Barnes leading the QB2 battle

[Ghost of the HEB]

Barnes is a serviceable QB, but I don’t love our chances against the likes of UF and Baylor with him at the helm. #PrayForCam’sKnee

Whittingham on why Bryson Barnes is back in the fold for the battle at QB2 after essentially pushing him to the side in spring: pic.twitter.com/mHzAmwX6Cb
— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) August 8, 2023

[Itacoatiara22]

Yuck. He’s not a D1 quarterback. It was miserable watching him against against Pedo State.

[Tednab]

We’ll .. I guess that’s telling … hope Rising last the season

[Yergensen]

Old habits die hard. This sounds like 2013 Whit more than 2023 Whit.

[Central Coast Ute]

Great. I guess that means they’ll be bringing in another portal QB next season…

[EagleMountainUte]

Well…this is interesting.

[Charlie Foxtrot]

Barns couldn’t move the chains against Penn State and our offense collapsed. If you aren’t going to give the talent in you QB room a chance to develop then how do you ever expect them to get better?

[EagleMountainUte]

Practice. We talking bout practice.

“Bright future”. It isn’t bright here but someplace else sure. Bright as hell.

Why the hell can’t these recruited qb’s beat out the pig farmer?

I better just shut up because this just really makes me spin and act emotional.

[GunthersRevenge]

If they roll out Barnes against Florida I’m going to lose it. He proved against Penn St that he can’t compete against high level competition at a consistent level. I like the guy as a 4th string emergency qb, but definitely not the backup. I get Rose and Johnson are young, but they should be good enough to beat out Barnes. Hopefully Rose and Johnson both show well the next couple weeks and this is a non issue. Or even better, Cam is ready to go.

[alexsmith]

Here me out… what if Whit is just throwing this out there to keep Florida on their toes and keep people happy in the locker room?

[EagleMountainUte]

I would agree with you in 2022.
It is 2023 and we know what we know. This schedule is unforgiving for 2023.

[chinngiskhaan]

Well, I guess that means Rising may very well not play against Florida, and Rose/Johnson are not ready to play.

One of these days we’ll recruit a QB out of high school that doesn’t stink. One of these days.

[D T]

No way is BB a serious play for QB2….We’ve recruited well at the position with guys that have a much higher ceiling.

[RedMenace]

[Roy Rangum]

I love Bryson Barnes for what he is. He’s a hard working, gritty dude, who is giving this team his all, and I appreciate it.

However, what Bryson Barnes is not, is a division 1 starting QB that will lead the Utes to victory. And I think it’s time a lot of people on this board recognize that if Barnes is in the running for QB2, it’s not Whittingham that is the issue, it’s Rose and Johnson. By all accounts they sound like athletes that should be contenders, and they both have been given a lot of time to develop. But therein lies the problem: it sounds like they aren’t developing. There is nothing anywhere to suggest either of these guys are ready to step in. The third person to blame for this would be our QB coach, but therein lies the other problem, we currently don’t have a dedicated QB coach…

Rising is the man, but if he isn’t recovered or gets injured again, this could be a very long year if we don’t have a serviceable QB.

[2008 National Champ]

Ludwig is the QB coach and lead recruiter for the position, just like Scalley is for the safeties.

[UteFanatic]

This is very concerning. If Barnes is beating out Johnson and Rose who’ve both been in the program for a few years now, then our QB position is in dire straits. I don’t get it. We’ve been recruiting damn well at this position and we know Ludwig can develop and coach QBs. Last two starters, Huntley and Rising have both been fantastic.

[D T]

Both those dudes have been All-PAC-12.

I refuse to believe we’re trotting BB out there against UF/BU.

[Roy Rangum]

I believe in Ludwig, but I worry he may not have the bandwidth to adequately address being both the offensive coordinator and the QB coach. And while Ludwig has had plenty of QB coaching stints in his history, it’s a position he never played either.

I think we need to let Ludwig just be the coordinator, and get ourselves a dedicated legitimate QB coach.

