Between Speight and Malzone, who would you rather see start?

Submitted by Decatur Jack on

I realize Shane Morris is still in "the conversation," but things aren't looking too good for him right now. Based on what we've been hearing out of spring practice, the battle is really between Alex Malzone and Wilton Speight. So my question to the board is, of those two, who would you rather see start?

Speight has the measurables. He's 6'6" and 230 lbs., but has mechanical issues. He threw a crucial INT at the Under Armour game. But he redshirted and should be an ideal fit for Harbaugh's offense if he can improve.

Malzone is accurate, cerebral, and has been the most impressive with his consistency. But he's 6'2" and only a true frosh. I find it hard to believe that we can get to 9+ wins and upset MSU and OSU with a true frosh, but I suppose anything's possible with Harbaugh.

coldnjl

March 16th, 2015 at 8:29 AM ^

I am glad that I wasn't the only one who caught that....how could we let him be our qb now after that debacle...lol

I think the mechanics issue is overrated in college. If you can get the ball there accurately and with some zip, I am ok with whatever hitch you have...

CoachBP6

March 16th, 2015 at 8:27 AM ^

Rudock, Speight, Malzone / Morris. Just between Wilton and Alex I would take Wilton on size and his solid athleticism / ability to move the pocket.

Uper73

March 16th, 2015 at 8:28 AM ^

In Harbaugh we trust. We have many months and probably additional QBs in the mix.

We will know a starter by end of fall camp, but given situation, my guess is it will be penciled in, not in ink till someone proves they can move the team in game situations.

Decatur Jack

March 16th, 2015 at 8:34 AM ^

What's wrong with at least broaching the subject?

I realize the season is a long ways away, and we will probably add 10 more QBs before then. But I mean hypothetically, if it came down to Malzone or Speight, who would you choose? I think that's not a too OT topic for the Mgoboard.

Tater

March 16th, 2015 at 8:59 AM ^

We don't know anything because we don't have an adequate sample.  We watched Morris struggle under two offenses that were handcuffed by David Brandon.  We haven't seen anyone else play against a live defense in a real game.  One or more may be great.  

I agree with all of the "In Harbaugh We Trust" posters.  He will find the QB he needs.  We can speculate all we want, but the reality is that, beneath the charismatic and often obtuse answers Harbaugh provides in response to stupid questions, "The Fort" is in full lockdown mode.  

We think we know what's going on, but it's all speculation at this point.

growler4

March 16th, 2015 at 11:44 AM ^

While I agree with most of your post, blaming Dave Brandon for handcuffing the offense under Hoke is just plain stupid ... unless you have factual evidence to support the claim. If so, I'd love to see it.

You want to discuss the positives and negatives of Dave Brandon as an athletic director, fine.

Yet so many people on this site, including the Supreme Leader, seem ready to blame him for bad weather, traffic jams, etc. Just absurd.

TrappedInLA

March 16th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^

The problem people are having with this thread is the phrasing of your question.

It's one thing to ask "Who do you think will be the starter" or "who has performed better so far in spring practice" because at least people have some factual basis for their opinion (i.e. reports from a limited spring practice sample size).

"Who would you rather start based on the NFL star their measurables match" is a question whose answer cannot be based in fact.

I would think that almost no one on this board has a preference as to who will start other than "whoever wins the starting job". If they do post a preference, they are probably misinterpreting your question to be asking "who do you think has been most impressive so far".

And explicitly leaving out Morris makes the question sound disrespectful in my view.

Blue since birth

March 16th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^

I maintain Morris is the safe bet.

Based on...

"Reports" from spring are notoriously unreliable.

The lengths many seem to be going to write him off are laughable with such a small sample. 

He is the most experienced, most mobile, most highly rated recruit and has the biggest arm on the team.

Call me crazy... But I know where my money is.

 

Yostbound and Down

March 16th, 2015 at 8:48 AM ^

I'm probably coming too strong with the snark but as other posters have stated, it's not really possible to have a preference at this point founded in anything relating to their performance. That's why I consider it too early. The Spring Game should have a little bit more information for us to chew on. Even then I doubt the starter is named til the fall.

Decatur Jack

March 16th, 2015 at 9:11 AM ^

I just figure people haven't had their coffee yet.

Look, we're not talking about who the actual starter is... at least, I'm not. Obviously, in that sense, it's way too early to know. Okay, yeah, I'll grant that we haven't seen much of Malzone or Speight beyond high school highlight tape, but to be fair, we haven't seen much of Peppers beyond high school highlight tape either (he wasn't exactly Mr. Impact last season), and everyone seems to think he'll start for sure based on that.

Really, I was hoping the discussion would go this way naturally, but I guess I'll just come out and say it: Which would you rather have as the starter: a 6'2" accurate guy who has the potential to be the next Drew Brees or Tom Brady, or a 6'6" beast who looks like Harbaugh could make him into the next Andrew Luck?

I'm really torn on it. I want to give the nod to Speight since he's had the benefit of redshirting and getting through a year of physical training. I don't feel too great about throwing Malzone to the wolves as true freshman, either. But if Malzone is really Mr Accurate and he's ready to play then hell fuck yeah I want that guy as the starter.

Obviously whoever gets chosen will be OK because of Harbaugh. No one is questioning that. (At least, again, I'm not.) If anything strikes me as pointless, it's the "Whoever Harbaugh" and the "Too Early for My Brain to Even Think about this" responses. Those things don't contribute anything to the discussion other than to hurr hurr mgosnark. Excuse me for wanting to talk about football and there being barely anything to talk about.

 

wolverine1987

March 16th, 2015 at 8:35 AM ^

1- no one here has seen either one play. 2. They have both (approx) the same eligibility, so there is no "let's get that young guy in so we'll be better off down the road" point, and 3- they are supposedely the same type of QB, so there is no "this guy can run the ball too" argument. I can't imagine why anyone would have any preference at all.

So my prefernce is i want the best one to play.

Padog

March 16th, 2015 at 8:37 AM ^

I would rather have Speight start. Neither have played in a college game yet but Wilton at least knows the routine. I am always in favor of a redshirt especially for QBs.

HarbaughorBust

March 16th, 2015 at 8:38 AM ^

Shane Morris is the clear leader right now in Spring ball.  I don't know where these reports are coming from that he is behind Malzone or Speight, but I've seen 4 practices and in each one Shane starts off with the 1's and takes around 80% of the snaps with them.  

Shane was also the starting QB with the 1's in the scrimmage last week.   He's looked pretty good.  He's made throws I haven't seen since Henne was here. 

Malzone looks good considering he's a true freshman but he has a ways to go.  Like most true Freshman QB's, he has problems getting off his first read at the moment.   

Speight has been sick and it's set him back a bit.  Hard to get a read on him from last week.