Rutgers Football big picture takeaways entering offseason

David Anderson returns to discuss positives from the bowl win over Miami, adjustments the defense needs to make next season, the QB battle between Athan Kaliakmanis and Gavin Wimsatt plus much more.

Link to The Knight Report’s video of Athan Kaliakmanis’ 2023 season:

Welcome back to the Scarlet faithful podcast I’m Aaron breitman and happy to welcome back first podcast episode of 2024 with David Anderson back to talk about some big picture takeaways from the bull win over Miami uh huge for ruers of course and a lot of the roster

Coming back for 2024 so wanted to focus on that as well as touch on the addition of Athan cath cik Manis uh the transfer quarterback from Minnesota David first uh Happy New Year and wanted to start with you in terms of kind of some of your big picture takeaways on ruter from

That victory over Miami and how it kind of pushes things forward for this uh 2024 season ahead now happy New Year to you thanks for having me and I think that this was an interesting game because well first of all we had some commenters who said well you guys are

Saying you can’t predict what’s going to happen but you’re giving predictions like we got to do something and then it funny thing was I feel like every prediction we had pretty much came true and more and I feel like that in terms of how the game would play out not like

Who would win by how many or anything like that I just mean like yeah Miami was gonna try to get Ruckers moving laterally Ruckers was going to try to confuse their defense like all those sorts of things and they all kind of happened and more and I feel like there

Was multiple games during the season that that happened but I guess the biggest takeaway just to start with is one thing that makes football unique with these bowl games is that not everybody ends their season with a loss with the blll game you have an opportunity to end with a win Ruckers

Had not ended with a win even without the fact that they were going to bowl games like they didn’t even squeak a win out you know in that finale against Michigan State in 2018 I think it was or anything like that um but this is the

First time they ended the season with a win since 2014 which is kind of nice so so there is definitely a wave of momentum there I think that everything was on display that Ruckers has a coaching to close a slight Talent Gap because even though Miami was

Playing number twos and number threes at some positions they still Ruckers was still able to overcome it uh but I think that and we’ll get more to this later in the episode but pretty much the way jakuri Brown played is what we kind of wished Gavin whimet would play and that

Was his first game of the season so you could see the difference between like for example Brown thre that I I don’t know if it was first in 25 but it definitely came after a 15 yard penalty when he just threw that Post Corner route to rreo and it seemed like an easy

Touchdown and so I think I guess one of my other big takeaways is we’re gonna see more of that when we have teams like Washington and Oregon on the schedule Ruckers knows that and a lot of this offseason is going to come down to like it always does self scouting like

What even when you have wins and you have victories how do you improve the team and so I think that was my biggest takeway like you saw flashes of what burned Ruckers earlier in the season what could burn them in the future but then you also saw Ruckers do enough to

Overcome that in this game but can they do more to kind of close some of those gaps that’s kind of my biggest takeaway coming away from the from the game so feel positive but you know what areas you need to improve the team yeah I think it’s a great point about the

Defense I think you know everyone kind of I’ve seen a lot of hopes that oh with the defense that they have returning you know they’re going to be a top 10 defense and and I agree with you in terms of the Pack 12 teams coming in like part of white Ruckers was

Statistically good against the pass this year is they really didn’t face a lot of good passing offenses and I think next season schedule uh you know even like with Wisconsin you know getting van dijk from Miami uh they’re going to face better quarterbacks I think across the

Board next season than they did this past season for sure sure um and then I guess the best kind of data point is there was a a crazy stat there were showing that the number of teams have been out in the last 10 or 20 years

From the power five and Iowa finished 10 and four but they have been shut out three times this season they got shut up by Penn State in the Big 10 title game and in their bowl game and so we had that previous episode talking about how Rucker Stacks up against Iowa and Penn

State and so I guess one of my biggest takeaways is yeah I think that the strategy worked now but if Iowa’s defense couldn’t stop an SEC team who could throw the ball some and Rucker defense isn’t as good as Iowa even if Ruckers improve some even if they’re at that point they

May be in trouble against a team that can really air it out and we talk about how this upcoming schedules without having to face the big three in the East every year there’s less quote guaranteed losses on the schedule but at the same time a game could become a guaranteed

Loss in the first quarter if you realize you cannot stop their passing game at all and that kind of leads into my biggest you know concern for the defense going into next year and I mentioned this once on an earlier podcast which is Rucker defense is good and pretty much

Everybody is pretty fast but they only had three maybe four guys who had above average speed for their position and you’re losing two of them for sure Max Melton and Dion Jennings for their positions they definitely above average with speed then you have mouray who you

Can see how effective he is when you’re able to use that speed in a variety of ways and then the only other one who I’d say might be above average for speed for his position is Wesley Bailey who is banged up so that’s kind of a wild card

So my biggest overall concern for this defense is do they have enough Team Speed overall to take a next step or are they going to be handcuffed by that on the defensive side and have to just kind of make do while they continue to add speed like with this freshman class they

