QBs next year ..guesses and thoughts

[gofurman]

Well, we were starting to talk about this in another thread ...

I see it as three levels right now (I do wish we had Grainger and Sisson as RSo instead of RFr...same guys a year older would be better)...

Level 1). Grainger and Sisson. Grainger was getting PT until he hit the 4 game mark. Had some very nice throws. Q- at 6'4 how elusive is he? How well does he run? Grainger makes Great throws at times! Very Impressive. Definite area of improvement for Grainger is to HOLD ON TO THE BALL. Sisson I only saw in tough situations at Citadel. Hard to say much. DL was all over him.

Level 2). Transfer from MTSU. Shiflett. 6'2 180 Dual Threat. My guess is he hopes to get back to playing at QB at FCS level. Athletic kid as I saw MTSU has him play WR and Punt as a true FR. I.E. he was recruited as QB but MTSU put him at WR and punter. That's encouraging to see that he could play as a FR at MTSU. *- I assume as FBS transfer he is still eligible immediately for us, correct ?

Level 3). Carter Bir. FR. PWO? ... Jack Hardin. RSo. . .. Jack Murrah. FR. PWO?
Who is PWO. who is a full scholarship ? What have you all seen from these 3 ? Has Hardin played in spring?

[AstroDin]

Before we talk quarterbacks - let's talk coaching. I thought Coach Quarles did a great job under adverse circumstances.
Right out of the gate Roberts suffered an injury, Quarles was installing a new offense, and then we had three quarterbacks that didn't separate themselves so we had three quarterbacks play a good bit on 2018 and the fourth got in some snaps too.

In the spring from my POV Grainger, Sisson, and Hardin all three looked very comfortable running the offense. I have no idea how the coaches rank the QBs. It appeared Grainger was #1 but I'm not sure it's decided.

Grainger - big arm, very athletic, appears to be serious about getting better, I've seen social posts to where he's doing workouts with a quarterback coach in the offseason. Nothing but upside - FBS schools rarely get a 6-4 QB with Grainger's raw talent.

Sisson - is polished, can make the throws, is quick enough to run the ball, appears to be tough, always pops right back up from a hit. I hope Sisson gets PT, I would hate to see him sit on the bench his career. A few have made the comment to me that if Sisson was taller he would be in the SEC or ACC.

Hardin - looked very good in the spring and I think most of us have already commented that Hardin is a serviceable #3. If needed he can contribute.

Shiflett - is the wild card, we can assume he will get his chance at QB. Shiflett is IMO an example of what CCH has been upgrading at Furman - playmakers. Furman has quickly built a group of players that can play multi-positions and have shown big-play potential.

The future looks bright for the captain seat of the DIN offense.

[THPaladin]

Did some Facebook surfing. Look Shiflett up on Facebook. He doesn’t use it much it appears but he is tagged in a post and there is pic of him in Furman Jersey. Comment said he was up to 205 from 180 lbs a year ago.

[FUBeAR]

I GUESS we will have a lot of THOUGHTS about this position prior to & perhaps, over the course of, the 2019 season

[Jasper]

Leaving Shiflet and the freshmen PWO QB's aside simply because I haven't seen them at all, if I had to name a starter today I would go with Sisson. Of the three known quantity QB's on the roster, he appears to be the one most like Blazejowski, who did a great job running our multiple offense. The caveat there is that observation is based exclusively on practices and the spring game. He appears to know the offense very well, is poised and confidant on the field and played at a very high level while in high school. Having said that, I think that Grainger possesses great physical assets and has the capacity to mature into a real star at the FCS level. I expect he will get substantial PT regardless of who the named starter is. I know that both of these kids are very hard working and will be putting in endless hours during the off season in the gym and on the practice field. Jack Hardin was a very pleasant revelation during the spring game. He may be much more than a serviceable backup. It will be a very interesting camp this summer with plenty of competition. Let the chips fall where they may.
All in all, I am much more confidant with the position than at this time last year. We had a 5th year senior who had very little career playing time, a redshirt freshman and 2 true frosh competing for the job. No one really knew what to expect. Then Roberts got hurt, the frosh were thrown to the wolves, we opened with the national champs and topped it all off with a complete team wide meltdown against ETSU. With all that adversity, we tied for the league title and were damned near a playoff team. I get the sense that all of that is going to pay off big this season and expect the QB position to grade out from good to excellent.

[apaladin]

Even though we didn't know it at the time there was clear separation at the QB position. If Roberts had not had injuries the others would have never seen the field except in mop up duty. Roberts was clearly the man. Hoping someone will step up this year. If not it could be a long season.

[The Jackal]

Even though we didn't know it at the time there was clear separation at the QB position. If Roberts had not had injuries the others would have never seen the field except in mop up duty. Roberts was clearly the man. Hoping someone will step up this year. If not it could be a long season.