[AlohaUte]

Well, that doesn’t bode well for our back QB situation.

[RustyShackleford]

Back in the fold doesn’t mean leading the battle to me. Is there another quote I missed? I take this as he is back in the discussion for QB2

[EagleMountainUte]

Click the X link and actually read what Whitt said.

[ProudUte]

I do not like this at all. I think we have seen what Barnes can do and it’s not enough IMO. I am frustrated that we cannot develop an incoming freshman QB. We have only had one QB in the last decade who came in here as a freshman who became a regular starter – Huntley. We have had a bunch of guys bail on the program.

I think what we read in Whitt’s comments is very telling. “Barnes makes less mistakes ..” WHit hates turning the ball over. He will always go with the guy who protects the ball. He does not like taking risks. In the end we may end up going with Barnes, not because he is better but because he won’t make as many mistakes.

I say the future lies with Rose or Johnson. Give one of them a chance to show what he can do on the field. He will make mistakes. Do you remember the first time Alex Smith played at SDSU? He threw Pick-6 in his first series. But, what did he become?

[EagleMountainUte]

Show me the proof Barnes makes less mistakes. Did Whitt also just miss the entire Rose Bowl??

[ProudUte]

I agree with you. But, I think it is all about what they are seeing in camp. Which guy can read the defense better? Who gets confused with the defensive alignment and makes the wrong read?

I suspect that Rose and Johnson have made some big mistakes. I say that’s how they will learn. Give the ball to one of these guys and let him learn. He will make some mistakes, everyone does. But, how else will he learn. Barnes is a great story, but I think we have seen his peak. But, coach Whitt doesn’t care what I think. ;(

[EagleMountainUte]

Single read QB’s probably do great in practice.
Game time when Barnes doesn’t have the benefit of stoppage or knowing the installed play.
I think the other thing making my head spin is this means Barnes is getting more reps. I would imagine they are starting to scheme and install the offense for Florida at this point. I have always felt Rising wouldn’t be available.

[Charlie]

Or Whitt is trying to heighten the competition. Then given recent QB turnover history I can understand angst about it all.

[thirtyfour-thirtyone]

Two things:

1) This the most Utah thing to do. It brings back memories of TD Croshaw and Lance Rice, and that is obviously not good.

2) I really don’t think judging any quarterback on their performance while being thrown into a game as the backup is fair. From Whit’s comments, it sounds like there are some turnover/consistency issues with Rose and Johnson, and Barnes is playing better. I don’t get the hating on Barnes for stepping up and taking the QB 2 job. Maybe he has made some progress (he probably worked at least as hard as the other two in the off-season), and he certainly wasn’t the only thing (or even the biggest thing) that prevented Utah from winning the Rose Bowl this last year.

If we start a non Rising QB against Florida, I’m going to withhold judgement until I see how things go against Florida.

[Yergensen]

Ahh the old Barnes was thrown into the game without preparation and shouldn’t be evaluated on that. Go watch last year’s Wazzu game, which despite Whit’s shenanigans, Barnes was prepped for and then proceeded to win fugly circa Utah 2010’s.

How much more evidence do we need to conclude this and past Whit coaching staffs struggle to evaluate and develop QB combined with they’re not comfortable with the growing pains?

They’ve had 2 years to get heir apparent ready. Assuming Whit is serious about Barnes at QB2, keep in mind that Cam almost moved on. You’re telling me that we could have rolled with QB1 Barnes against this schedule had that happened? This isn’t Barnes’ fault and it isn’t Rose or Johnson’s either. We’ve seen this too many times now to think it’s on the players.

[EagleMountainUte]

Don’t use logic when it comes to this issue because we all remember fondly that almost amazing comeback against Ohio St. It is a good memory. I have some good memories of Jon Hays most of it was hand offs to Wolfman with Asiata as the smash blocker.
The reality is apparent though when you have anything above average lining up against Hays and Barnes.

[Author]

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