Might be a year away from contributing but it’s possible that they might be desperate and have to play kaj Sanders in a safety rotation or something like that you know unless maybe Moses Walker plays even better than he played in The Bull game stuff like that so I think

There’s reasons for optimism but that would be my biggest reason for concern heading into or why they might not be able to jump as a defense to The Next Step yeah that’s a really good point I I think on the flip side on offense you know we saw the physicality of ruter and

Their their ability to wear down the speed of Miami on that end uh with the Run game uh obviously manangi was out of his mind in that game uh in terms of I mean pretty consistent with what he’s done so many times this year but he really uh you know dominated that game

In the fourth quarter but you’re right speed I think speed across the board obviously Ruckers needs you know at the wide receiver position they need to get faster uh but also on the a defens end as well and you’re talking about like you know I keep hearing now Washington’s

Not going to be as good because penx is gonna be gone but they got Will Rogers who’s the second most passing yards in SEC history replacing him uh it’s yeah it’s gonna be a whole set of different challenges I think the dynamic of uh the Big 10 is changing because you’re adding

Those offenses and then you also have you know you have Kirk cetti at Indiana now you know you have uh Smith at Michigan State like all offense is going to be a lot better I think moving forward in the Big 10 um and I know Ruckers doesn’t play Indiana next year

They do play Michigan State um but you know it’s G like Wisconsin’s looking to be more uptempo uh you know uh with their offensive coordinator so uh Longo so I I think yeah it’s how does the Rucker defense adjust to that uh and and we’ve seen in the past what Shan’s

Defenses are at its best they’re flying around all over the field and we did see some of that this year but I think yeah it’s it’s uh the Big 10 as as a whole is is improving I think offensively so that’s going to be a challenge for all

The defenses and I think ruter how they adapt to that you know in terms of getting speed on both both sides of the ball is going to be key yeah I mean I think on offense the Ruckers offense I guess slipping over to that you touched on it

Is it’s actually better probably that more big 10 teams are going to be going away from this style of football because then if you stick with it then it’s going to be more of an advantage right like they say if everybody’s zigging and you can zag so there’s definitely room

There where if you know let’s say uh Minnesota or Illinois right if they’re not playing Smashmouth Wisconsin and they’re only playing Smashmouth Iowa and Smashmouth ruter that’s only two teams maybe on their schedule that play that kind of football and we and I said it in

The pregame like Miami you can wear them out and Ruckers did wear them out eventually and so the question was if Ruckers was not playing with the lead would they have been able to do what they did in the in the fourth quarter because I don’t believe whimet threw a pass in

Fourth quarter and the answer is probably not so you can keep this style but there’s definitely a need to augment it with at least a little bit more of an effective passing game regardless of how you do that it’s just it’s got to be more of a threat

But I I do agree that um the Big 10 is changing but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to change what works for you on offense uh as long as you can improve you know the other aspects to make the team not onedimensional true I agree with that I I think one

Thing I I came away with after the game that I I I said I think my rapid reaction was that also though like I think we we we see the P like that game was very I think uh indicative of of where the team is at where the program’s

At just in terms of like a ceiling right now because I think you know we saw this season teams they kind of matched up relatively evenly with or were favored against you know they won all those games and yet Miami is probably the one team that was uh more talented without

Question uh that they won but like that style also like if they they’re not a team that’s going to be able to come back against high powered offenses so I think there is a a very clearly defined season uh ceiling excuse me uh obviously the high State game they gave them

Everything they had um but you know overall moving forward like like Ruckers isn’t you know there’s going to be even though they don’t have those built-in losses with Michigan Ohio State whatever they’re going to be really challenged to compete with certain teams in the conference with the style of offense

They have um the the key is can you win all those other games that you match up relatively evenly in and we know year after year that’s that’s really hard to do um but as you said if they can continue to get better in that style

Then that that’s obviously huge I I do think though that you know obviously receiver and you have to imagine I would think in the portal that they got to go and get a somewhat of an established tight end uh you know I know they have some young guys coming in um but you

Know they have to get some kind of production I mean Langan had his moments but I think overall you need a a tight end in the passing game uh to be a little bit more of a focal point I think moving forward sure I mean do it’s a really interesting launching point I

Mean do you want to talk about the future quarterback battle in that context sure sure so uh first off credit to Mike and Richie uh because they had the cut up and a lot of analysis just on the differences between Gavin and aan kellyc Manis you know over

The course of the past season and one of the things that they did yesterday was they did a live stream of every eth and cak Manis pass attempt of the year which was kind of incredible I’m sure it took a lot of work to do that and I think the

Biggest takeway that I had there there’s many and we can talk about many yeah but one of the biggest differences between and again let let me first clarify this before we get comments as soon as I say this there’s probably an 80 85% overlap between what Gavin whim brings to a team

And what aan kic Menace brings to a team it’s a majority of what they do is very similar so everything we’re about to talk about is pretty much on the margins it’s like maybe 10 to 15% of what one versus the other one is going to do and

I know Ruckers has a Johnny Shephard and AJ SAS and that it’s even more complicated than what I’m about to say but in a in the situation where Athan cak Manis is your starting quarterback next season what one of the big observations from this past year if if

