When do you start a young player?

Submitted by Yessir on

Can someone give examples of a player playing too early and ruining his development? I think its happened, but can't think of one right now.

There's a point/counter point to starting a player early and positives/negatives to both.  More experience if he starts early versus potentially ruining confidence if too many losses pile up.  Playing behind a shitty OLine would not be good. We don't have a shitty OLine, but just sayin. 

FTR, I don't think waiting till half way through the season was a WRONG decision, but a different decision.  He would've been fine if he started the season as the starting QB.  He seems to take most everything in stride, so a loss to Sparty or being beaten by PSU would not have hurt this guys confidence.  My guess is he still would've had a good to great game against Rutgers yesterday. 

It would be beneficial if Peters had started against Air Force and Cinci when we look at playing Wisconsin and the last game of the season, but we'll still be ok.  

Really would like to hear names of players development hurt by not playing early. 

 

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bacon

October 29th, 2017 at 4:46 PM ^

How do you know if playing a guy early permanently messes him up vs he never had the potential that people thought he had? Outside injuries, which might happen. Also, I guess some players get over confident when they play early and think they’re so great that they can do anything, like play baseball for the Yankees. That can hurt their potential a lot.

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Wolfman

October 29th, 2017 at 11:03 PM ^

that started that debacle.  He screwed around and lost to at least two and probably three inferior OSU teams. During that period, and with each successive loss, Tressel was reclaiming OH as its state and MI was having a hell of a time getting the kids out of there like it had in the past. 

As we've learned from the MSU thing, it doesn't talke long for series to change Two, three good years, especialy with big upsets and large differentials, those young men start to look at both schools in different lights, one positive, one negative. You know which one the lens shone on us   I think it also led to lloyd's decision to retire, even quicker than the fans were pushing him. He had lost his confidence and as Wilton has shown us it's a difficult thing to regain in the sporting world Leaders are troubled even greater due to the weight they both feel and actually carry. 

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rob f

October 29th, 2017 at 7:28 PM ^

would have done well as Michigan QB. But timing is everything, and the untimely injury took away the opportunity. I remember being pretty excited about the prospect of having a mobile starting QB after John Freakin' Navarre's career. Gutierrez was a helluva a lot more mobile than either Navarre or Henne ever dreamed of being. As I recall, he did well enough after transferring to Idaho State that he got a drink of water in the NFL, mostly exhibition season and practice squads, with the Patriots for a few seasons and then with a few other teams. Look at it this way: his pro football career was arguably just as good or better than that of Drew Henson. (Obligatory: Fuckin' Steinbrenner!)

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Lawyer12

October 29th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^

I know. Dak Prescott is a good example. You never know. For every RG3 there is a counter example. I think that’s why you just have to try to gauge the individual. And, that’s why it is hard to second guess the coach, he spends the most time and has the most info to make an informed decision - not to mention the expertise to do so.

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Bigly yuge

October 30th, 2017 at 7:42 PM ^

Prescott has the best OL in the game, a dominant RB, a dominant TE, and a dominant #1 WR. The offense the cow oys run is so simple it's ridiculous. Prescott will continue to have success in the regular season, but teams that can stop the run without committing an extra defender to the box will shut him the fuck down just like Denver did. Prescott got extremely lucky

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Goggles Paisano

October 29th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^

I think #1, the player needs to be ready to make a positive contribution.  And #2, he needs to have earned his playng time.  You just can't let him play without earning that right.  That leads to problems in the locker room.  

As far as "earning" the right to play, I have wondered where Peters was in relation to earning playing time.  We kept hearing he "wasn't ready".  We never heard anything concrete as to what that meant, but I have had an opinion on it in that he just hadn't seized that opportunity.  Perhaps he started to own it after Speight went down.  

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Barn Animal

October 29th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^

Because if you put someone in too early and they don’t play well they get labeled a bust. There’s no way to know if had they had another year that they would have been great.

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BlowGoo

October 29th, 2017 at 5:24 PM ^

Finding examples of players who started too young and thereby did not meet their destiny to become great players is inherently an impossible task without a time machine.

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bamf16

October 29th, 2017 at 5:27 PM ^

Why the heck are we discussing individual decisions made regarding individual players in global, generic, oversimplified ways?

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jimmyshi03

October 29th, 2017 at 6:04 PM ^

Because it was probably necessary, but I’d guess that essentially two of the recently departed offensive linemen, specifically Kalis and Magnuson, probably could have benefited from another year sitting and learning. Obviously, late era RR o-line recruitment made it essential they had to play, but playing early at that position usually isn’t the absolute best idea.

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