The Texas A&M football Spring Game is in the books, so we decided to hit the film room and break down how each of the potential starting quarterback candidates fared.
For the fifth time in six seasons under head coach Kevin Sumlin, the Texas A&M football team finds themselves in the midst of a quarterback battle heading into fall camp. This years candidates include a young playmaker in the highly recruited Kellen Mond, a gunslinger with an NFL caliber arm in Nick Starkel, and a savvy veteran with a strong football pedigree in Jake Hubenak.
The initial hope was that one of the three would separate themselves and win the job outright in the Spring, however this past Saturday proved that the battle is far from over. Lets hit the film room and take a look at how each of the Aggies signal callers played over the weekend.
Nick Starkel
Starkel began the game firing on all cylinders, going 3-for-3 for 58 yards and a touchdown to cap off a statement making drive.
Here we see the redshirt freshmen show off his arm strength with a quick release to the flat. Starkel placed the ball out in front of his tight end, giving him a chance to get up field after making the catch.
Starkel’s Opening Drive
Here’s one of the best throws of Starkel’s young Aggie career. There are multiple things that should stand out on this play. First of all, he reads the defense rolling to zone coverage before the ball is snapped. What this means is he knows he should have a huge mismatch with his 6’5 receiver Kalvin Cline being matched up one on one with a smaller defender on the outside.
As the ball is snapped, he uses the play fake to hold the linebackers, and then deceives the safety (in this case an all SEC caliber player in Donovan Wilson) with his eyes, which buys him enough time to loft a pass to his receiver just over the head of the undersized defender.
Back-Shoulder Touchdown
Here’s another strike thrown to complete a nearly perfect opening drive. If there’s more of these back-shoulder TD throws to come this season, No. 17 could have some pro scouts drooling in a few years.
Starkel Manipulates Coverage with His Eyes
This would have been another strong throw if not for the receiver’s drop (a sentence that was repeated way too many times Saturday afternoon). Starkel once again manipulated the defense by moving the secondary with his eyes. By quickly eyeing down his running back in the flat, and then moving to his receiver running a fade on the outside, he forces the linebacker and safety to react towards the targets. This opens up a window for him to deliver a very catchable ball to his tight end who runs a drag over the middle of the field.
Starkel Makes a Bad Decision
The QB’s hot start would slowly cool down throughout the day however as he struggled with the pass rush and missed some opportunities downfield later in the game.
On this play the young quarterback throw off of his back foot and force the ball into triple coverage.
Starkel Makes Another Bad Decision
He followed this up on the ensuing drive with yet another highly questionable throw which was forced downfield. With a safety over the top and the corner playing man defense, the only place that ball can be thrown is high and outside on the receivers back shoulder, between him and the sideline. Starkel instead under throws the deep ball, placing it inside which allows the defender to make a play on the ball. It’s those type of throws that will not only kill a teams momentum, but also cost you ball games.
Starkel has Happy Feet
This might have been the most alarming part of the 20 year old’s performance Saturday afternoon. Any time the defense brought pressure he panicked and abandoned his mechanics. Instead of stepping up into the pocket or evading the pressure to buy his line some time to recover, he drifted further back. Then he would either throw into coverage off of his back foot, or be forced to get rid of the ball.
In a conference that is stacked with guys who can rush the passer, Starkel will have to find a way to stand strong in the pocket and deliver the ball downfield if he wants to see some meaningful snaps this fall.