If if right I’m saying in the in the world where he is yeah then he had a lot more success throwing to his main receivers he had really good chemistry with Jackson and span for so one of them’s obviously receiver one of them is a tight end so

And if he’s playing quarterback then I think you can see he he has more confidence throwing to his tight ends especially if he has a tight end that he trusts in the case of Gavin I think to your point Langan was effective at times I think he

Was more effective last year than this last season I mean the game against Michigan State last year when Ruckers actually made somewhat of a comeback one of the few times they did to your point but I think they really are going to need like a Bowman sized guy with a with

A langing skill set and some improvement from whims at for him to be able to feel confident throwing to his tight end so the question is can you get someone like that in the portal or maybe you have a guy who’s a sufficient enough blocker but is more of a receiving threat at

Tight end because none of the ones that they had this year were really more of a like we hope maybe Mike Higgins will seven to that role and maybe he can next year but I think that for regardless of who’s playing quarterback you need to make up for the fact that your number

One and two tight ends are out of Eligibility so yeah I mean I would say in terms of needs on offense now that they have Demir Miller at receiver tight end is one where if you can only get an average guy I’m not sure how much that moves the needle but if

You can get someone who can be a plus receiver or a plus blocker that you can pencil in in one of the first two roles at tight end then yeah I absolutely think that there’s an argument to be made that that’s the biggest need remaining on

Offense yeah I just think even if it’s an average guy I mean like they have very little experience at that position so I think um you know even having someone even if it’s not necessarily a huge upgrade in terms of talent wise uh just someone that’s you know played a

Significant amount of football that can be somewhat of a you know competent blocker and pass catcher if they’re just average I think not you’re going into the year with so much inexperience there I think is a little concerning but um yeah no I and in terms of cic Manis you

Know there was a lot said about you know his his completion percentage was at 53% last year I believe whims was at 48 you know the adjusted completion percentage I got all these comments oh you have to redo your video you have to you have to

Put this in there yes you had a 66% adjusted completion percentage uh I believe Minnesota had 25 drops but that adjusted completion percentage is still the bottom half of college football not not to say that I think cic Manis I I think he can be good here but also the

Idea that like he had no like Jackson is was the best receiver would have been the best receiver on ruers last year no M like by a clear margin and spam Ford would would have been a huge upgrade at tight end so I I think it’s a little

Overblown that that you know he uh was was in this terrible situation uh again I do think he has some upside uh and I want to get into it a little bit too in terms of just his mechanics and stuff but um I I don’t think it it was as uh

So much more challenged than necess what whims was dealing with in terms of you know the lack of experience at wide receiver tight end offensive line all that yeah I mean like I said I’m going to probably say this multiple times so we’re not misquoted I mean there’s a lot

Of overlap both in terms of their situation as well as what they bring to the table uh in terms of K Manis I guess I’ll go to the upside thing I think he was better last year under Kurt shakka than he was this past season and one of

Them was the mechanical thing that you can talk about that I saw as well but when you talk about like his actual situation is there were more times watching that Minnesota film that guys were dropping passes and I was looking at my screen like come on like in in

Gavin’s case I think there were drops and statistically I don’t know how many off the top of my head but there were a couple passes that you’re like guys’s got to catch this ball you know Bowman had at least two especially one was a drive killer against Michigan State um

They end up winning luckily but I don’t I don’t think that the situations like you said were that much different with the sheever I would say there were a couple more drops in Minnesota for sure but there were still plenty of balls that just kind of came out of his

Hand and just didn’t seem right and Gavin has that sometimes as well I I don’t know if we have numbers like of exactly how many times that happened but when we talk about inaccuracy issues one of them is like well how many passes just literally just were just came out

Of your hands so poorly they were uncatchable and we used to see that with no with no Avil sometimes um but in terms of his mechanics like what I saw and I think you had a slightly different take on it what I saw was that

I like when he’s at his best he actually throws like Mike McMahon like former Rucker’s great Mike McMahon but when he’s not he’s doing a little bit of like double tapping on the ball which can also kind of let you believe that he’s about to throw and then also it seemed

Like his ball was coming from a lower angle which was one of the reasons one of the reasons that I think he was having more passes batted down at the line because Gavin had that sometimes too but not as often I mean he definitely had some passes batted down

But one of the things that just kills you as an offense is if a guy is open you see him the play is perfect but the pass gets knocked down by a defensive lineman but otherwise mechanically it did seem like his mechanics were different than from the year prior

That’s something you saw as well was it not yeah yeah in terms of the arm angle yeah it it seems like there were even times where he would go like three quarters or even sidearm at times uh based on you know the throw he was making I do think he was more mobile

Than people like I he threw off the run a lot more I think last year and and I thought he was actually pretty good in doing so uh and they they tend to do more uh play action with him and they uh last year at least and then also uh

There were a lot of design rollouts that he did like you he he looks like kind of just a traditional dropback you know three-step passer but he was a lot more Mobile in the pocket than I think people realize um but yeah I I noticed that in

