(01-13-2018 05:43 PM)arlingtonduke Wrote:  Vad was the best athlete to play the position. There was no doubt who was the best player on the field when he was out there. That included FBS games (SMU comes to mind).

New article on that game/Vad from Madia

https://www.dnronline.com/sports/college...f47a6.html

After reading the article, I found myself weirdly liking Withers. He seemed to come across appreciative and humble (I guess a tenure at Texas State will humble anyone).

I think Mike Cawley and Justin Rascati could have won the NC with that 2016 team. Vad Lee would have too. I can't remember if Landers was a good passer. The Dukes in 2016 would have won the NC by a wider margin in 2016 and beat NDSU in 2017 with Vad Lee. Schor's senior year was worse than Cawley's and Rascati. Those 5 players are legendary Dukes.

I know the poll is old, but none of those players made a final NFL roster like Ben DiNucci. Cawley was drafted by the Colts in 1996, and might have been on their PS, but I'm pretty sure he did not make the full roster.

(09-06-2020 10:21 AM)DooX Wrote:  I know the poll is old, but none of those players made a final NFL roster like Ben DiNucci. Cawley was drafted by the Colts in 1996, and might have been on their PS, but I'm pretty sure he did not make the full roster.

IMHO: NFL has little to do with it. Who was best while in the Purple and Gold. Let it be known that I like Ben, just that in my book he wasn't the best JMU quarterback. First, he must be a winner. Second, he must be a leader. Third, things like smart and tough (the intangibles). Those three before I took a look a personal stats or consider what he accomplished once his days as a Duke were over.

Landers for sure... With all his rushing, people forget how accurate he was throwing the football

And I agree DiNucci isn't the answer despite landing on an NFL roster... NFL and purple and gold are two different things. Was Tom Brady the best QB ever at Michigan? No

(09-06-2020 12:38 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(09-06-2020 10:21 AM)DooX Wrote:  I know the poll is old, but none of those players made a final NFL roster like Ben DiNucci. Cawley was drafted by the Colts in 1996, and might have been on their PS, but I'm pretty sure he did not make the full roster.

IMHO: NFL has little to do with it. Who was best while in the Purple and Gold. Let it be known that I like Ben, just that in my book he wasn't the best JMU quarterback. First, he must be a winner. Second, he must be a leader. Third, things like smart and tough (the intangibles). Those three before I took a look a personal stats or consider what he accomplished once his days as a Duke were over.

Nooch made the Cowboys 53 man roster?

Did not see that coming. Good for Nooch.

JMU fans have enjoyed the play of some exceptional QBs over the years. Based on stats, WL percentages and delivering one NC (and play in a second), I think my vote would go to Schor.

That doesn’t take anything away from Rodney, Vad, or Mike Cawley. Vad’s game against SMU was the single greatest game by a QB I’ve ever seen.

Missing seeing our Dukes play this Fall. Damn this pandemic! Go Dukes!!!

(09-07-2020 09:48 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(09-06-2020 12:38 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(09-06-2020 10:21 AM)DooX Wrote:  I know the poll is old, but none of those players made a final NFL roster like Ben DiNucci. Cawley was drafted by the Colts in 1996, and might have been on their PS, but I'm pretty sure he did not make the full roster.

IMHO: NFL has little to do with it. Who was best while in the Purple and Gold. Let it be known that I like Ben, just that in my book he wasn't the best JMU quarterback. First, he must be a winner. Second, he must be a leader. Third, things like smart and tough (the intangibles). Those three before I took a look a personal stats or consider what he accomplished once his days as a Duke were over.

Nooch made the Cowboys 53 man roster?

Did not see that coming. Good for Nooch.

Darn if he didn't...
https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/Da...51142816_5

(09-07-2020 09:48 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(09-06-2020 12:38 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(09-06-2020 10:21 AM)DooX Wrote:  I know the poll is old, but none of those players made a final NFL roster like Ben DiNucci. Cawley was drafted by the Colts in 1996, and might have been on their PS, but I'm pretty sure he did not make the full roster.

IMHO: NFL has little to do with it. Who was best while in the Purple and Gold. Let it be known that I like Ben, just that in my book he wasn't the best JMU quarterback. First, he must be a winner. Second, he must be a leader. Third, things like smart and tough (the intangibles). Those three before I took a look a personal stats or consider what he accomplished once his days as a Duke were over.

Nooch made the Cowboys 53 man roster?

Did not see that coming.

I did! More surprises to come for you non-believers (IMO).

I feel like this poll is already biased by not including Dinucci on it. I'm not saying he's the best, but he should be on the list.

That being said, my vote goes to Rodney Landers. He was a one-man wrecking crew. Literally no team in FCS had an answer for him.

(01-06-2018 11:46 PM)Madison 91 Forever Wrote:  Bryan was solid but this poll is skewed by the fact that many of the posters didn't ever see a lot of these guys play. Rodney Landers was the most dynamic play maker in JMU history.

