MORGANTOWN — Times change, at least that’s what we are told.
There is a great argument to be made that’s not exactly true in quarterback evaluations, which is an absolute shame — or maybe we eliminate the “e” and just call it a sham — where it concerns guys like WVU quarterback Garrett Greene.
Is Greene the top QB in college football? No, and it might also be true that he’ll never see his own name high up on the NFL mock drafts.
That doesn’t exactly mean WVU head coach Neal Brown is making lemonade out of lemons being thrown his way when it comes to Greene’s abilities — probably closer to the opposite.
But let’s not stray far from the point, which is to say the game of football has certainly evolved in recent decades.
It’s faster. Fullbacks are all but extinct. Wide receivers line up as running backs. Tight ends line up as wide receivers.
If a quarterback completes a pass that goes for 12 yards, there is an 80% likelihood that pass wasn’t thrown beyond the line of scrimmage.
If he completes one for 60 yards, more than likely that ball traveled at least 45 yards through the air.
The game of football is no longer that game we played as kids in the streets, where we were told to run to the Chevy and do a button hook.
That is the era of legends like Joe Montana and Dan Marino, guys who could knock a quarter out of your hand from 30 yards away.
Footwork meant everything, as did release points and pocket presence.
“There are some things he does that are very frustrating to me,” Brown begins in his very honest assessment of Greene. “He also does some things that I can’t coach. I can’t coach him to break tackles. I think it’s give and take.
“When we decide to do some things, I know there’s going to be some latitude taken by him. I’ve got to be okay with it.”
In terms of trying to fit Greene into that comparison of a guy like Marino, well you already know how it looks trying to put a round peg into a square hole.
“The kid makes plays. He’s a playmaker who can continue to get better as a passer,” Brown said. “If he would consistently do what he was supposed to do with his feet, he would have a higher completion percentage. I’m okay with him running around, but when the play is in the pocket, let’s be fundamentally sound.”
And this leads us directly to how quarterbacks are evaluated today. The problem is they are evaluated by the exact same standards as the ones who played with leather helmets and no face masks.
OK, that’s a stretch, but you already know all the key components: Completion percentages, touchdown-to-interception ratio and yards per game.
By those standards, Greene is no better than, maybe, the 12th-best quarterback in the Big 12. His completion percentage of 56.8% ranks 15th in the conference.
But does anyone really believe there are 14 quarterbacks in the conference a Big 12 coach would rather have in their starting lineup other than Greene?
Probably not, hence the inaccuracies of the old standards.
“The game, I think sometimes people think this is how a quarterback plays,” Brown said, putting his two cents in on the matter. “To me, it’s about scoring points. Are you scoring points? Are you moving the chains?”
There is an X-factor Greene possess with his ability to run and his ability to make something out of nothing that can’t be gauged by the traditional standards.
Is he pinpoint accurate on a 20-yard crossing route or a 15-yard deep out route? Not always, sometimes not very much.
Is he the most dangerous guy on the field on third-and-five? You bet your footballs he is.
That’s why the game of college football has evolved as rapidly as it has, because our quarterbacks have progressed just as fast from their predecessors.
If you had the ability to travel around the country and check out different high school games, you would see a heck of a lot more future Garrett Greenes out there than you would find future Dan Marinos.
Whether that makes the game better or worse is up for debate, but whatever shortcomings you want to complain about with Greene, simply know there are fans all around this nation with the exact same thoughts about their own QB.
There may be college quarterbacks out there who are a step faster or slower, a few inches taller or shorter, but the characteristics and instincts and positives and negatives are the exact same as Greene.
“Garrett does it very similar to watching Lamar Jackson (on Sunday),” Brown continued. “Now, I’m not comparing Garrett to Lamar, but Lamar Jackson is probably the best running quarterback in the NFL. He does it different than the guy who was calling the game in (Tom) Brady.
“As the game continues to evolve, the quarterbacks are going to continue to have a lot more freedom. I’m comfortable with some of the uncomfortableness of playing backyard ball sometimes.”
And there are no traditional stats or metrics that can measure that type of make-it-up-as-you-go value. To hell with them all — it’s time to come up with some different standards.
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