Terms of the arm angles changing on different passes and then ALS so uh yeah in terms of his like he almost has like a windup sometimes and it looked more uh if exaggerated is the right word but based on like when he was uh under Shaka

It just seems like it became uh um more more more to it in in a bad way in terms of you know taking longer to get the ball out of his hand uh I don’t know if that’s just you know a kind of bad habits I don’t know if that’s you know

Something in terms of Shaka being back with him he’s able to eliminate that but it did see seem like you know even with whims sometimes even if his throws aren’t the most accurate like it comes out of his hand kind of naturally where call Manis you know it does seem like he

Has to put like a lot of force in there’s a lot of force in his overall body motion um it’s not just so like you know um effortless yeah effortless and like centralized to just his arm you know like his the mechanics are a little

Bit uh jerky in terms of how his whole body goes into it yeah I mean that’s one of the things where you know I don’t want to commit that I’m on team Gavin or team Athan or team everybody or whatever but with whims that he he will continue to get better

And one of the reasons for that is because he does have that that ability that just flick of the wrist I mean the best example of this ever is Mike Vick where he’s not a big guy but he would just like he didn’t even have like a

Good like arm motion but the ball could just like Snap out of his wrist like and it was impossible to to react quickly as a defensive lineman like there’s no way they’re batting those passes down and so I feel like Gavin has when he has like

His feet set he has the ability to throw with more velocity and it’s much easier to learn how to harness the velocity you have coming out of your arm than to try to get more like we saw from a no evedal or the NFL level like like a Chad

Pennington like you can do you know karate or whatever and improve some of the the muscles in here but I mean I don’t think callic Menace has a bad arm but he’s not the like Greek rifle or whatever that some people said of him like when he was coming out of high

School so I do think that um he has to be at an optimized throwing motion mechanics to really improve on his game uh if I look more also at last year the the difference though is like I just feel like they’re coaching staff had more confidence in him to just hit

Those like first and 10 five yard passes Y and then the staff has with Gavin like we saw it a few times and I was actually pleasantly surprised in the bowl game when they ran that play with greml went in motion to the right it was near the

Goal line but they kind of just threw him a quick dump off and he had some space because there was already a receiver on the line who was able to block and then there was a little space before the safety was to come up and that play worked really really well

Ruckers very rarely saw that look this season because defenses did not respect them but since Miami safeties were inexperienced they were playing further off which was a very smart tactical decision but they didn’t do that all year and I felt like Kik Manis had a couple passes like that it’s not even

Really a screen it’s more of just like a like a like a quick hitter almost to a receiver in motion where if you have that look whereas when Ruckers ran that to dremel yeah it worked for that touchdown against Virginia Tech but that was a longer developing play

Uh they were lucky to have that touchdown against Virginia Tech but then the same play basically got picked against Wisconsin if you can kind of make the defense doubt like what the timing of the route is maybe he’s gonna throw it right away maybe he’s gonna

Throw it you know on two-step drop maybe there’s additional action off there like that’s goingon to open things up a lot and we didn’t see that and I don’t know if it’s a coaching thing if it’s a lack of confidence in Gavin thing but then

All of a sudden they did it in the bowl game so but kellic Menace has proven with a with a larger body of work those type of plays that he can do and so I think that he has shown more on tape in terms of more that he can do and that

Being even when we’re not just looking at highlights because when you look at Gavin’s highlights nobody’s highlights are as good as that because he’s got such a big arm and he’s a powerful fast runner but I mean if you look play in and play out I felt like Kell Manis was

A little bit more reliable even when you don’t even look at the completion percentage or stuff like that which he was slightly better on but I definitely felt like there was just easy yards that Minnesota was able to get that Ruckers was not with Gavin behind Center this

Year yeah totally agree I I I think he definitely looks more reliable in that you know uh 10 10 yards or less uh plays uh he definitely you know it’s funny like when you watch all those games and I watched that tape that Richie made too

And I’m sure he was in like a dark room for like 36 hours putting that together uh it was an awesome some job that he did and um you know there there was they started several games with like a running back uh you know screen where a

Quick hitter where he got open in space and would run it on the right sideline like 20 25 yards and they started a few drives last season with that play and um yeah he he he looks like he hits his he’s he’s definitely better in terms of hitting his receivers in stride in

Shorter patterns which is definitely something that you know Gavin struggled with so uh I think the ceiling overall in terms of if you want to talk about like long-term potential I think whimit has a higher ceiling but I think Kik Manis raises the floor and I think he

Potentially I mean it’s gonna be interesting to see how they develop this off season um and I think you know what can he kind of maybe fine-tune under Shaka a second time now but you know it’s it’s it’s gonna be consistency right because I think cic Manis probably

Based on his film and what he did last year he looks like he has the potential I think to to give you more consistency than whims it showed this year yeah yes though we did see long stretches of cic Manis just like Gavin where something

Gets out of sorts usually it’s a play or two happens where he doesn’t know what’s going on right he doesn’t read the coverage right and he throws into like and whether it’s intercepted or not but like he throws it to a guy who’s got two or three Defenders on him and you’re

