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Not sure exactly why I got thinking about this today, but I was wondering how easy/hard it is for college coaches to see who the better players are and make decisions on who starts and plays etc.

Listening to ESPN while driving around and the talk of Braxton Miller at OSU being out for the season and the Buckeyes going with a QB that has never seen game action. How do they know he is the best choice?

So then I started thinking about WMU. There is talk of possibly 14 freshman starting at some point this season. What do the coaches see in practices that makes them think or know that a certain guy is the better player? Without being at practice to see what guys are doing and how the coaches might be able to tell, I just got thinking about that. And is it harder in college to figure that out? Most of these kids were one of the top handful of players on their HS team. They are obviously talented to make it to a D-1 program.

I think back to my HS days and generally, it was pretty obvious who the better player at each position was. There may have been 1 or 2 spots that could be debated, but for the most part it was pretty straight forward.

I guess I am wondering if its the same way in college. Other than a QB throwing passes and a WR showing speed and hands, how do the coaches know? What if a guy is a great practice player but not so good on Saturday. Or what if a guy practices terribly but is a stud when the lights come on (this was what the guys on ESPN were saying about Ohio St potential starter)

Not even sure why I felt like posting this on here. But I guess I am just looking for some opinions as to what the coaches might be looking for as they make their decisions on who is going to get the playing time this season.

I tend to think the coaches are gearing themselves to make decisions based on the game readiness and the early upside vs longer term upside of the incoming freshman. I am sure that PJ and his staff realize that in order to facilitate the type of depth the team will need this season it was apparent that a number of freshman were going to be fast tracked into playing early. The metrics by which the coach determines this is probably based as I stated... on not only current positional depth, but the current state of the athletes abilities and upside. I also think size and frame have a ton to do with it... If a kid was recruited with the notion that under a division 1 football training environment will fill out over time, he will likely be more suited for redshirt status and not even looked upon to contribute early. Whereas an athlete that comes out of high school and already has the size and speed to fulfill his positional obligation... well he's likely going to be used right away... I think Okorafor fits that build right now...

There are team segments in almost every single practice where plays are called. If the play doesn't work, it is easy to figure out who didn't do their job. The guys that do their job right more than the other guys at that spot are usually determined the starters.

I figured as much. Don't really know why I got thinking about that today. Like I said, in HS it was fairly apparent who the best players were and who was going to start and play. Often that meant guys going both ways.

More players and better overall talent once you get to college. It's probably much the same and maybe it's not all that tough to simply see who the beat choice is.

Just got to thinking about it since OSU knew that Miller was the starting QB and suddenly they have to figure out who plays next. From last Saturdays scrimmage is it easy to see who should be starting at QB for us? Can you tell who is getting the job done on the OLine or at LB or DLine?

I guess that's what the coaches get paid to figure out.

Its pretty cut and dry for the coaches that are around the same guys in every drill and every meeting.

(08-21-2014 05:16 PM)jubbasubba Wrote:  Its pretty cut and dry for the coaches that are around the same guys in every drill and every meeting.

Makes sense and I'm sure you are correct.

Since we aren't there for every drill and meeting etc. we don't see what they get to see.

This was just something I started thinking about while driving around listening to the radio the other day. But its probably pretty obvious.