3-4 receivers, but that we play a ton of receivers, and throw the ball around to all of them. (Six receivers are in double-digit receptions so far this season, and 12 receivers have caught a pass longer than 15 yards this season.) This, despite being weak as crap at QB.
And we have Rich Rod and #HotRod as our offensive gurus. We'll recruit plenty of receivers and QBs. And with the way Sean Brown is looking this year, we have a good shot of landing some tight ends as well.
Not to mention, running backs.
And O-linemen. And D-linemen. And EDGE rushers. And linebackers. And DBs.
Honestly, we've been held back in recruiting "FBS" players because we haven't been bowl eligible. That roadblock goes away from now on.
High school players are going to be want to be a part of this team.