Like was that question right and then there’s a Snowball Effect like the gaming against Illinois where C Manis was starting out great and then it all fell apart and then it kind of like seemed like he was riding the ship and then he had to

Complete a pass it was a third and four if he basically hits that pass game’s pretty much over but he sailed it like way over the tight end’s head and so even though I do think he was a little bit more consistent on those intermediate routes there’s an example

Where he literally lost the game for them in a sense by missing a guy who is open and so it’s I I think my bigger takeaway is I yes I do feel more confident in him hitting like if it’s first and 10 throwing for six yards but what’s hard to say is

That with the Rucker Run game will defenses still just CR like cram the line of scrimmage because one of the reasons that I think cak Manis had more um success with those routes is defenses really were scared of him throwing deep to Daniel Jackson especially yeah and really Rucker

Hit one long play to jqu Jackson earlier in the year I think it was against temp yeah but other than that like how many fly routs or deep posts did they complete all season not many so the question is regardless of who’s playing quarterback will defenses still just say

Okay hey we’re just going to press the line of scrimmage and dare them to beat us deep I don’t know yeah on film it would indicate that defenses were more scared of Kell manister throwing down field but I don’t know if that was because of Jackson or not their Jackson

Not our Jackson though I do think if jqu Jackson was on Minnesota he would have had a better season as well um but it’s also because they didn’t have a running back until well Darius Taylor I think it’s Darius Taylor right he he was injured at one point and you can see

That Kelly Manis started to drop off his performance when he did not have the threat of an elite Run game as well so I I don’t know it’ll be really interesting to see I mean the biggest question I have that I don’t know the answer to but we’ll continue to you know

Probably if you have me on it again in the offseason is like if you’re a defense are you going to play the same exact strategy regardless of who was playing quarterback for Ruckers because your of the threat of the Run game or with whims that are you gonna basically

Dare him to throw deep because you’re scared of him running so you’re gonna also stack the Box because you don’t want him to get in space with kak Manis he’s a little quicker to kind of decide to to run a little bit but he’s probably

Not going to burn you for a 70 yard touchdown he’s probably more likely to get a 5 yard scramble but you’re not worried about an explosive play with him in the Run game like you are with whims so I think that’s what the coaching staff’s gonna have to evaluate because

If defenses are goingon to not respect you like we talked about you know with Noah Vil that the safeties are playing at like six or seven yards whereas on film they’re playing against nine or 10 yards on everybody else then what do you have to do to make them back off do you

Need to play a quarterback who’s able to throw the ball or at least a threat of it downfield a little bit more and I mean Kell Menace and His body of work definitely has completed more of those throws but I don’t know how much of that

Is design or how much is that is skills and we’ll have to hear what happens in Spring practice as they try to determine that but what do you think I mean do you think from what you saw did it look like defenses were giving him more of those

Underneath routes which is why he was completing more of them or was that just I don’t know the the the block of film that I saw compared to what you saw yeah I mean I think some of it was play design I think they just Minnesota made

A point to to you know look for uh the running backs out of the back field and also tight ends um and I think that he also he just um uh looked a little I think more comfortable in in in those uh pass plays uh but you know as the season

Went on you know like you said when when they had inconsistency in the Run game it did seem like Minnesota tended to not go as deep as much and that kind of I think created did some some issues he he uh he had a lot of like sideline

Patterns they didn’t really go up the middle very much uh so it you know it was uh he was a lot of like you know long throws that weren’t for many yards per se yeah so I I I you know it was I I honestly thought the play calling was

Kind of like it wasn’t great you know and um uh so and I also think you touched on it and it’s a great point is you know in 22 when he was under Shaka they they had Mo Ibraham as the running back and that obviously was a huge thing

So um he he obviously is going to be benefited by if he does end up playing you know uh having a guy there um and the other thing too that was interesting if you watch the Wisconsin game from two years ago when he broke out that last

Regular season game you know early in the game he had he he tucked it and ran for like 20 yards and and the announcers screaming you know that that’s what he does best for Minnesota so it was funny because so many people are like he’s not a mobile quarterback but I thought on

The the tape that Richie put together too like you just just saw even if he’s not running he is a lot more active in the pocket you know which I think is important with the offensive line he’s not going to be a sitting I think the initial impression was like because he’s

You know he’s broad shouldered he’s big he’s a little bit bigger than Gavin 64 you know he looks kind of like a traditional dropback passer but he really was much more active at his feet um you know in terms of design rollouts but also just being able to to avoid

Pressure uh I I thought he was better at that than I had thought going into it yeah and honestly especially when their run game was non-existent he was under a ton of pressure I I think that Gavin was under less pressure for the most part I

Mean you can give an exception like Penn State I think he was under a lot of pressure but for the most part in other games other than maybe Michigan when they finally you know at the late were like all right we got to pressure them

But for the most part I mean I felt like cmis was under more consistent pressure than Gavin I his pocket presence is better uh but also he is very close to on that line of having Happy Feet because sometimes like you said he when there was pressure he

