Over the Summer I had a discussion with an aspiring NFL draft talent evaluator. His breakdown of Easton Stick was as good as anything that I've seen on our quarterback but I disagreed with a few of the points that he made. The one that I am planning to address the most specifically this season is to pay close attention to the running of our quarterback. As a prospect being able to run can be an asset but being a running quarterback is often detrimental. I can count on one hand the number of running quarterbacks that have succeeded for many years without serious injury in the NFL over the last 20 years. Sure Stick could be the exception but I'm not ready to count on that.
I'm going to go game by game, watching whether the runs that he takes are part of the designed offense or because it's still a basic instinct & primary facet of his game!
Today represented much more of what I think of as Easton Stick's style of play. He made some nice passes and ran effectively, even setting up the fake run that helped opened up space on the other side of the field. It was about as good as it gets from the senior signal caller until midway through the second quarter. With the comfortable lead he scrambled out to his right and took unnecessary hits from two different defenders. Over the remainder of the time that he was in he didn't pull it down again so I imagine that he got an ear full from the coaches. It's an isolated play and is the first of it's kind this season but is exactly the sort of thing that gives me pause about him as a long time starting quarterback in the NFL.