If AJ has not stepped up

[texstinger]

at this point in time, made a DRAMATIC statement by his improvement/leadership, then I am afraid he is not going to do it ever. I am sure he is a great kid though. He has never complained about the boos, etc. Hope he can prove me wrong but do not see the fire at that position we need. Will it be DeBo?

 

[ahsoisee]

At this particular time, it appears it is Bilbo's position to win or lose. However, it would not be impossible for AJ to step back in the picture with a new QB coach.

The biggest drawback I have seen to AJ's chances is a seeming lack of quickness to make a play. If the new QB coach thinks it is possible to maximize his abilities and minimize his liabilites, he could still be in contention,

I have not seen Pena, but from the reports, he is experiencing the learning curve of jumping from high school to college. If he continues to improve in the Spring and on into the fall, I would think he could also have a shot.

The newcomers in the fall will have a tough time trying to break into the starting position. I would think their chance would be a long-shot at best. If one of the newcomers beats out the other QBs in the fall, it would signal to me that he is a super QB.

At this time, it appears to be Bilbo's for the taking.

 

[beeware]

Although Chan made many rookie mistakes last year, the biggest and costliest may have been not allowing Coach O'Brien to play Bilbo more.

Bilbo could have been much farther along the learning curve this year if he had gotten to play last year. There was no reason not to play Bilbo a good bit more when it became obvious that Suggs game performance did not match his practice performance.

A good example of the misuse of Bilbo last year came in the Wake game. Bilbo throws a 60 or 70 yard TD pass in the 4th quarter and then never plays another down while we self destruct on the last two series with Suggs at QB. We wouldn't even have had a chance to win at the end if not for Bilbo's TD throw and he gets to watch us lose from the bench.

Playing Bilbo more last year would not have hurt anything; and could have helped immensely this year.

 

[AlaGold]

I'm afraid that BW is right to some extent anyway.CG SHOULD HAVE SEEN THAT DB played more (he is the HEAD COACH) for exactly the reason BW stated.I said the same thing then and I'll say it now.
CG went with the low risk/low reward option and he got that.
So now he has one QB with no confidence and one with little experience.AGAIN.

 

[ylojk8]

i would have liked to see bilbo more.

beeware is not right or wrong in this thread. he is just spinning everything to make gailey look bad.

there are probably several reasons why bilbo was not on the field before suggs. we will never know them. of those several reasons, many must have been judgements made by both o'brien and gailey, right or wrong, about the abilities of both, suggs and bilbo.

 

[beeware]

Originally posted by ylojk8:
beeware is not right or wrong in this thread. he is just spinning everything to make gailey look bad.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">It doesn't take beeware to make Chan look bad. I have to give him credit for that. He does a good job of that all by himself. And I really don't mind that. What I mind is that his failures are taking TECH down with him.

And his meddling in the offense last year resulted in a QB problem that has carried over to this year. Simple as that.

I said it last year and I repeat it now....the failure of Chan to allow Bilbo to play last year was a monumental mistake then and it haunts us now.

And there is no way to spin around that.

 

[ylojk8]

if you don't feel that Gailey needs a spin job .. then how do you justify your existence?

if you feel that Gailey has run away his scapegoat, then sit back, put your feet up, drink a frosty and wait for the inevitable.

and while you're at it, tell me why O'Brien is now a middle linebacker coach. why did he take a huge demotion going from offensive coordinator and quarterback coach to a position coach in defense? could it be because he realized that he still had a lot to learn? that he was over his head?

could it be that he realized that maybe offense is not his cup of tea .. maybe he should concentrate on defense .. the position he played in college?

 

[jacketguy]

Beedawg... please lay off that crack pipe for a while...

you are stating as "fact" that which is unknown to you... I doubt very seriously that you have spoken directly to any of the people you so boldly write about.. although I have to admit, I do find it humorous at times..

 

[Wrecked]

ylo, you are off on some statements as is Beeware. First, as we learned last year, you can't put much credence into any statement made by the coaching staff at Tech. Gailey has made many statements regarding Bilbo and Gailey's role as offensive coordinator that he has not stood behind. I imagine O'Brien made those statements regarding AJ before the bowl game to try and give the kid some confidence, as a good coach should.

The crux of this matter is whether Gailey should have allowed O'Brien to stay on the staff in the first place. Speculation as to why he did is just that, speculation. I am sure the recommendation of Braine had something to do with it. The shame of it is the two coaches did not mesh and it did lead to a wasted year of production on offense, especially at the QB position. Gailey has admitted he was unprepared for coaching at the college level. Last year is done, it was disappointing, but this is the year he better earn his pay. No excuses.

