Wow...Didn't know #s were so bad

[LetsGoRUwrestling]

75. Athan Kaliakmanis - Rutgers Scarlet Knights​

©Provided by SportsGrid
Athan Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota and beat out Gavin Wimsatt to be named the starting quarterback for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Kaliakmanis struggled mightily at Minnesota in 2023, completing only 53.1 percent of his passes on 6.3 yards per attempt for 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He is not a major runner, which Wimsatt sort of offered, but he should be a better passer than what he showed for Minnesota. Rutgers has an elite running back and will lean heavily on the rushing attack so they really just need Kaliakmanis to provide a bit of balance with consistency.

Good Lord...Can 1 day we get a good QB?

 

[Section124]

Sad part is he is still a better passer than GW. Hopefully we have a QB on staff to develop down the road. I don't think we will ever be a QB destination due to GS.

 

[Knight Shift]

Sad part is he is still a better passer than GW. Hopefully we have a QB on staff to develop down the road. I don't think we will ever be a QB destination due to GS.

By this chart, he seems to be quite a bit better in terms of thowing catchable balls:

Gavin was below 60%. While below "the line", AK was about 7-9% more accurate.

https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FGC3xghZbsAAb68G%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3Dlarge&hash=0a184161c3fed8af295bd48428024c51

 

[RU76]

OP just woke up from a long nap?

 

[IMARUFAN]

Supposedly, Minnesota receivers had a ridiculous amount of drops which affected his % (with the emphasis on "supposedly").

 

[RUScrew85]

Why just because of all the Weather threads? ; )

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

75. Athan Kaliakmanis - Rutgers Scarlet Knights​

©Provided by SportsGrid
Athan Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota and beat out Gavin Wimsatt to be named the starting quarterback for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Kaliakmanis struggled mightily at Minnesota in 2023, completing only 53.1 percent of his passes on 6.3 yards per attempt for 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He is not a major runner, which Wimsatt sort of offered, but he should be a better passer than what he showed for Minnesota. Rutgers has an elite running back and will lean heavily on the rushing attack so they really just need Kaliakmanis to provide a bit of balance with consistency.

Good Lord...Can 1 day we get a good QB?

Looking at stats with no context should be a felony offense punishable by 3 months of hard labor. 🤣

His WRs at Minny dropped a lot of balls and their OL was not good. He was sacked 21 times and was under pressure a lot. Also didn't help the co-OC's that replaced Kirk didn't have a good game plan either.

Now that said, 53% is a lot better than 47% however, I don't think we'll see 60% from him. He just needs to hit passes once they are off the scripted plays. That is where Gavin went downhill fast performance wise. If Athan can do that in most games then RU's offense will be more functional and open up the run game more as teams will have to respect the pass.

 

[DJ Spanky]

And our receivers caught everything thrown within 50 yards of them and our OL would often give him 45 minutes back there to throw the ball.

 

[Eagleton96]

Looking at stats with no context should be a felony offense punishable by 3 months of hard labor. 🤣

His WRs at Minny dropped a lot of balls and their OL was not good. He was sacked 21 times and was under pressure a lot. Also didn't help the co-OC's that replaced Kirk didn't have a good game plan either.

Now that said, 53% is a lot better than 47% however, I don't think we'll see 60% from him. He just needs to hit passes once they are off the scripted plays. That is where Gavin went downhill fast performance wise. If Athan can do that in most games then RU's offense will be more functional and open up the run game more as teams will have to respect the pass.

I watched AK's tape from last year, and obviously all the RU games. An oversimplification, but a lot of AK's misses were failing to make tough plays under pressure. Gavin missed open guys.

 

[Knight Shift]

By this chart, he seems to be quite a bit better in terms of thowing catchable balls:

Gavin was below 60%. While below "the line", AK was about 7-9% more accurate.

https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FGC3xghZbsAAb68G%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3Dlarge&hash=0a184161c3fed8af295bd48428024c51

Supposedly, Minnesota receivers had a ridiculous amount of drops which affected his % (with the emphasis on "supposedly").

See above. Block R at very bottom above 10.0 is GW. AK is just to the left of 9.0 between 65-70%

Looking at stats with no context should be a felony offense punishable by 3 months of hard labor. 🤣

His WRs at Minny dropped a lot of balls and their OL was not good. He was sacked 21 times and was under pressure a lot. Also didn't help the co-OC's that replaced Kirk didn't have a good game plan either.

Now that said, 53% is a lot better than 47% however, I don't think we'll see 60% from him. He just needs to hit passes once they are off the scripted plays. That is where Gavin went downhill fast performance wise. If Athan can do that in most games then RU's offense will be more functional and open up the run game more as teams will have to respect the pass.