Would look towards those deep they’re not deep but they’re a long route to the sideline and he really did not have success on those um but it was kind of like I know I got a receiver here and his ball placement like in terms of back shoulder and things like that is a

Little bit better than Gavins for sure um there’s definitely more plays where he could hit that but um in terms of just overall if one Kai run rush because really what you want from your quarterback is if one rusher comes through can they step up or step to the

Side to give thems a little more more time if two guys come in there’s very little that you can do usually but if one guy breaks the the Seal of the the pocket like can you step to the side or make a play and I felt like C men did do

That in terms of his like off platform throws he did make some but there were other times where when he didn’t have his feed set especially if he tried those sideline rounds it didn’t really work but he seemed to have a good chemistry especially with span forward

Like if a blitz were to comeb like he he had a pretty good sense of like okay I can throw it to my tight end on like he’ll have outside leverage on this side and there won’t be any help because there’s blitzing they’re blitzing right

And he seemed to have a little bit of of that in his game that I don’t know if Gavin really showed us this year in terms of like ball placement where accur it’s accurate but it’s not like you know perfect accurate but it’s just throwing

A ball into a spot and like that your receiver knows and can go get the ball so I mean it he showed more but these are receivers he had the year prior whereas Gavin’s throwing two Bowman who wasn’t on the roster jqu who wasn’t on the roster and so you know there was

Proba Chris long was out who was one of the guys he had better chemistry with the year prior Gavin I should say in 2022 so I don’t know there’s a lot of like weird variables but you can kind of see flashes in every direction about

This but yes I do think that he’s also a more um he’s more quick to decide if he’s gonna run or not and I think that decision making also makes it tougher on the defense because I do think if it’s third and four I feel more confident in

Ccmis picking up five yards with his legs than do with Gavin um but I would say I have less confidence in like quarterback running that like if you run it with him on First and 10 that he’s going to get seven yards there was plenty of times where Gavin did that so

Again I know we’re we’re kind of splitting hairs here because they’re still a very similar quarterback but that is the pocket presence is a is a huge thing and I don’t know if Ruckers as offensive line is going to be able to pass protect as well as it did this year

Or is that just a product of the Run game I don’t know but there’s a lot of wild cards there but definitely from a pocket presence standpoint I mean from ball placement would you agree that there were more like back shoulder and timing throws from halik Manis I feel

Like with Gavin most of those were like slant routes where he was he had good timing on those but most of the he thre where for gaver just like Slants or they’re that quick curl on the on the outside to Isaiah Washington there’s very few other like throwing it to a guy

In stride or right like other placement that was not just kind of the three-step throw at this moment I mean what did you think on that yeah no I agree I I think kic Manis you know he um definitely uh he he he looked like he had more

Confidence I also think he reads coverages a little bit better he seemed to you know make different reads he wasn’t just going to like his his number one read all the time he seemed like he was able to like you said his decision making uh was better uh and he you know

He did he did make some risky throws but but again I think it kind of went back to kind of a good confidence where he does seem like he believes he can make any throw out there and you don’t have that with Gavin and uh hopefully he can

Get that but I think that that was something uh that that I noticed and I think that just in terms of his awareness of of what you know is even like when he didn’t run like he didn’t stand still in the pocket like as soon as he sens something he was adjusting me

A little bit in terms of uh you know whims it obviously is the more mobile quarterback he’s quicker but uh cic manace seem more comfortable throwing on the Run than whims head has yeah and I’m not sure if that like that’s something that pretty much everyone improves on it’s kind of like

Being a good shooter in basketball like there’s every guy is a better shooter when they’re 40 years old than when they’re 20 and I feel like Gavin that is an area where I think he could improve because if he was able to add that element to his game where even if it’s

Not a designed roll out but he gets to the outside we would see more plays like we saw in week one against Northwestern where he hit Christian Dremel on that huge fourth down conversion because when you’re a defense and I I talked about this a lot especially when

Ruckers I I think it was like the the 52 nothing game which ultimately got Chris Ash fired in that game Shay Patterson was just killing Ruckers in the pocket traditionally he wasn’t doing much but he was rolling out and either running for I think he ran for three touchdowns

That day but it was more he would roll to the side and then a receiver would like break off their or come back towards him and it’s impossible for the defensive back to adjust to a moving a mobile quarterback in that sense and you saw when Gavin did do that there were

Times he had success there were other times he just threw it into the stands and I don’t know if that was a coaching thing or if he’ll improve but there’s one of those things where you can see a reason that Gavin could could do that but he has not done it yet

Consistently but that’s an area where he has the physical makeup to be able to do it um the other thing that we saw from Gavin on those plays is sometimes he’ll just throw you know the fast ball when he doesn’t need to do it because the

Receiver does have a little bit of room that’s another thing that you know will improve over time as well so I think it’s gonna be an interesting an interesting battle but ultimately it’s going to come down to who’s going to be more consistent with their throws putting them in identical situations and