 

[mustard]

My two cents: BOB was an untouchable forced into the new staff when Chan came on board. That scenario continued into the season with AJ practicing so well.

Chan was in a no-win situation. Go against the tide playing for the longer haul, or go the short time and squeeze out a winning season with a player that is just above average.

If he had bucked BOB, then the bad results would have been amplified. I think that I would have done the same thing as Chan and depended on the inherited staff member who was the respected and perceived heir to the great Fridge.

 

[oldfoggy]

Look, it's this way BW states as fact anything that his pea size brain can think up. He then reports it as fact, to him anything he says is the truth no matter how wrong or stupid it is. So do as I'm now trying to do, ignore him and his big mouth and take his crap for what it is just plain BS crap.

 

[texstinger]

Wish I could have gotten more of a response to my original post, but as usual bwuss has to draw the attention to himself without ever proving any of the statements he makes. bo'b "widely regarded as our best coach?" By whom bwuss, do you have the intellect or courage to give names? What argument on the sideline? Specifically, when & what was said? Any proof? God you are such a freakin coward or liar or both. You often have a good analysis then just screw it to hell with your anti Chan, if not anti GT, comments. You have got to bee of french ancestory!!!!!

 

[Thunder]

Okay, on the topic, I think AJ's time has come and passed. With regard to coaching, let's just say that he wasn't in the ideal situation last season. However, he still had to show some results on the field regardless because it was his arm and his brain that was doing the work on the field, not the coaches'. There was no distinct improvement in his playmaking or his repetoire from the start of the season right up until the end. He often demonstrated a slow reaction time, a failure to look off the receivers, and threw more interceptions than touchdowns.

As it is now, the practice reports we've been getting here from the posters of this forum and the other forum indicate that AJ is still a step slow while Bilbo most recently had a breakout performance. If Bilbo can keep this up, the position is his.

 

[ylojk8]

there may have been many rookie mistakes made by Gailey last year. however it would be grossly incorrect to blame the lack of playing time for bilbo on Gailey.

O'Brien was the QB coach. O'Brien was directly responsible for evaluating and maximizing the talent and potential of our quarterbacks.

O'Brien went on record stating that he didn't like the option.
O'Brien went on record stating that he didn't allow his QBs to check off.
O'Brien went on record stating before the Fresno State debacle that "it was as if a light had gone on in AJ's head".

And now O'Brien is middle linebacker coach!

hey beeware, nice try .. here's an ahsoisee style rebuttal to your bs.

 

[beeware]

Coach O'Brien was banished to the press box for getting into a sideline argument with Chan when Chan refused to allow Coach O'Brien to send Bilbo into the game.

Coach O'Brien ultimately left the program due to this type of unnecessary interference from Chan....exactly the type of interference that Chan said he would not do when he was hired.

Since Coach O'Brien was widely regarded as our best coach, it is no wonder that the Fridge hired him immediately even though he didn't have an offensive job open at the time. But of course that doesn't matter because the multi-talented Coach O'Brien can coach offense or defense very effectively when allowed to do his job.

Chan not only lost his best assistant coach, he also lost his designated scapegoat. And TECH lost a great coach and Bilbo and TECH lost an important year of experience at the QB position.

 

[ylojk8]

coach o'brien was asked by gailey to move to the box even before the season had started.

at that time, o'brien had balked on the idea and wanted to be on the sidelines to "look into the quarterbacks eyes" ..

when we had played our first six games and o'brien realized that his offense is not working, he finally agreed to go to the box.

his presence in the box had nothing to do with an argument ... where did you get this info beeware? your source? did you read it in the AJC? did you hear about it on 790?

who told you that o'brien was not allowed to sub bilbo? did o'brien tell you that? did bilbo tell you that? did gailey tell you that? who told you that? are you speculating?

o'brien went on record on 790 the zone before the fresno state game stating that "a light had gone on in AJ's head" .. to me this statement suggests that o'Brien was behind AJ as starter and expected him to do a great job in the fresno state game.

and how do you explain the new role of o'brien? if o'brien was banished from the tech program, couldn't he have found a place in college football where he could have utilized his coaching skills on the offense? couldn't he have found a place to tutor quarterbacks? what is he doing in maryland as middle linebacker coach?