SB Nation - Anthony Morelli

Jay Paterno And The Development Of Penn State Quarterbacks

Kevin HD — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:28:42 -0000

JayPa got himself a little press last week for leaking, on something I've been uncreatively referring to as "JayTweet", some of the Penn State kickoff times as well as a comment about November Big Ten night games.

Anyway, you say JayPa they say development, isn't that how the cheer goes?

So another primetime showdown between the Lions and Ohio State on Nov. 7 remains ... off the table? If JayPa reports news as well as he develops quarterbacks, we're going to say, "no."

While there is a lot of fair criticism of the Penn State offense over the past 5-10 years, I don't quite understand why this "JayPa makes quarterbacks worse" thing gets passed around with such a large amount of assumed truth. I'm not here to claim he is a football genius or anything, but when you take a second to look at what he's done...

The first major JayPa project we'll look at is Zack Mills, and if you want to describe his career in one word it would probably be "hurt". Or maybe "shoulderless". I think "competitor" is a close second, I mean the guy never gave up, but he also almost never played healthy and took more brutal option hits than even a full sized running back ought to.

More on Mills and the rest of the quarterbacks after the jump...

We could look into the numbers here but anyone who watched the bear fight that was these four years will probably agree there was simply too much else going on to blame the lack of offensive production on a quarterbacks coach (mainly injuries, injuries and lack of talent; take your pick, really).

The next "project" was, of course, the development of Michael Robinson. MRob was forced into exclusive QB action during the 2004 season because of, as you know, nagging injuries to Mills. While he had just 34 attempts that season, his lack of practice at the QB position showed:

Year	Total Yards	Yards/Att	Ints/Att	Rating
2004	170	4.36	.128	55.33

In a word: awful. But that wasn't his position, he practiced all spring, summer and fall at WR and RB, not QB.

So when Mills graduated and we were looking at starting three freshman wide receivers, most fans simply assumed highly recruited Anthony Morelli would take over the reigns and Robinson would line up as the only experienced receiver.

I had little faith, of course, and can still clearly remember a strong negative reaction after reading this quote in the paper, given right after the bowl-less but upbeat ending to the 2004 season:

His part-time position coach, quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, also said M-Rob at quarterback is the plan for the 2005 season. Then, he hedged on that a little.

"I'm selfish, I want his ass back at quarterback next year. Which it will be," he said. "Well, I shouldn't say. I don't want to speak for Joe [Paterno]. You can just say that I don't want to speak for Joe. But that's been the plan. He only started practicing exclusively at wide out for the last week-and-a-half or so."

It seemed foolish at the time. He wasn't a very good quarterback, but did well when he got the ball other ways. Morelli had a strong arm and ~~high school passing records~~ the 1995 NFL Punt, Pass, and Kick Championship trophy, so why leave him on the bench? Anyway, JayPa knew something I didn't and the results were, as you might remember, impressive:

Year	Total Yards	Yards/Att	Ints/Att	Rating
2005	2350	7.56	.032	127.17

So, yeah, he developed to the tune of more than doubling his yards/att (ranking 39th in the nation) and raising his rating 230%. Keep in mind he did this with three freshman running most of the routes. Credit who you want, but there is nothing in those cards that indicate Jay Paterno can't teach the quarterback position; in fact it suggests just the opposite.

Now the painful part: Anthony Morelli. A highly sought after five star quarterback, he came to Penn State with the hope of following in the tradition of some of the great QBs who have also come out of Western Pennsylvania.

After MRob left the team with a BCS bowl win and ranked #3 in the nation, Morelli had supposedly made great strides on the practice field and was ready to lead the team to a repeat Big Ten championship.

I'm not going to revisit these two awful years of What Could Have Been, but I will share some observations and quotes that I think tell the story.

The rumor on Morelli, one we heard during his recruitment right up through the end of his career, was that "he couldn't read defenses". The problem was much bigger than that, though. Despite two full years of starting under center, Morelli never seemed to be able to check down his receivers. He often would gun the ball into triple coverage for no reason at all. Any rush past the line of scrimmage that didn't end out of bounds ended with a fumble. For an offense that relied heavily on the screen and bubble pass, he had zero touch on the short pass and would often through quick slants about 40 mph too fast.

These things never seemed to go away, and I think this is where the JayPa can't develop quarterbacks thing started.

Morelli graduated and, while prepping for the NFL draft, was tagged with this tidbit from former pro scout Tom Marino:

He has all the tools you look for in a QB; an athletic body, very strong throwing arm and far better movement then I had expected, but is acutely under coached and unprepared for the job of being a professional QB.

