Author Archives: Jeff

2013 Big XII Quarterback Rankings

By: Jeff Seiler

The Big XII has been a hot bed of quality starting quarterbacks for years now. The open, high-powered offenses have led to prolific quarterback play, All-Americans, Heisman winners, and first-round draft picks. Kliff Kingsbury, BJ Symons, Graham Harrell, Sam Bradford, and Landry Jones have all won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, awarded to the nation’s best passer. Michael Bishop, Eric Crouch, Jason White (twice), Vince Young, Bradford, Colt McCoy, and Robert Griffin III have all won the Davey O’Brien award as a top Quarterback. Crouch, White, Bradford, and Griffin also all won the Heisman. Finally, Young, Josh Freeman, Bradford, Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Tannehill, and Brandon Weeden were all first-round draft picks in the last 10 years. This year’s draft should see Geno Smith, Collin Klein, and Landry Jones all drafted high. Quarterbacks have ruled this league and led their respective teams to BCS games and National Championships.

But 2013 could be a different year for the Big XII starting quarterbacks. Many quarterbacks are beginning the season as their first time starting, and the experienced guys aren’t exactly a who’s who list of big time names. Texas Tech’s Seth Doege, Baylor’s Nick Florence, Iowa State’s Steele Jantz, and Kansas’ Dayne Crist join Landry, Klein, and Smith as alumni of their respective school’s now. Texas QB David Ash is the most experienced starter and he’s split time the last two years with Case McCoy. Oklahoma State ran a three quarterback rotation much of last year and TCU will have to decide between recovering QB Casey Paschall and last’s year’s starter Trevone Boykin. Paschall should be back as a member of the football program after entering drug rehab this fall.

Here is how I would rank Big XII quarterback’s based on how I think they will perform in 2013:

  1. Oklahoma State: Wes Lunt/JW Walsh/Clint Shelf – All have experience, each having thrown for more than 1,000 yards and starting three or more games in 2012. Mike Gundy’s offense suggests that it doesn’t matter who is back there, they are going to pile up big stats. Shelf has the most experience, Walsh is higher rated, and Lunt was named the starter going into last season. Look for Lunt to reclaim the position, but be on a short leash.
  2. Oklahoma: Blake Bell – The 6’5” 250lb junior-to-be saw lots of action last season, although it was in the role of “Belldozer,” ala Tim Tebow circa 2006. He’ll take over the reins and try to duplicate Tebow’s starting success. Bell has 24 rushing touchdowns in two seasons, but in 2013 we’ll see if he throw the ball, too. He was listed as one of the top pro style QB’s coming out of high school.
  3. Baylor: Bryce Petty – Petty saw spot duty under Florence last year. Coach Art Briles is betting on Petty to break records just like his predecessors, Griffin III and Florence.
  4. TCU: Casey Paschall/Trevone Boykin – This will be one of the big storylines to watch this summer. Both players have experience and success. Look for Paschall to complete his comeback and lead this team to a possible conference championship.
  5. Texas Tech: Michael Brewer – Brewer came out of Austin Lake Travis HS where he posted big numbers and beat Johnny Manziel twice. He has similar style, rankings, and stats as Manziel did. He not only has the Tech pedigree passing arm, but also adds the dimension of being able to take off and run with it.
  6. Texas: David Ash – Mack Brown has stated that he is the clear-cut starter, stop me if you’ve heard that one before. He was hit and miss in 2012, but a strong showing in the bowl game could help relieve tension in Austin.
  7. Kansas: Jake Heaps – Highly recruited player, sat out last season after transferring from BYU where he started for a season and a half.
  8. West Virginia: Paul Milliard – The junior out of Dallas should be the starter opening weekend. He’s seen spot duty behind the aforementioned Geno Smith the past two seasons.
  9. Iowa State: Sam Richardson – Jared Barnett is transferring, which opens the way for Richardson, who started the last three games of 2012.
  10. Kansas State: Daniel Sams – An athletic QB who sat behind Heisman finalist Klein last year, completing six passes, but should provide the athleticism we’ve seen from KState QBs in the past.

NFL Offseason Analysis: Dallas Cowboys

By Jeff Seiler

Webster’s Dictionary – Mediocre: of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance; ordinary, so-so

I’m a suffering Cowboys fan. It’s been an entirely too long era of mediocrity. They are the very definition of average. Two straight 8-8 seasons, 128-128 in their last 16 seasons. In that time, the Boys have gone 1-6 in the playoffs, and also had 6 losing seasons.