See above. Block R at very bottom above 10.0 is GW. AK is just to the left of 9.0 between 65-70%

 

[WhiteBus]

OP just woke up from a long nap?

OP's real name is Rip V. Winkle

 

[Section124]

Why just because of all the Weather threads?

That was my first thought when I saw the title.

 

[knightfan7]

Supposedly, Minnesota receivers had a ridiculous amount of drops which affected his % (with the emphasis on "supposedly").

IIRC, they led the BCS in drops.

That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

 

[RUScrew85]

That was my first thought when I saw the title.

LOL. What else could it be?

 

[Brisket and Bourbon]

By this chart, he seems to be quite a bit better in terms of thowing catchable balls:

Gavin was below 60%. While below "the line", AK was about 7-9% more accurate.

https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FGC3xghZbsAAb68G%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3Dlarge&hash=0a184161c3fed8af295bd48428024c51

In this graphic the outliers are the interesting

 

[RUTGERS95]

He's going to do well here

Minny O was apples to oranges compared to us

 

[NewJerseyGuy]

Why just because of all the Weather threads? ; )

Or maybe for buying 6 pounds of ground beef on the first day of Covid?

 

[Extra Point]

We already knew we weren't getting a much better QB than what we had. But in the spring game he appeared to hit his targets, that's all we need to keep defenses honest doing our running attacks. AK should do good here.

 

[retired711]

75. Athan Kaliakmanis - Rutgers Scarlet Knights​

©Provided by SportsGrid
Athan Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota and beat out Gavin Wimsatt to be named the starting quarterback for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Kaliakmanis struggled mightily at Minnesota in 2023, completing only 53.1 percent of his passes on 6.3 yards per attempt for 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He is not a major runner, which Wimsatt sort of offered, but he should be a better passer than what he showed for Minnesota. Rutgers has an elite running back and will lean heavily on the rushing attack so they really just need Kaliakmanis to provide a bit of balance with consistency.

Good Lord...Can 1 day we get a good QB?

Even under this account, Kaliakmanis is an upgrade over Wimsatt and may well do substantially better than at Minnesota. We're certainly not a pass-first offense, so we can do well without an outstanding QB.

 

[ashokan]

I watched AK's tape from last year, and obviously all the RU games. An oversimplification, but a lot of AK's misses were failing to make tough plays under pressure. Gavin missed open guys.

The Minn podcast guys said AK was a better in practice than games
RU was 127 for passing rank and Min was 126
For passing AK was ranked 93rd and Wim was 100
AK had 5 more passing TDs and 1 more INT
GW had 9 more rushing TDs

Picking between these two is like trying to figure out which Sicilian war bride has the less mustache hairs.
Minn's offense was still rooted in Kirk's offense

"The last time the Minnesota Gophers had an explosive offense was 2019...Four years later, the Gophers are still trying to recapture that success. Bateman and Johnson left for the NFL and Morgan regressed mightily under offensive coordinator Mike Sanford. Last year's return of Kirk Ciarrocca led to some improvement from Morgan but it didn't spark the Gophers..."

Surprise! Fleck's offense is proven as lame as Schinao's

"Fleck's coaching philosophy is new age in every way except offense. In that area, he's as old school as linebacker neck rolls. If he could win a game running the ball 60 consecutive times, Fleck would do it and then treat himself to a steak dinner and nice bottle of wine...In his first six seasons in Dinkytown, Fleck's offense never averaged more than 26 passes per game for the season. The Gophers finished two seasons averaging fewer than 20 passes per game. Their national ranking by season in average pass attempts under Fleck: 124, 106, 111, 105, 127 and 126."

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck has a secret — and it could be about the team's offense

With new co-offensive coordinators and a quarterback in Athan Kaliakmanis who can let it fly, don't be surprised if P.J. Fleck finally starts focusing on the pass game.

www.startribune.com

Schiano, Fleck, Ciarrocca - not exactly passmasters

Minnesota's passing offense really is as bad as it looks - Sports Illustrated Minnesota Sports, News, Analysis, and More

Only Air Force, Navy and Iowa have worse passing attacks.

www.si.com

Minn did have a great WR last year (All B1G)
"Whoever is throwing passes for the Gophers next season will have Daniel Jackson to look for in 2024.

• Receptions: 4th
• Receiving yards: 3rd
• Receiving touchdowns: 3rd

He did that despite playing in one of the nation's worst passing offenses. The Gophers averaged just 153 passing yards per game, good for 123rd of 130 teams in the FBS. "

Gophers' top wide receiver Daniel Jackson will return in 2024

Jackson was one of the top receivers in the Big Ten this season.

www.si.com

Good WR aren't just hands - they go and get balls with more gusto than DBs
RU has nobody like this (and pass was bad)

 

[Rufaninga]

I just want a QB that can hit a receiver/back in stride vs throwing behind or at their feet. Just keep the defense honest & from stacking the box to stop the run.

