Here’s a deep dive into what Jamie Newman brings to the table after his last season at Wake Forest. The author does a good job outlining Newman’s strengths and weaknesses — there are both on display in the post — and summarizes as follows:
Newman is a strong armed passer who is a perfect fit for Todd Monken’s Air Raid offensive philosophy, and he’ll likely put up prolific passing numbers. If you’re optimistic in how Monken will utilize Newman’s athleticism, and equally optimistic that Newman can adapt to playing against more talented defenses week-over-week, Newman’s preseason Heisman odds are justified, and he will put himself in Heisman contention early and has an outside shot at following in the footsteps of Mayfield, Murray, and Burrow as transfer QBs turned Heisman winners.
The Monken factor is one thing we don’t know about, obviously, first, in terms of how he intends to use Newman in the offense…
What’s unclear is how Monken intends to use Newton’s athleticism. Historically, Monken has not used quarterback runs as any significant element of his offense. Only J.W. Walsh, who Monken coached as Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator in 2012, had any meaningful rushing contribution from the QB position under Monken, accumulating 290 yards and 7 touchdowns that year. The next best rushing performance by a QB under Monken was Jameis Winston’s 281 yards and one touchdown in 2018. Overall, neither stat line compare to what we’ve seen from athletic quarterbacks at the collegiate level, and would be disappointing numbers for an athlete of Newman’s pedigree.
The silver lining is that Monken is at least saying the right things since arriving in Athens, stating that he’s more focused on adapting to his players rather than dogmatic application of a specific style. Newman’s athleticism supports his usage in designed QB runs and read option packages. While Monken does not have a history of using designed QB runs in his offense, if he really intends to adapt to his players, that will require such runs becoming an offensive staple.
… and second, in terms of how, as Newman’s position coach, he can direct Newman to shed some of the bad habits he showed last year at Wake.
Read the whole thing for more.
Get The Picture 
I think Monken will be better than Coley (results – I already know he is a better coach). I hope Newman’s strengths outweigh his potential weaknesses.
It’s a good write up but for all that “Vegas” knows, I would point out that Adrian Martinez (QB for Nebraska) had the 3rd best Heisman odds in March 2019.
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I’m optimistic about Monken, but mainly because Coley set the bar so low. I mean, as long as Monken doesn’t get shut out of the end zone for all but 1-2 plays against top 25 teams, we’ve improved over Coley.
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This is a bridge too far however, “While Monken does not have a history of using designed QB runs in his offense, if he really intends to adapt to his players, that will require such runs becoming an offensive staple.”
No chance that becomes a “staple” if not just for the reason many coaches pass at all, “It gets the ball farther down the field quicker than running it!”
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Well, I don’t know about staple, but it needs to be enough of a factor that Monken can sell it to defensive coordinators for read option and RPO purposes.
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It’s at least got to be more than a “gotcha” play we run 5 times a season. He has to run… a called run… about 5+ times per game. If it’s another year of “oh look it’s another read option that even the international student who doesn’t speak English and is at his first football game ever knows is 100% definitely not staying with the QB” then I swear to god I’ll hurt someone. Waste of talent.
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There is also the injury factor. Kirby has an aversion to QB runs because he doesn’t want his starter out for the season. Newman may run some but it will be just enough where the D will have to account for it and open up other opportunities in the passing game.
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I think just the threat of Newman’s legs will be a bigger factor than people realize. When Fields was in the game, opposing defenses had to use more resources to defend him, and that created more lanes for our RBs. That, plus a legit deep ball threat is going to force defenses to make difficult compromises that any decent play caller should be able to exploit.
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We won’t see a dual threat running QB at UGA, but I do think Newman will keep it and burn the defense 5 times a game. That’s just enough to make the opposing DC respect it and shift responsibilities.
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Agreed. It MUST be seen as a legitimate threat that he keeps it every single time we’re in shotgun and he starts to put the ball in the RB’s hands. The value of that far outweighs the risk of him getting injured. The numbers advantage is RIGHT THERE. Let’s take advantage. It doesn’t require 10+ carries/game, but it does require 5 or so, along with some scrambling on busted pass plays.
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What is thing thing “air raid offense” you speak of in Stanford Stadium? Could it be possible that RBU could turn into WRU? I get it with Pickens and hopefully Dom put on some added weight to deal with the rigors of the beating in SEC play. He still needs to get confidence back in cutting on that knee. It’s different than a RB cause at WR you don’t see the hits coming. Who will be the 3rd. and 4th. man Robinson? Freshman that’s at lot to ask in a already short season.
All I ask that everybody be on the same page and not knocking each other down before the DB’s even make contact.
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It is Georgia’s time. We have the Coaches (with experience) and this year we have the great athlete playing QB. Fromm was a great college QB, one of the smartest men I have every had the privilege to watch, but he was not a great athlete There are maybe three great athletes playing for big league teams this year. Usually there are more than three. This helps Newman, (less competitions). Georgia has a D that will give Newman great chances. So when you have great players and the luck of the draw, Vegas will jump on the band wagon.
Man I hope and pray I am right…..
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notice Newman’s ability to hit receivers in stride and/or place the ball in positions advantageous to the receiver, even at depths of twenty plus yards. Such throws were infrequent in Georgia’s offense in 2019. Coley.
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