Seeing who’s performing well because right now we’re not putting him in in identical situations but in training camp you can you can do that yeah and then secondly is just how do defenses react I I do think that there’s like you see this in basketball a lot where a defense will assume the

Best player to play you is like let’s say a two3 Zone which is different in terms of you know how you have to play it as an offense and and quarterback is quite similar like if they’re going to play more like deep thirds like cover three against you then even if one guy

Is a little bit overall as a better quarterback but defenses are consistently going to show you a coverage that the other quarterback is better at handling sometimes you have to just and that’s one of the reasons why I think you should make in-game adjustments regard to your backup

Quarterback is a situation like that you know even if let’s say Gavin’s the overall better quarterback but defenses are going to constantly just like pack the line of scrimmage and when K Manis comes in the game they don’t like maybe maybe that’s a a reason the coaching

Staff has to make an adjustment I don’t want to try to set up a two quarterback system I don’t I hope someone just comes out wins the job and everybody’s on the same page but I do think that this gives Ruckers a little bit more flexibility

While they wait for Shepard and SAS to continue to develop and potentially you know put their names in the Hat as well uh but again it really comes down to how do defenses play you and we won’t really know that until the season starts but if a guy clearly separates himself from the

Other ones under similar circumstances then he’s definitely going to get the first and second and third crack at you know playing on Saturdays next season yeah I totally agree just going back to one comment you made about like Gavin not having touch sometimes in terms of

Those short passes I did think that c manes struggled with that a little bit too he he throws pretty hard and uh there were definitely some balls where you know he could have I think had a little bit more touch on it than he did but it’s gonna be interesting I think

You know it’s people wanted I think a clear upgrade I think that cic Manis again I think his ceiling um isn’t as high as Gavin long term but I do think he he could he could definitely come in and win the job and be an upgrade

Overall uh but I think you’re right I think that there’s definitely a possibility that they they platoon you know e either by Design or it just kind of works out that way flashbacks to sh 1.0 where he would mix a match based on how the game was going you know I I

Think that is a possibility um I also think you know it having a quarterback come in that Shaka knows inside and out um you know and then is able to look back in this year and what changed you know I think that that’s going to help

The um you know the transition also uh it’s not like you’re taking a flyer on somebody that doesn’t have experience at this level or but not only that you have a power five starter that you’ve also worked with before so I think it’s an you don’t want to say ideal situation

You’d rather have a a blue chip you know uh proven power five transfer coming in but I think for what they were able to do they upgrade I and I said this in my last podcast they they owed it to this the the returning group I think to give

Them this option to upgrade the position and we know the offense has to take a step forward I think we made good points about the defs also need to take a step forward uh you know it to keep the stability going nothing’s given for next season and even though the schedule

Might appear easier I don’t think it’s an easy schedule and I think while everyone wants more than six regular season wins next year I don’t think going six and six would be a failure because I think that a lot of things could go wrong too and I don’t think

Anything’s to give I I I think it’s you know this team definitely has the potential to do more um but I think that there’s a lot that has to happen to also maintain the success they had this year for sure I mean in terms of uh K man

Just wrapping my comments on that I mean I think if you want to say where did he have the Edge just on you know comfort and throwing those first and 10 get six yards get cheap easy yards I felt like Ruckers was always it was always a

Struggle to get yards until late in games when the defense was worn out and then mananga was just like pounding the rock other than that it was always a struggle uh and then the other way that I think that cak Manis what he brings to the table he’s definitely better at

Throwing deep sideline routes which for which does challenge the defense vertically and horizontally I mean I always felt like I never thought Ben rothberger was like the best quarterback in the NFL but the team he played for always were able to have more available to them because he could throw those

Routes he could throw deep crossers and he could throw deep down the sideline so the defense just had to respect it even if you know again I I would I personally I think Eli Manning probably had a better career was a better like quarterback overall but just the fact

That rothberger had that allowed the team to do so much so I mean on offense that’s kind of how I but on defense I agree with you is entirely possible this defense will not be as good as it was last year especially if moay is forced

To play with more linebacker or you have an injury Aaron Lewis or something like that uh or Robert longer beam something like that uh so I don’t think that going six and six next year would be a failure I I also want to clarify one of the

Comments I made in the in a previous podcast when I said you need to go to a bll game every year what I meant by that was if you don’t go to a Bull game in a three-year period you got to clean house whether it

Be even if the head coach stays but they hire all new coordinators and things like that that’s what you see at some of these other programs but really you want to go every year the expectation is that you should go at least two out of every

Three if not three out of three right um next year though I mean this program is pretty stable but there are there are some areas where they don’t have depth and if something Happ happens in those spots it’s entirely possible that the overall record regresses even if the

Program is in the same state of stability that we we’ve been talking about and that’s pretty much the theme of the whole entire bull season and this is what I put in my off tackle Empire you know Season postmortem basically that’s going to be coming out soon is

That Ruckers is a stable program right now and you saw how that allow them to beat a team like Miami that has a lot of talent but is in constant flux and I feel like yes you do need to win games every year but more importantly is just do you