Which is what you would expect from a player who'd been in a D1 program four years longer than the other guys.

I liked what I saw from Grainger. We finally got to see some of his speed against Samford. His ball security wasn't great, and that has to improve. I think he's got a really high ceiling.

Again, with Furman's offensive line and our running game, that is going to take a lot of pressure off a young QB.

[AstroDin]

Here is the facebook post mentioned earlier it's from his dad, I guess this makes the news official. This appears to be a transfer based on getting a chance to play QB and Furman's academics. A great off-season pickup.

https://www.facebook.com/chris.shiflett ... _HrtQoKAP0

[cavedweller2]

I for one am not worried about the QB position. We may be young but we are deep and talented. Think about the nightmare to defenses if we put 2 or even 3 of those guys on the field at the same time.

[apaladin]

I for one am not worried about the QB position. We may be young but we are deep and talented. Think about the nightmare to defenses if we put 2 or even 3 of those guys on the field at the same time.

I don't understand how you can say we are deep and talented. Grainger showed some talent and potential but we have not seen anyone else play. Hopefully what you say is true but it's definitely not a known fact.

[cavedweller2]

I know what I have seen and I know what I am looking at. Assauge your fears AP. You will be pleasantly surprised.

[gofurman]

I GUESS we will have a lot of THOUGHTS about this position prior to & perhaps, over the course of, the 2019 season

Its hard to argue with FUBeAR... he would be a good politician with these broad THOUGHTS - I agree it may be a year where a little QB quandry is more warranted than most years. Last year we learned the hard way that Roberts was clearly the lead guy had he been healthy.. some of us thought the Clemson game was merely a PR Stunt. Turned out we had a heady QB in Roberts who was well ahead of the others. This year may be a much closer race..

[gofurman]

Even though we didn't know it at the time there was clear separation at the QB position. If Roberts had not had injuries the others would have never seen the field except in mop up duty. Roberts was clearly the man. Hoping someone will step up this year. If not it could be a long season.

Which is what you would expect from a player who'd been in a D1 program four years longer than the other guys.

I liked what I saw from Grainger. We finally got to see some of his speed against Samford. His ball security wasn't great, and that has to improve. I think he's got a really high ceiling.

Again, with Furman's offensive line and our running game, that is going to take a lot of pressure off a young QB.

That statement is what concerns me going into this year.. Of the leaders, none have even RSoph level experience to lean on. OL and QB are areas where experience matters in a large way. I hope for the best and think our QB guys are talented ... just wish they were a year older in our system. Even the best guy is better as a Soph than as a Freshman. hopefully one of these guys steps up and we are set for three years.

I just don't want to hear people pumping up the QBs and then we have an 'ok' year and people say 'well, yeah, our QBs were inexperienced'.. My take is they are talented but w only a year of practice (and Grainger didn't really play QB in High School ! - this can't be overstated) I could see us dropping the ETSU type games from last year until we get some experience ...

Really hope the OL can help these guys have time to mature.

[gofurman]

From Mr Shiflett ( father) - Just shortened a lil' --- Had a great day at Furman yesterday. Luke is transferring from MTSU to Furman and will enroll in May or June. Very thankful for the opportunity at Middle as he had a great experience playing WR in every game as true freshman. He just wants opportunity to get back to playing QB and Furman offers that opportunity and is a great academic institution. ... Now Stacy just has to find some purple outfits. Amazing what a year of college will do.... Luke is up to 205lbs from 180lbs a year ago.

[Jasper]

From Mr Shiflett ( father) - Just shortened a lil' --- Had a great day at Furman yesterday. Luke is transferring from MTSU to Furman and will enroll in May or June. Very thankful for the opportunity at Middle as he had a great experience playing WR in every game as true freshman. He just wants opportunity to get back to playing QB and Furman offers that opportunity and is a great academic institution. ... Now Stacy just has to find some purple outfits. Amazing what a year of college will do.... Luke is up to 205lbs from 180lbs a year ago.

Somewhat reminds me of the situation with Chris Forcier when he transferred from UCLA. He too had been moved to wide receiver at the FBS level and wanted the chance to play QB. They key word in the father's statement re FU is "opportunity". It appear that our staff has promised him a chance to compete for the job and that is all. It's not as if he has lots of college QB experience. He is actually starting from behind our current candidates who all have a year in the system and in Grainger's case, a bit of experience. It's a question of whether the athleticism that attracted so much FBS attention will allow him to overcome and even surpass that advantage. The fact that he has significant game experience at WR in the MTSU program as a true freshman says a lot. He also seems to have a skill set that matches our offensive scheme and is a bright kid. It could be a really good pick up for Furman. Chris Forcier turned out to be a heckuva QB despite his alleged "difficulty with the play book" What already promised to be a heated competition in the summer will likely now be a real barn burner that is likely to produce some excellent QB play.