I have major, major doubts about Mason getting it done. If it's over 15-20 yds, he has no accuracy. None, whatsoever. Also, the total lack of arm strength is disturbing. On one of those longer throws, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. It just took so long to get there. And he's not going through his progressions; he's telegraphing his passes. And on a fair number of occasions, he simply panics (see South Carolina a couple of weeks ago)... Unless we do something with the QB situation and our secondary, then we're just plain pissin' in the wind. A 5-3 conference mark would be a minor miracle at this point.
And I'm not the only one. Most of the thoughts I put up on the ole blog here I also put up on the Book of Faces and pretty much everybody seemed to be in agreement. In terms of my fellow Dawg bloggers, CorbinDawg over at The Grit Tree, seems to feel the same way. Ultimately, I'm still pretty much in the same place with that but I have had a few more thoughts and have read with interest a few other folks' opinions on this and I think my position has...evolved just a bit.
First off, I did my usual DVR review. It's crazy how different things are when you're watching it on TV for the second time than when you saw it live at Sanford for the first. As the Senator points out in one his posts from today, Mason was pretty darn solid in that first half, especially when we were racking up 21 unanswered points. Also, Mason had some nice runs! Kind of reminds me of Stafford...not really a runner by any stretch, but the guy can pick up some yards on his feet. And you can tell just by looking at him and his mannerisms that he's a gamer. He's a competitor and he's tough. You always gotta like that. And Mason has his fans in the Dawgsosphere. One of my personal favs and a guy that knows UGA football as good as anybody - Bernie - says "In Hutson We Trust." Regardless, you do know what Mason's QBR was this past Saturday? How 'bout a 27.7. Yikes!
Lot of noise in the system with this situation - it's all in his head; "Dead Arm"; receivers not getting it done; trust issues with the O-Line; coaching and play-calling, etc. etc - however, I think there are two things we can all pretty much agree on:
- Having Mitchell, Scott-Wesley, and Rumph will obviously make a difference.
- We'll know a whole lot more and will have a much better feel for our future around 7:30 - 8PM on Saturday night.
Go back and watch the Gator Bowl 2014. The Hudson Mason we had then is the Hudson Mason we have now. More receivers may change the equation, but I doubt it. Remember that Reggie Davis had a 98 yard TD last year, (ok.. against a cupcake team) so the speed has been there at WR to go deep. HM is a work in progress. His accuracy and the deep ball seem to be his weaknesses. But to your point, he does appear to be a gamer. To his credit, I believe he understands the play book and can generally read the defenses (probably better that the other QB's on the roster). He also made a very nice throw to the Chubb for a TD against TN, so he can throw it.
ReplyDeleteOn other point:
> HM threw a lot to the TE (Lynch) in the bowl game. He now has a freshman at TE and there is a learning curve there on both parties. A couple of times this season HM tried to go quick to the TE and he didn't seem to be on the same page.