It’s obvious that this team needs help. It’s in continual disarray and gets far too much pub for its performance on the field. Let’s look at a position by position outlook of this team.

“Jerrah”:

Love him or Loathe him, Jerry Jones is the Owner and General Manager. He’s paid enough money to earn that right, like it or not. He will always be in that position and he’s not firing himself. That’s just the reality of it. He’s a redneck Al Davis. Let’s move on from this subject because it really doesn’t warrant debating.

Salary Cap:

The Cowboys are roughly $20 million over the salary cap as it stands. They have to get down to an estimated $121 million by March 12th. Cut candidates include WR Miles Austin, OT Doug Free, FB Lawrence Vickers, DT Jay Ratliff, LB Dan Conner, and S Gerald Sensabaugh. Players whose contracts need to get restructured are QB Tony Romo, TE Jason Witten, and CB Brandon Carr.

Holes:

There is a long list of needs the Cowboys have for both 2013 and beyond. On offense they include: backup quarterback, backup running back, possible fullback, slot receiver (for some reason these all seem to be white), backup tight end, and 2-3 offensive linemen. On defense the Cowboys are switching from the 3-4 defense back to a 4-3 under Monte Kiffin and employing the Tampa 2 defense. You can look at defensive line, linebacker, and safety as areas of need. Luckily, like the offense, it could be mostly backups and depth, something the Cowboys severing lacked in 2012.

Quarterback:

This could be a blog post on its own, the saga of Tony Romo and the future of the QB position of the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo will be back next year at a friendlier cap hit. I’m not a Romo-sexual but there’s not a better option right now. I do believe that this is the year, with Romo 32 years old, that you have to draft a QB in hopes of developing him. If I am Jerry Jones I take a mid round flyer on EJ Manuel or Zac Dysert in the draft.

Running Back:

I don’t really see this as a need for 2013 even though the Cowboys rushed for their fewest yards in a season in team history. I like what a healthy Demarco Murray, Phillip Tanner, and Lance Dunbar bring to the table. Felix Jones is more than likely gone as an unrestricted free agent.

Wide Receiver:

Dez Bryant, for all the trouble he has off the field, had a very productive 2012 football season with 92 receptions, almost 1,400 yards and 12 TDs. And thus far this off season, we haven’t heard from him. Miles Austin’s productivity really took a hit last year but still almost hit 1,000 yards and should be back with a restructured deal. I’d love for the Cowboys to follow the Wayne Crebret, Wes Welker, Danny Amendola footsteps and find a slot receiver (again, why are they all white?) to take some pressure off Bryant and Jason Witten.

Tight End:

Witten is every bit as good as he was 5 years ago and his backups fit that role perfectly, let’s move on.

Offensive Line:

This is the sore spot of the Cowboys. Injuries and poor performance have plagued this team for years now and is the reason the running game was so bad and you always see Romo running for his life. I’d devote a first round pick and two additional picks just to this position, while also signing a free agent here.

Defensive Line:

The Cowboys actually set up pretty well for a move to the 4-3 defense. Ware just takes a hand down to move to defensive end and Ratliff and Lissemore line up inside at the tackle spots. The other end spot won’t go to Spencer as he will command more money in free agency than the Cowboys could give him. Victor Butler, Tyrone Crawford, and Jason Hatcher will all battle for playing time.

Linebacker:

Sean Lee and Bruce Carter will return from injuries to form a very solid linebacking core, where the Cowboys could use a second or third round pick on an outside linebacker for the 4-3.

Secondary:

Carr and Claiborne lead the corners with Scandrick coming back. Mike Jenkins is an unrestricted free agent and wants a starting job. I don’t see Sensabaugh back, so Church and McCray could be the leading candidates for starting jobs.

Outlook:

I see the Cowboys as a very similar team to that we’ve seen the last few years, horribly inconsistent. This team has a lot of talent at its starting positions, outside of offensive line. The main problem is depth. When a player comes out, or worse, gets injured, the backups aren’t in a position to succeed. Brian Schaffering, Alex Albright, Rob Callaway, Kyle Wilbur, Brady Poppinga, Michael Coe, Sterling Moore, Charlie Peprah and Eric Frampton. These are all names of guys who played way too much for the Cowboys last year and that’s just for the defense. Sadly, none were on the roster when the season began.

It’s going to be a tough season for the Boys. They won’t be players in free agency because they have too much money tied up in other contracts. I see them lucky to get back to 8-8 in 2013 and a playoff spot too far away.

By Jeff Seiler