QB skills - nature vs. nurture

Living in New York as a big Jet fan, a couple years ago I was huge Chad Pennington fan (and still am). It use to kill me when I heard people say he sucked because he has weak arm strength. I used to always say that there were a milllion people that could throw 100mph and sucked at playing quarterback. (i.e. your reference to Jamarcus Russell). Some guys just know how to play the position.

So, Tate's umpteen years of private coaching has nothing to do with his ability? C'mon; get real. I think its reasonable to suggest that there's a limit to what you can teach someone, but so what? You don't need an awesome QB, you need an adequate one (see Brian Griese and Pat White). The more important question is who will be able to execute this offensive system more effectively? That's where the discussion becomes interesting.

Obviously people can improve, but the feel Tate showed as a true freshmen is stuff that can't be taught and is why I think he needs to be the "main" qb. I am not a fan of rotating qb's but in our case I do support a 70/30 split between Tate and Denard because of the unique opportunity we have. Tate can learn taking care of the ball and better play action fakes, but on his 1st td where he broke the pocket, but still had the feel to keep his head focused downfield and then hit Hemmingway with an extremely tough touch pass I was sold instantly and the ND game sealed it. Kids a gamer with accuarcy....2 most important things for qb I think.

I definitely think QB takes the most "nuturing". That being said, you can't always teach someone organic chemistry just like you can't always teach an athlete to play QB. So maybe Denard just hasn't had as much "nurturing" or maybe his potential to grasp the nuances of QB is less than Tate's. I suppose we'll find out next fall.

Tate got here because of thousands of hours of practice. If Denard had the same amount of practice, he'd probably be just as good. He's just not going to get that practice over a summer, so it will seem like Tate is just "naturally" able to throw a pass more accurately than any other player in his class.

I find it interesting that TP isn't brought into this discussion more often, considering the similarities to Denard. A lot of people seem to think TP will never "get it" as a passer ... and he's entering his third year as OSU's main QB. Is there a reason to treat the two differently?

Isn't this really a "raw" vs. "polished" argument? I think the real issue is that a kid without great QB specific coaching can still have the personality makeup and arm strength, but needs time to reach that potential. Vince Young wasn't a great QB out of high school, but he obviously had lots of potential.

I think very few people think you can just throw the best athlete on the team behind center and expect instant improvement for the team--especially on a D-1 level. Some guys will never pick it up, because there are mental makeup issues that probably can't be taught.

to me, at least, is prolly the single most important skill for any qb. you can make up for many shortcomings by just knowing what the defense is doing--especially the secondary and linebackers. Denard made some bad throws, but they were mostly downfield throws. He just didn't see what was actually there. that is part of reading defenses. but, that is also an acquire-able skill. Film work. most successful qb's talk about all the time they spend watching film. they probably know what they are talking about.

no potato salad here

You can't make a great athlete a great QB, but you can make a great athlete a great passer. I think it is very possible Denard could play at a all big ten level this season. He has a lot of work to do from what we saw last year, but last year he was the definition of raw.

Clearly, Tate is where he is because of a considerable amount of god-given talent. He's also where he is because of tireless instruction, practice, time, and...money put in to make him how he is.

Robinson had none of the above items other than god-given talent. He had high-school coaching that was indifferent to making him a passer, and had no coaching outside of that.

It's completely possible that Tate has more "Quarterback ability" than Denard. It's equally possible that Denard has as much, if not more, and has merely not had it unearthed yet.

In the end, who we become as people is not nature OR nurture. It's both.

So look - Rodriguez has a brain. He knows that if he doesn't win this year, he's gone. So if Robinson plays, it's because he's as good, or better in the minds of the coaches, not because of Rodriguez chasing "potential", because he doesn't have that luxury.

Finally - this whole thing is overblown. It's like 6 days of practice. At this time last year, Brandon Herron was breing breathlessly promoted. Two years ago, Mike Shaw was the flavor of the month. It's all irrelevent until games start.

all receivers suck big-time this year? Which qb is at fault?