In evaluating Cardale Jones, don't forget Ohio State assistant Tim Beck wasn't ready to coach quarterbacks last year
http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/ ... iver_index
By Doug Lesmerises, cleveland.com The Plain Dealer
on April 25, 2016 at 7:30 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cardale Jones received substandard coaching last year. So did J.T. Barrett.
The guy who gave it to them basically admitted it.
"It's so much different than what it was," Ohio State quarterbacks coach Tim Beck said this spring when comparing his second year as Ohio State's quarterback to his first year in 2015. "Knowing the system, knowing how things work, knowing our players, it's incredible. I can focus a lot more on getting them better and understanding them and coaching the quarterbacks and coaching, 'This guy needs to be here or there.'
"Last year, it was like, 'What's that?' and trying to learn all the stuff on the fly. It was extremely difficult."
Here's how a quote like that is usually taken.
Coach aims to improve.
Here's how it needs to be taken.
Here's how it needs to be taken when discussing a grown man making $525,000 a year who had a direct effect on the future of Jones, who is now waiting to be selected in the 2016 NFL Draft and enduring questions about how ready he is for the pros.
Coach failed players last year.
If you consider this banging the Beck drum too hard, after keeping that beat going much of last season, this is in direct response to any criticism Jones is facing right now in a final draft runup.
If we're harping on Jones' 2015 season, let's harp on Beck's. And let's make darn sure of this - you can't both blame Jones for any offensive woes last year and somehow make Beck a victim.
Consider what Urban Meyer said in his first news conference of spring football in March when asked about Barrett.
"We changed all the drills in the quarterback room," Meyer said.
The idea was to get more quick-twitch activity focused on getting the ball out quickly and moving the offense with a more up-tempo feel in 2016, Meyer said. But let's imagine that if the quarterbacks coach got it right last year, you wouldn't have to change all his drills this year.
Last year wasn't right. Clearly. It's just Beck only admitted it now. Much of that is what happens with a new coach in a new place, and Beck had spent the previous seven years at Nebraska.
"You're at one place for so long and you do it for so long a certain way, when you change and come here, anything is going to be different," Beck said this spring. "And in every area of the program, it's different than the area where I came from. The other programs I came from, it's just different, in every element."
Quick note:
Beck and running backs coach Tony Alford were the two new assistants in 2015 when the Buckeyes were the unanimous preseason No. 1 team with a potentially record-setting amount of NFL talent and played down to the competition for 10 weeks then lost the one game they couldn't lose.
In 2014, secondary coach Chris Ash and defensive line coach Larry Johnson were the two new coaches. Ohio State won the National Championship, thanks in large part to a defensive revamp led by Ash.
In his first year.
Read this part again from the first Beck quote: "Last year it was like, 'What's that?'"
Seriously?
"That" was the most interesting, complicated, yet talent-laden quarterback situation in modern college football history. That was a quarterback question with two right answers and yet the Buckeyes still managed to get it wrong.
That was a failure by the man in charge of the quarterback room, as both Barrett and Jones regressed in 2015. Forget about the issues with the play calling, and Beck played a major role in that problem. As a quarterbacks coach, his quarterbacks didn't play as well as they had the year before.
During last season, I asked Meyer if the quarterback coaching was good enough. It was hard to ask the same question to Beck since he went a long stretch without talking to reporters.
Meyer danced around it, said everything effects the play of the quarterbacks, and said, "I don't see that as an issue."
This spring, Meyer was asked again about Beck and the quarterback coaching last season. His answer:
"Just OK. He took over for a very valuable guy. I expect more out of him."
That's because it wasn't very good.
The valuable guy that Beck took over for, as we know, was Tom Herman. Here's two things I believe would have happened last season had Herman stayed in Columbus rather than taking the head job at Houston.
Barrett would have started from day one, or at least sooner.
Jones would have had a better season and become a better quarterback, even if he had played less.
So now we had Meyer upset over the way some comments he made about Jones to the Akron Beacon Journal were portrayed by other outlets. Among other things, Meyer said Jones "wasn't necessarily very good at school," despite being smart and that in the NFL, "I think there's going to have to be patience, an excellent quarterback coach that's going to have to earn his trust."
So Meyer wanted to clarify that last week.
"There's no malicious thoughts toward Cardale. There's no ill will intent. We love Cardale and I think Cardale will make it in the NFL," Meyer said.
Here's a thought. Don't read the comment about a need for patience and an excellent quarterback coach about Jones. Read it about Beck.
A year ago, the Buckeyes had patience with Beck. And he wasn't an excellent quarterback coach. That hurt Jones and it continues to affect how he's seen by NFL teams. That hurt Barrett, who now rolls into year two with Beck.
And that hurt Ohio State. It may have cost the Buckeyes a shot at repeating as national champions.
So for anyone questioning Jones right now, questioning his development as a quarterback, questioning why he lost his starting job last season, questioning why he didn't continue to flash the big-play skills he showed in 2014.
Let's make sure you're wondering about the right guy.