Have a solid foundation in your program and they definit Ruckers definitely does so hopefully they can figure out a way to ensure they at least get to a bowl game again next year but if they go five and seven but beat someone good or you know maybe they lose two games because

Uh you know a quarterback or a corner or something fluky happens like that’s understandable in the place that this program is in right now so yeah do I think they’ll go to a bow game next year yeah I do but could I see a scenario where it doesn’t happen yeah and I don’t

Think that’s necessarily a sign that the program’s trending down it more just might be a sign that you know you didn’t win all of your 50-50 games like you did this year well I think that’s the flip side of everybody coming back on defense right is you also have to develop depth

Behind them and it’s a lot harder to do that when you have you know you really don’t have any openings uh in the starting lineup I think obviously the spring is going to be crucial for bringing a lot of the younger Talent along um but also you know having guys

That they can uh get you know and I think the first two games next year you know are actually well timed because hopefully you know they can take care of business against Aram pretty easily then you have Howard you know you’re getting younger guys uh not necessarily on the

To deep or even just in at that second level you know more time early in the seas season so if you do have some injury issues you guys you have guys that maybe have a little bit of of snaps under their belt for the season um

Because I do think that is a concern that they’re they’re very topheavy in terms of you know a very good starting lineup but not a lot you know in terms of proven behind them and um that’s gonna be key I think that the teray point is excellent you know can Moses

Walker be a guy that steps up um you know in terms of that linebacker role alongside of Powell assuming he can you know make a a a pretty smooth recovery in terms of coming back and being ready so yeah there there’s more question marks Than People necessarily want to

Take into account but I do think yes this team could move forward they could win seven regular season games maybe get to eight you know depending on if everything goes right but I think that the K commis move certainly provides more stability uh to a program that

Needed it at that position um you know he’s not he’s not a guarantee but uh certainly I think improves the situation versus what they were at the end of this season so it’s going to be interesting to see how all the development goes this off season any last closing thoughts

Here we’ll have plenty of time to discuss other things you know as as this offseason goes on but um anything you wanted to close with yeah I mean we didn’t really talk about just the transfer portal defections I I would say my one my main comment on there is that

It’s gone as well as you could have expected which is that your starters are all here they’re pretty much everybody is coming back you lost a couple guys from the two deep or in some positions a third guy like we like in Aaron Young he’s not the backup running back but

Obviously he’s in the mix right so I think that as it went as well as it could have and I think that’s a sign of Ruckers being a relatively stable program you can understand pretty much everybody who went in the portal pretty much right if you’re uh and I mentioned

The defensive line uh already which is there’s a lot of guys like a Cameron Stewart I believe entered the the transfer portal and that’s a guy who would be playing on other team even in the Big 10 but there’s such a log Jam at his position that you know you kind of

Have to size up all right with all the guys that are you know borderline too deep am I going to be one of those ones that plays or not and or is it better for me to get an opportunity going elsewhere and it seems like they still

Have enough depth at defensive end that I feel okay about it but again you’re an injury or two away from having a two deep with not a lot of proven depth that’s in there so you know linebacker I felt like Moses Walker and Abram Wright both played pretty well in the bowl game

Despite not really playing at all all year yeah and so you’re probably in a good spot there but again I think every team has had more turnover pretty much in the transfer portal than Ruckers through this segment but it’s entirely possible that there will be more defections after the spring uh during

The next you know period transfer portal window but we can’t you got to cross that bridge when you come to it and hope we don’t come to that one we hope that everyone you know is Happy continues to stay but so far so good and you know

That’s a sign of players have belief in the coaching staff and what they’re doing at Ruckers and hopefully that you know is a sign that things continue to Trend up even if it’s you know a similar season in terms of wins and losses next year yeah great point and I think that

Also shows that there is a real buyin in the program that you know a lot of their younger Talent that’re they’re not being impatient they’re not just leaving to go to find you know uh playing time elsewhere you know they’re bought into the fact that okay this is going to be a

Veteran team next year might not have a ton of opportunities next year but if you continue to develop underneath them really 20 to 25 I mean it’s wide open in terms of so many different position battles so uh I think that’s a good sign as well and something you have to for

Ruers you have to be able to do because you can’t keep restocking you know and and and and uh Shan was talked about the pipeline and filling the pipeline in this 24 class fills that pipeline now when you got to keep the key parts of those Pipeline and develop them um and I

Think getting those guys to stay that that’s I think speaks to the culture big time as well so overall I think you know overall we’re both optimistic but you know at the same time I think you know you can’t uh be delusional on the fact

That um a lot of progress still needs to be made this offseason it’s critical for the program to be able to take that step is you can’t be complacent and um you can’t just assume you know six and six is an automatic every year now uh your

Point about you know going to a ball game every year every two out of three years what not of course the expectation is always to go but that doesn’t mean it’s always going to happen and just because you cross that one threshold doesn’t mean it can’t you know fall

Below it in the next season so more to come in our discussions this offseason really appreciate all your great Insight once again and thanks to everybody for listening to this uh episode of The Scarlet faithful podcast once Again