What's everyone opinion on Tony Pike

[Alo]

@riffer-x said:

Pike's a perfect developmental guy for the third round, I really like him. The guy throws better going to his left than just about anybody I've seen, and I watched a ton of UC games this year. He also has a very nice touch on seam routes getting the ball over the linebackers' heads and throws a decent deep ball. Comparisons to DA are in body shape only, as Pike needs some time to grow and get stronger. He can definitely throw the ball, which would be a start for this team.

Agreed about his physical tools making him an intriguing developmental option. However, I'm not sure he's got the mental toughness & composure of a starting QB.

Much has been made of how he almost quit football in high school because he didn't like getting hit. Also, he didn't go away for college - he lives in a small apartment above his parent's place - and doesn't exude leadership on or off the field. His body language in the Florida game was pretty awful; Mardy Gilyard was the one who roamed the sideline trying to fire up the guys.

As much as people like to denigrate talk about the "it factor", I don't think it's crazy to question whether Pike's got "it". But of the developmental QB options, he may be the most promising.

[samoth]

He's DA with brains and better accuracy.

[trodgers]

I think he's an interesting prospect. He posted monstrous numbers this year. Still, if it was a knock on Quinn that he played the service academies, what are we to make of a guy who played against Rutgers, Southeast Missouri State, Fresno State, Miami (OH), Louisville, Syracuse, UConn, West Virginia, Illinois? Cincy's schedule was 53rd most difficult, according to Sagarin's ranking (can't find ND's from Quinn's senior year, but ND's was 31st this year).

So if we think he's a nice prospect, but he has played against questionable talent, and we don't have a vet on the roster to tutor him, I'd pass on him in the third round. Probably wouldn't take him before the 4th or 5th round. We have too many holes that can be filled by a player picked up in the third or fourth round...guys who could step right in and play.

[MudratDetector]

my buddy from cincinnati thinks that pike would not be a good prospect because he is injury prone.

[mopaji]

Metcalf_FTW said:

In all seriousness, I would rather have D.A. or Brady Quinn before any QB in this year's draft class -- and I hope Mr. Holmgren feels the same way.

I would tend to agree with you on this except if it happens in the 3rd round or later, I'm okay with that.

[hoorta]

@samoth said:

He's DA with brains and better accuracy.

The scary thing is is sort of looks like DA.

Actually, I've seen a fair amount of UC games, and other than the injury history- a couple of major mess ups to his non throwing wrist, I really like the prospect of picking him up with one of our extra third round picks- if he's still there.

[hoorta]

@trodgers said:

I think he's an interesting prospect. He posted monstrous numbers this year. Still, if it was a knock on Quinn that he played the service academies, what are we to make of a guy who played against Rutgers, Southeast Missouri State, Fresno State, Miami (OH), Louisville, Syracuse, UConn, West Virginia, Illinois? Cincy's schedule was 53rd most difficult, according to Sagarin's ranking (can't find ND's from Quinn's senior year, but ND's was 31st this year).

So if we think he's a nice prospect, but he has played against questionable talent, and we don't have a vet on the roster to tutor him, I'd pass on him in the third round. Probably wouldn't take him before the 4th or 5th round. We have too many holes that can be filled by a player picked up in the third or fourth round...guys who could step right in and play.

Hmmmm... who did Joe Flacco play against? Take a gander at this row of cream puffs!

Delaware Football Schedule

[trodgers]

You can't pretend that in general playing against weaker competition is going to better prepare you for playing at the NFL better than playing against better competition. So you don't exactly advance an argument by saying that one QB played against poor competition, but has put up decent numbers in the NFL.

At the same time, Joe Flacco plays on a team with a top three defense the past two seasons. That means less pressure on the O. Plus, until the last four games of the season, Flacco had 14 TDs vs. 11 INTs (very pedestrian numbers). He really was not playing all that well. He had an 8-game stretch where he threw 6 TDs, 8 INTs, and his team lost 5 of those. So, Flacco's hardly a good comparison. We're a very different team from Baltimore.

One more thing: Flacco played against 5 ranked teams that year. That's no creampuff schedule. It's not like his team vastly outclassed the opposition in terms of talent.

[Kosar_For_President]

@hoorta said:

Hmmmm... who did Joe Flacco play against? Take a gander at this row of cream puffs!

Delaware Football Schedule

Blasphemy. Towson is vying for the national title every year.

[hoorta]

@trodgers said:

You can't pretend that in general playing against weaker competition is going to better prepare you for playing at the NFL better than playing against better competition. So you don't exactly advance an argument by saying that one QB played against poor competition, but has put up decent numbers in the NFL.

At the same time, Joe Flacco plays on a team with a top three defense the past two seasons. That means less pressure on the O. Plus, until the last four games of the season, Flacco had 14 TDs vs. 11 INTs (very pedestrian numbers). He really was not playing all that well. He had an 8-game stretch where he threw 6 TDs, 8 INTs, and his team lost 5 of those. So, Flacco's hardly a good comparison. We're a very different team from Baltimore.

One more thing: Flacco played against 5 ranked teams that year. That's no creampuff schedule. It's not like his team vastly outclassed the opposition in terms of talent.

OK, maybe Flacco is the exception to the rule- he played a couple of good teams that year, but that wasn't exactly a Big 10 schedule.

[trodgers]

^ I think a weak schedule matters, obviously. It does give reason to wonder about what the guy would have done against better competition and to wonder how well prepared he is. I've said that Pike did well, and I think he's an interesting pro prospect/project, but I think we're not going to improve the QB spot in the draft. Third round? We could still pick up a starter on D.

[Alo]

As far as the schedule, I think you have to focus on individual matchups. For instance, USF, Pitt, and Florida were the three good pass rush teams on UC's schedule.

Against USF, Pike looked flustered early on, then seemed to be getting it together just before he got hurt. In the Pitt game, he started out strong, but his receivers dropped some perfect throws before he started forcing some dumbs. Ultimately, he finished very strong in that game but couldn't do much at all against Florida.

So I think there still are a lot of questions about Pike's composure while facing a steady rush. Fortunately for him, he has surprising mobility for a guy that tall, and his ability to see over the line will help him a lot at the next level.

One thing I like about Pike is that he's an excellent red zone QB: his numbers there are off the charts good. To his credit, Sam Bradford's also an excellent red zone guy. Jimmy Clausen's stats are a little more mixed; he hasn't thrown many picks, but his completion percentage is below 50%.

[trodgers]

^ Good post. Regarding Clausen, ND's playcalling in the red zone was always questionable, and they had no rushing option, so they were either one-dimensional or full of trickery. That doesn't excuse a bad completion %, but it may well explain it.