Coach needs to stop making his QBs think their life depends on not throwing INTs

I have seen the same trends and reached the same conclusion this weekend. 

I thought the coaches broke Travis Wilson. I was never sure how, but some games he looked so frazzled and out of his element. I thought TW was actually pretty good at throwing the deep ball. If you watched him warm-up, he drops deep throws in with ease. During the game however, it’s like deep throws were never even attempted, even when our receivers were getting their shoulder pads past the defender. 

Hard to know what’s going on since we’re not in practice. But we do know Whitt is overly conservative in his style. 

I would contend that being a defensive minded team with a conservative offense means that each turnover we lose is far more magnified than with a team that scores a lot of points. 

I just think Whitt has no idea of what you need at the QB spot. He wants Lamar Jackson but doesn’t even get close to that with Huntley or Wilson who run so heavy.  Shelley, Covey are close to a Jackson type player. Huntley isn’t a dynamic runner. He is a good runner and makes plays occasionally but it isn’t WOWing me. 

I have kind of equated our issues to a negative thinking loop that’s just plagued the U for a few years now. I don’t know what the phenomena is actually called, but its basically a bad repetition principle/trance where guys are in their own heads going “no drops, no drops, no drops” and then they drop a catch.  This is especially damning if you’re punishing drops in practice or games.

Like OP i think the QB’s are getting the same thing with picks, he’s back there having had weeks/months against our secondary (which is supposed to be very good – combined with Huntleys downfield accuracy) not making precise throws to open guys and then getting negative feedback from the coaches for throwing to that person. Well, then in the games, we don’t make those open throws because he has literally been conditioned not to.

QB development is definitely trending backward over the last few QBs in the system. And, yes, I think you are probably hitting it dead on that it is a result of Whit’s fear of turnovers. There are open receivers; we do not need to throw these “low risk” back shoulder throws, jump balls, WR screens, or TE rollouts each time. I believe Taylor is a great QB coach (based on resume and experience), but it is not manifesting itself. Based on past results at the U, it is hard to conclude that the reason is anything other than Whit’s mindset regarding turnovers and throw games.

My sense is that, despite what Whit says, the offensive coordinators are not allowed to really run the offense they want, and are hamstrung by Whit’s fear of turnovers. Thus, no matter who the OC is, the offense and throw game continue to look the same.