See, I'm not the only guy throwing the Joe Webb comparisons out there. Telling you right now, he's not at all much different.
Locker vs USC 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M6UyU-XaZo
His step side around no. 24 on the USC defense was awesome. He also made a lot of really nice throws in there. There was also numerous drops.
That really is such a pitiful O-Line performance. It seems like they just let 2 or 3 guys run free through the middle on every single snap.
You multiply that protection by 12 games and you start to understand why Jake Locker had a rough season. Add in the fact that his receiving corps was awful, and all of a sudden 2265 yds, 55.4%, 17 TD, 9 INT looks pretty good. Especially because he rushed for another 385 yds and 6 TD's
There was one play in particular I noticed how bad his line was. It was about midway in the 4th quarter and it was 3rd and 18. USC send a 3 man rush that gets to Locker in about 2 seconds but he scrambles up the pockets and lasers it down the middle between three defenders into one of his receivers. That was a fantastic play too.
That's a great point. A big takeaway from the USC game is that they were creating pressure with 3 man rushes for lots of the game. Meaning they were dropping everybody else into coverage, and Locker still shredded them.
What other college QB's do that? Stafford maybe? I doubt Bradford or Andrew Luck win that game.
this is crazy. locker wasn't even that good in 2009. i have never understood the hype with him. he was a clear #4 quarterback to me last year behind bradford, clausen, and tebow.
You are hinging too much on one game.
Locker passing was atrocious against Stanford and Nebraska twice. There are very few quarterbacks that could have played as badly as he did against both teams.
The USC game shows that he has potential, but the others show how big of a risk is. For all the knock on Locker's teammates people forget he played with Chris Polk, one of the better runningbacks in the country.
One of my leaps of faith is that Locker just got beaten down by a nightmare season, and I attribute the stress of this season on his play in some of his bad games. Chris Polk really isn't all that much of a factor, the big factors are the O-Line that didn't allow him a pocket or throwing lanes, and the receivers who couldn't create seperation. You put Locker in Sam Bradford's situation at Oklahoma, and I think you have a Heisman and National Championship candidate
Part of the reason why I hold onto this is because he was so great the year before. I am not talking about stats, I am talking about how well he threw the ball in 2009. The reason I bring up the USC quite a bit is because I believe that is closer to the real Jake Locker than the Nebraska game - that is the guy who I scouted heavily in 2009.
There is no doubt that Locker is an extremely unique situation