 

[retired711]

I just want a QB that can hit a receiver/back in stride vs throwing behind or at their feet. Just keep the defense honest & from stacking the box to stop the run.

I never understood why this was such a problem for Wimsatt. Obviously he was able to lead receivers in high school or he wouldn't have gotten this far. Somehow the game never slowed down for him in college enough to let him focus on getting the ball to his receivers. The same was true for running the RPO option; he was so rushed mentally that he couldn't concentrate on reading his keys.

 

[NY AGENTMAN]

I don’t know what AK brings but he can’t be less accurate that Wimsatt. Wimsatt is an athlete not a Quarterback

 

[jtung230]

AK is the man now. Coaches are trying to recreate the 2022 & 2023 Minny seasons here. I don’t like the fact that we are going back to pro style O but I do like to win games.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

I never understood why this was such a problem for Wimsatt. Obviously he was able to lead receivers in high school or he wouldn't have gotten this far. Somehow the game never slowed down for him in college enough to let him focus on getting the ball to his receivers. The same was true for running the RPO option; he was so rushed mentally that he couldn't concentrate on reading his keys.

RPO & read option are two separate things. Kirk runs RPO, there was no keys for Gavin to concentrate on since that’s the read option.

 

[retired711]

RPO & read option are two separate things. Kirk runs RPO, there was no keys for Gavin to concentrate on since that’s the read option.

You obviously know more about this than I do -- doesn't the QB have to make a choice during the play whether to run or pass? Could it be that the game never slowed down enough for Wimsatt to make that choice well?

 

[Eagleton96]

You obviously know more about this than I do -- doesn't the QB have to make a choice during the play whether to run or pass? Could it be that the game never slowed down enough for Wimsatt to make that choice well?

RPO and RO are similar. What we mostly ran was a read option where Wimsatt had a choice to hand of to Kyle or keep and run around the corner. Add in the option to pass and it's an RPO. I never saw any pass worked into that.

If it's working right, the QB makes the decision in real time based on keys on the field. Most people here (including me) think that GW wasn't making the read and the coaches were making that decision pre-snap.

 

[50 yd line RR]

75. Athan Kaliakmanis - Rutgers Scarlet Knights​

©Provided by SportsGrid
Athan Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota and beat out Gavin Wimsatt to be named the starting quarterback for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Kaliakmanis struggled mightily at Minnesota in 2023, completing only 53.1 percent of his passes on 6.3 yards per attempt for 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He is not a major runner, which Wimsatt sort of offered, but he should be a better passer than what he showed for Minnesota. Rutgers has an elite running back and will lean heavily on the rushing attack so they really just need Kaliakmanis to provide a bit of balance with consistency.

Good Lord...Can 1 day we get a good QB?

Would be nice if his numbers were higher but
in this system no one is asking him to win games. With this running game, ( it sets up the passing game) Just don’t lose them.

 

[retired711]

RPO and RO are similar. What we mostly ran was a read option where Wimsatt had a choice to hand of to Kyle or keep and run around the corner. Add in the option to pass and it's an RPO. I never saw any pass worked into that.

If it's working right, the QB makes the decision in real time based on keys on the field. Most people here (including me) think that GW wasn't making the read and the coaches were making that decision pre-snap.

Thank you for this comment. If he can't correctly manage the choice on an RO, it follows that he can't do an RPO either because it's more complicated. Somehow the game never slowed down enough for him to do that. It also explains why he fixed on one receiver while passing; the game was too fast for him to look for alternative receivers.

Obviously I've never quarterbacked, but it seems to me that an athletic individual should be able to hit receivers in stride (especially on short passes) and decide whether to hand off or run himself. So Wimsatt's problems are a mystery to me. I'm not sure how much coaching will help; slowing the game down is something that happens inside a player.

 

[Eagleton96]

Thank you for this comment. If he can't correctly manage the choice on an RO, it follows that he can't do an RPO either because it's more complicated. Somehow the game never slowed down enough for him to do that. It also explains why he fixed on one receiver while passing; the game was too fast for him to look for alternative receivers.

Obviously I've never quarterbacked, but it seems to me that an athletic individual should be able to hit receivers in stride (especially on short passes) and decide whether to hand off or run himself. So Wimsatt's problems are a mystery to me. I'm not sure how much coaching will help; slowing the game down is something that happens inside a player.

Playing quarterback, and delivering an accurate pass on time and in rhythm, is exceptionally difficult. It requires the highest levels of physical and mental talent, combined with top coaching and years of training and experience. If anyone could do it, it wouldn’t be the big deal that it is.

