This has absolutely nothing to do with football.

Click here.  Type your real name in or it won’t be funny.  Push Visualizar and enjoy.

The last of the big-time option QBs?

One interesting comment from Terrelle Pryor regarding his choice of Ohio State over Michigan:

Michigan’s zone-read offense under Rich Rodriguez was tempting to Pryor, especially since Rodriguez has had so much success with it at West Virginia…

… Ohio State hasn’t typically run a zone-read offense, which was a concern for Pryor. However, after further research, he feels he’ll be a better quarterback in the end because of it.

“Troy Smith ran some zone-read stuff early in his career, and then he developed into a pocket passer and did a lot of stuff out of the shotgun,” Pryor said. “He became a better quarterback — not just an athlete — by the time he was done. I feel I can do the same. Both schools said they would utilize my athletic ability in the offense, but I think I can be more well-rounded at Ohio State.”

So here’s a kid that by all accounts would be an ideal quarterback to run a spread offense, who in turn seems to have researched the matter carefully… and decided it would be in his best interest (i.e., to improve his chances of playing in the NFL) to go to a school that doesn’t run the spread option.

There isn’t too much to go on with spread/read option QBs in the NFL right now. Urban Meyer’s prize pupil at Utah hasn’t shown a lot, to put it mildly. The jury is out on Vince Young (who, unlike Smith, is a phenomenal physical talent). The big kahuna is, of course, Tim Tebow. If Tebow succeeds in the pros, that will quell some of the concern. But if Tebow were to turn out to be a bust – an expensive bust – it will be worth watching to see how the colleges and the top athletic QB recruits react to what will likely become a declining market.

Advertisement

Reading the spring practice tea leaves

While I’m not trying to get down to Jeff Schultz’ level (“I believe AJC.com now has a rule that we must have at least a five-inch blog every time somebody burps in Butts-Mehre Hall.”) with this post, I have to admit it’s been kind of hard lately to write anything of depth with regard to Georgia’s spring practice.

That is, unless you consider the insight Coach Martinez shared with the media about Georgia’s first scrimmage deep:

Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez said Georgia’s first scrimmage of the year on Saturday was a “tale of two halves.”

“Both sides were sluggish, that’s a pretty good way of looking at it,” Martinez said after the Bulldogs’ 21/2-hour scrimmage at the Woodruff Practice Fields. “There was some good, there was some bad on both sides of the ball.”

Martinez said the defense “showed a lot of energy, a lot of fight, early on in the scrimmage and as it finished, I thought it fizzled.”

I didn’t think so. Still, there are a few nuggets to be gleaned from the muck if you sniff around and do a little digging.

• Richt is talking up Walter Hill at WR, but downplaying Aron White at TE.
• Israel Troupe mentions that “Bean” Anderson is running with the first team OL.
• Knowshon Moreno is getting a look at punt returner.
• Kade Weston continues to be a big dude.
• And you might enjoy reading mcdawg’s post (second in this thread) at the Online Athens Forum for some more info on spring practice.

Odd stat watch

Did you know in the last season –

• that of the top 30 teams in the country in tackles for loss allowed, only 4 had losing records?
• that the service academies were three of the top eight schools in the country in fewest penalties?
• that Georgia did not have a single player in the top 100 nationally in passes defended, solo tackles or total tackles?
• that the national leader in passing yards per completion was Navy?
• that opponents only converted two of fifteen fourth down conversion attempts against Mississippi State?
• that Stafford to Massaquoi for 84 yards against Florida was the longest pass play in the SEC (or that the Gators also gave up the third longest pass play in the conference)?

Now, do any of those items mean anything?  Consider and discuss.