Not the quarterback. The guy making half a million bucks who was supposed to coach him.
http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/ ... iver_index
By Doug Lesmerises, cleveland.com The Plain Dealer
on April 25, 2016 at 7:30 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cardale Jones received substandard coaching last year. So did J.T. Barrett.
The guy who gave it to them basically admitted it.
"It's so much different than what it was," Ohio State quarterbacks coach Tim Beck said this spring when comparing his second year as Ohio State's quarterback to his first year in 2015. "Knowing the system, knowing how things work, knowing our players, it's incredible. I can focus a lot more on getting them better and understanding them and coaching the quarterbacks and coaching, 'This guy needs to be here or there.'
"Last year, it was like, 'What's that?' and trying to learn all the stuff on the fly. It was extremely difficult."
Here's how a quote like that is usually taken.
Coach aims to improve.
Here's how it needs to be taken.
Here's how it needs to be taken when discussing a grown man making $525,000 a year who had a direct effect on the future of Jones, who is now waiting to be selected in the 2016 NFL Draft and enduring questions about how ready he is for the pros.
Coach failed players last year.
If you consider this banging the Beck drum too hard, after keeping that beat going much of last season, this is in direct response to any criticism Jones is facing right now in a final draft runup.
If we're harping on Jones' 2015 season, let's harp on Beck's. And let's make darn sure of this - you can't both blame Jones for any offensive woes last year and somehow make Beck a victim.
Consider what Urban Meyer said in his first news conference of spring football in March when asked about Barrett.
"We changed all the drills in the quarterback room," Meyer said.
The idea was to get more quick-twitch activity focused on getting the ball out quickly and moving the offense with a more up-tempo feel in 2016, Meyer said. But let's imagine that if the quarterbacks coach got it right last year, you wouldn't have to change all his drills this year.
Last year wasn't right. Clearly. It's just Beck only admitted it now. Much of that is what happens with a new coach in a new place, and Beck had spent the previous seven years at Nebraska.
"You're at one place for so long and you do it for so long a certain way, when you change and come here, anything is going to be different," Beck said this spring. "And in every area of the program, it's different than the area where I came from. The other programs I came from, it's just different, in every element."
Quick note:
Beck and running backs coach Tony Alford were the two new assistants in 2015 when the Buckeyes were the unanimous preseason No. 1 team with a potentially record-setting amount of NFL talent and played down to the competition for 10 weeks then lost the one game they couldn't lose.
In 2014, secondary coach Chris Ash and defensive line coach Larry Johnson were the two new coaches. Ohio State won the National Championship, thanks in large part to a defensive revamp led by Ash.
In his first year.
Read this part again from the first Beck quote: "Last year it was like, 'What's that?'"
Seriously?
"That" was the most interesting, complicated, yet talent-laden quarterback situation in modern college football history. That was a quarterback question with two right answers and yet the Buckeyes still managed to get it wrong.
That was a failure by the man in charge of the quarterback room, as both Barrett and Jones regressed in 2015. Forget about the issues with the play calling, and Beck played a major role in that problem. As a quarterbacks coach, his quarterbacks didn't play as well as they had the year before.
During last season, I asked Meyer if the quarterback coaching was good enough. It was hard to ask the same question to Beck since he went a long stretch without talking to reporters.
Meyer danced around it, said everything effects the play of the quarterbacks, and said, "I don't see that as an issue."
This spring, Meyer was asked again about Beck and the quarterback coaching last season. His answer:
"Just OK. He took over for a very valuable guy. I expect more out of him."
That's because it wasn't very good.
The valuable guy that Beck took over for, as we know, was Tom Herman. Here's two things I believe would have happened last season had Herman stayed in Columbus rather than taking the head job at Houston.
Barrett would have started from day one, or at least sooner.
Jones would have had a better season and become a better quarterback, even if he had played less.
So now we had Meyer upset over the way some comments he made about Jones to the Akron Beacon Journal were portrayed by other outlets. Among other things, Meyer said Jones "wasn't necessarily very good at school," despite being smart and that in the NFL, "I think there's going to have to be patience, an excellent quarterback coach that's going to have to earn his trust."
So Meyer wanted to clarify that last week.
"There's no malicious thoughts toward Cardale. There's no ill will intent. We love Cardale and I think Cardale will make it in the NFL," Meyer said.
Here's a thought. Don't read the comment about a need for patience and an excellent quarterback coach about Jones. Read it about Beck.
A year ago, the Buckeyes had patience with Beck. And he wasn't an excellent quarterback coach. That hurt Jones and it continues to affect how he's seen by NFL teams. That hurt Barrett, who now rolls into year two with Beck.
And that hurt Ohio State. It may have cost the Buckeyes a shot at repeating as national champions.
So for anyone questioning Jones right now, questioning his development as a quarterback, questioning why he lost his starting job last season, questioning why he didn't continue to flash the big-play skills he showed in 2014.
Let's make sure you're wondering about the right guy.
Not the quarterback. The guy making half a million bucks who was supposed to coach him.