Agree with 100% of this, but this doesnt make Landers a better QB. I would have loved to see him play in a modern offense, but the one he did play in made him a good bit more one dimensional.

There was little a D could do to stop Bryan Schor in the system he played in, even if he wasnt the superman-like athlete Landers was.

I think the poll breaks the best down perfectly.

I think there are 5 that are a step above the rest.

My top 5 would likely be:

1) Rascati - would of loved to have scene him in the Withers/Houston offenses. Easily best pure passer in JMU History. He was a student of the game, clutch, and good enough runner.
2) Landers ok passer, amazing running QB, and also powerful 4th down type back. Cluch
3) Cawley Could pass well, run well, and clutch QB - a poor man's Patrick Mahome
4) Lee/Schor Both were very good, but both had the benefit of the of the offense they played in.

It has to be Justin Thorpe. His 6 years of wins against the Tribe is unmatched by any other JMU QB.

Rodney Landers was the best I ever personally saw.

(09-08-2020 08:48 AM)TribePride91 Wrote:  It has to be Justin Thorpe. His 6 years of wins against the Tribe is unmatched by any other JMU QB.

Rodney Landers was the best I ever personally saw.

Justin Thorpe was likely the highest touted QP recruit we ever got directly out of HS. Recall we won him over App State. His athletic ability was very high, but it was sadly offset by his head.

(09-08-2020 08:48 AM)TribePride91 Wrote:  It has to be Justin Thorpe. His 6 years of wins against the Tribe is unmatched by any other JMU QB.

Rodney Landers was the best I ever personally saw.

I thought you might have picked Dae-Quan Scott.

For the record, if I could pick from any JMU QB in history to start an important game, I'd go with Vad Lee. At least the version after his first five games once things really started to click for him.

(09-07-2020 06:56 PM)Nerfherder95 Wrote:  I feel like this poll is already biased by not including Dinucci on it. I'm not saying he's the best, but he should be on the list.

That being said, my vote goes to Rodney Landers. He was a one-man wrecking crew. Literally no team in FCS had an answer for him.

The thread was made the night of Schor's last game, so DiNucci wasn't on anybody's minds yet. (That's probably why Schor has such a huge lead in the actual poll. Not saying he isn't a valid choice, but the recency bias has to have contributed to his big lead.)

I was surprised I hadn't posted in this thread yet. Give me Vad Lee to go win one game.

Vad Lee was hands down our best QB with Cawley a close second. Everyone else listed played with better talent around them. Cawley did have a solid receiving core but the o line for Vad and Cawley were not up to par with Schor’s o line in 2016 and 2017. Nor were they as good as the 2004 o line for Rascati.

In all honesty, Schor under achieved in 2017. The NC game was potentially his worst performance as a Duke. That is a game JMU should have won by 3 touchdowns. I realize this is a harsh statement but 2017 was JMUs most complete team offense, defense and special teams. They should have finished undefeated and with a NC.

Rodney was just a beast as a runner and a good enough passer to keep defenses honest. He was a man among boys but Vad was a better runner and passer. Vad knew how to avoid a hit. Rodney just ran over people. Cawley was a lot like Vad. Very complete and they both were exceptional when a play broke down and they had to improvise.

The one thing that hurt Rascati and Landers was Mickeys offense. His conservative and predictable play calling definitely inhibited Rascati’s ability to show his full talent. For Landers, he was so successful running the ball that we didn’t get to see all of his potential as a passer. He either ran or threw it deep. He was very good at both though.

I wouldn’t put Lee in the same class as Landers as far as running goes. He was a very good runner, but Landers was one of the best running QB’s I’ve ever seen in college football. Pure dominance that couldn’t be stopped even with 8 men in the box.

One of the stats that highlights how hard it is to compare QBs between teams and eras is the passing attempts per game.
Landers attempted fewer than 15 passes per game. Mickey ball.
Lee attempted over 34 passes per game. Withers ball.

You would think Lee would have way more TD responsibility in a high octane hurry up offense vs Landers in a Run heavy offense with the clock ticking non stop. However, Lee had 68 Total TD’s and Landers had 63 total TD’s. Not much different and both had the end of their career ended by injury.
Imagine what could have been if each finished out healthy.

I say Landers would have won a title, but don’t think Lee would have based on Withers sieve of a defensive scheme and pressure to score 40 points to win against good teams.

In a college offense, give me Landers over Lee all day. We saw Lee have some very bad games. I don’t think Landers had any crappy games he was just so consistently good. Maybe there is one that I don’t remember.

What we know for sure is that neither Johnson or Maloney is a Landers/Lee. Maybe the only good of a COVID cancelled season is JMU’s chance to get a Stud QB before the next season starts.

What is Landers up to these days