And...ouch. The phrase "acutely under coached" is about as broad a shot as you will hear a scout take. After four years working with the kid, despite having what the scout certifies as "all the tools", he doesn't know how to be a quarterback.

Well guess what, he went to the NFL, was picked up by the Cardinals because of the same promise that Penn State saw in him during high school, and despite being taught by the best in the business, still couldn't pick up the mental tools.

Blame JayPa if you want, but when Morelli was cut before even making it to the regular season I think it fair to assume that if NFL coaches couldn't teach him the skills despite having certifiable tools, Jay Paterno probably gets a bit of a pass on this one.

Let's move on to Daryll Clark. Rated as a fairly average three star quarterback by the services and listed as the 24th best 'dual-threat' QB on Rivals, he wasn't heavily recruited and actually made a visit to Toledo.

Someone, I'm not saying who, saw something other schools didn't:

Quarterback coach Jay Paterno had noticed Clark, from Youngstown, Ohio, while watching video of a tight end. Clark acceded to Joe Paterno's demand that he spend a year in prep school to shore up his academics. His grades had scared away many schools.

"He said to my parents, 'Grades don't show what kind of person he is. We want him to play quarterback,'" Clark said.

Stock Up & Stock Down: Arizona Cardinal Style

cgolden — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:03:39 -0000

The first round of cuts is less than a week away and in ten days the rosters will be trimmed all the way down to the final 53 players. With that in mind here's a look at some of the 'bubble' players and how whether they've helped or hurt they're chances of making the team:

Ali Highsmith: The undrafted rookie has played very well through to this point and he's proving that his forty time at the combine was more of a farce than an inability to play this game. He's got nine tackles through two games and it seems like no matter where the play ends up, he's around the ball. An even better indication that he'll have a chance to stick has been his prowess on special teams. He'll have to continue to impress because of the depth at inside line backer.

Michael Adams: The second year pro has looked much better than last year. Adams is vastly undersized but he makes up for his lack of stature with pure determination. He's been a terror on special teams, especially as a gunner on the punt team. He just missed out a "pick-six" against the Chiefs when he read a route perfectly but let an easy pick bounce off of his hands. He might not ever become a solid backup corner back but right now he's an asset on special teams and his coverage skills have improved.

Joe Tafoya: Tafoya's entering his seventh season and his biggest problem is that he doesn't fit into the new 'hybrid 3-4' defense that Clancy Pendergast is running. That hasn't stopped Tafoya from recording a sack in both preseason games and racking up seven tackles. In the end, he's still likely to get caught in a numbers game at defensive end but he's making a solid case for the team to find room for him somewhere.

J.J. Arrington: Everyone's favorite whipping boy has shown a new drive this year, that frankly I haven't seen from him before. He's not only running with the speed and quickness that he's always had, but he's also showing some new toughness. He hasn't gotten any extensive snaps in the regular offense but when he does have the ball he doesn't seem to be shying away from contact as in years past. He likely still won't live up to his second round draft status but at least through two games, he looks like a guy that can help this team win.

Jerheme Urban: If the regular season started today, Urban would be the number five receiver, if not the number four. He's certainly outperformed the likes of Morey and Rector and if Doucet can't get healthy he might just slip into the number four slot. Urban has kept the momentum going from last season and he's shown the ability to fill in as a kick returner.

Sean Morey: Morey's a 'Whiz guy' and he's made a career out of being a standout on special teams. So far though he's yet to record a single tackle on the coverage units and his two catches for ten yards won't be enough to keep him from getting cut. I'm sure that Whiz will give him every chance to make the squad he really needs to make an impact on special teams in the next two games because he's not much of a receiver.

Jamaica Rector: Rector had a pretty good opening game against the Saints (4 receptions for 34 yards), but he looked completely lost and overwhelmed against the Chiefs. He had a drop and was the cause of confusion when he went in motion before a play causing the team to take a timeout. There was some hope that Rector's speed could become an asset for a Cardinals offense that lacks 'game-changing speed' but so far he hasn't shown any signs of becoming a consistent player.

Anthony Morelli: Morrelli hasn't gotten many snaps so far but when he dropped back to pass against the Saints it was obvious that he didn't have what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. He lacks the ability to feel pressure or the ability to get rid of the ball quickly. He might not get any snaps this week but if he survives the initial cuts, he could see much more playing time in the final preseason game. The best case scenario for him is the practice squad but he needs to play better.

Monty Beisel: Beisel's slide isn't related to his play on the field because he hasn't been able to get on the field yet. He finally returned to practice this week, on a limited basis, and it's not clear whether or not he'll play against the Raiders. He's a solid veteran backup but the competition at inside linebacker is fierce and he'll have to prove that he's healthy before opening day.