 

[Joey Bags]

Playing quarterback, and delivering an accurate pass on time and in rhythm, is exceptionally difficult. It requires the highest levels of physical and mental talent, combined with top coaching and years of training and experience. If anyone could do it, it wouldn’t be the big deal that it is.

This is why it’s very tough to expect a staff to develop a QB. Usually as a freshman you either got it or you don’t. You better come in ready to flex.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

You obviously know more about this than I do -- doesn't the QB have to make a choice during the play whether to run or pass? Could it be that the game never slowed down enough for Wimsatt to make that choice well?

RPO and RO are similar. What we mostly ran was a read option where Wimsatt had a choice to hand of to Kyle or keep and run around the corner. Add in the option to pass and it's an RPO. I never saw any pass worked into that.

If it's working right, the QB makes the decision in real time based on keys on the field. Most people here (including me) think that GW wasn't making the read and the coaches were making that decision pre-snap.

We were told on the pay side that run plays were called by Kirk pre-snap all year. Even the long TD run against Indiana was a pre-snap call because they were over pursuing. The delayed hand off only gave the appearance that we were running a read option. Similar to Gleeson's fake play action to the invisible RB...lol. Not sure we will see much of that this year with a QB who can complete passes a bit better.

 

[jtung230]

Playing quarterback, and delivering an accurate pass on time and in rhythm, is exceptionally difficult. It requires the highest levels of physical and mental talent, combined with top coaching and years of training and experience. If anyone could do it, it wouldn’t be the big deal that it is.

It actually requires OL and WR play. An avg QB can do it with good OL and WR. Good or great QBs can’t do it w/o either.

 

[thegock]

By this chart, he seems to be quite a bit better in terms of thowing catchable balls:

Gavin was below 60%. While below "the line", AK was about 7-9% more accurate.

https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FGC3xghZbsAAb68G%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3Dlarge&hash=0a184161c3fed8af295bd48428024c51

That is just an outstanding graph. Interesting that so many are not playing in 2024. Priceless that "Mendoza" is on the blue line.

 

[Knight Shift]

That is just an outstanding graph. Interesting that so many are not playing in 2024. Priceless that "Mendoza" is on the blue line.

Sad to see my favorite former Rutger QB Cole Snyder way down below the line.

 

[ashokan]

AK is also throwing shorter passes and that raises all the other stats.
Vedral had a high completing % because the couldn't throw long.
Chad Pennington is top 12 NFL % because he couldn't throw long.

Pass "catchability" is also related to WRs (which many peeps often ignore or overestimate - RU receivers were meek).


"Greg Camarillo, a former wide receiver and seven-year NFL veteran, highlighted the ingredients of a catchable ball. “Catchability is a reflection of the quarterback, and throwing the most catchable ball takes touch, timing, accuracy and a connection between receiver and quarterback,” he said. “It takes knowing what type of pass to throw each time.” Camarillo highlighted the importance of rapport between quarterback and receiver and how that connection takes repetition and practice."

‘Talk to your receivers with the football’: The catchability of NFL quarterback passes shouldn’t go underappreciated

Pinpoint accuracy from NFL quarterbacks can make all the difference, but what makes for a catchable throw?

www.nytimes.com

 

[RedTeam1994]

Sad to see my favorite former Rutger QB Cole Snyder way down below the line.

Yeah saw that - so he throws an uncatchable ball on really short passes.

 

[rutgersal]

It actually requires OL and WR play. An avg QB can do it with good OL and WR. Good or great QBs can’t do it w/o either.

Unlike previous years, we should have good WR AND OL play. Now it’s all on the QB. If he can do at least 58%, it will be a good season.

 

[RU-05]

OP just woke up from a long nap?

Hey, it's football talk, roll with it.

 

[RU-05]

75. Athan Kaliakmanis - Rutgers Scarlet Knights​

©Provided by SportsGrid
Athan Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota and beat out Gavin Wimsatt to be named the starting quarterback for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Kaliakmanis struggled mightily at Minnesota in 2023, completing only 53.1 percent of his passes on 6.3 yards per attempt for 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He is not a major runner, which Wimsatt sort of offered, but he should be a better passer than what he showed for Minnesota. Rutgers has an elite running back and will lean heavily on the rushing attack so they really just need Kaliakmanis to provide a bit of balance with consistency.

Good Lord...Can 1 day we get a good QB?

I'll roll optimisitically and hope that in a better situation, OC, OL and all that, and another year of maturity he can build on those numbers from last year.

Hopefully something like 60% comp, 20-10 TD-INT(not stat stuffed vs weaker OCS), is attainable.