Sam, Statistics and Areas of Improvement

[clob94]

I've got some free time on my hands this evening as our early dinner is over and I fly out tomorrow after a lunch meeting. On a side note, if you ever get asked to go to Angola, after 4 trips, I can tell you with certainty that you need to pass.....

During the run up to the Sugar bowl, there's some issues we should address and some areas of improvement that this team should make.

But first, let's look at Sam's numbers.

If I told you that Sam had passed for 3123 yards would you be surprised? I wasn't. What if I told you only 20 qb's threw for more yards than Sam? It's true. Only 20 other qb's.
Care to guess what his completion rate is?

64.3 ----- that isn't bad, but it isn't great either. Bobble head and Tua are over 70%. Minskew at wazzu and haskins at Ohio St are the only others with 70% completion rates. Grier at WVU is at 67% and that's what sam needs to shot for next year. 3% more completions, with the schedule we had this year, translates to at least 1 more win, perhaps two. That's HUGE.

Touchdown passes: 25 for sam. I know, I know, he rushed for more..... and bobble head tries not to run for tds but he threw for 40. Tua and Grier each have 37. Haskins has 47.

Sam needs to up that number by at least 5, while maintaining his rushing scores.

Sacks: how many times do you think sam was sacked?

24. By contrast, kellen mond from aggy was sacked 34 times. Ouch! Ya aggy, we know, the sec sec sec has better defensive pass rushers. But...but... I thought sec olines were NFL ready? Tua was sacked only 11 times. Jordan Ta'amu from Ole miss (if there was ever a dude that shoulda been an aggy) was sacked 29 times. Lock at mizzu was sacked only 13 times. Bently from south Carolina was only sacked 17 times. Shurmer at vandy was sacked only 20 times. Milton at ucf, and Finley at ncst were only sacked 9 times. Sam needs fewer sacks and the aggy oline is trash.

But this last one is where I realized that sam has a long way to go:

What's sam's longest touchdown pass this year? 80 yards? 70? 60? 50?


48. 48 yards. 48 measly yards.

Alex hornibrook at wisconsin is the only power 5 qb I can find with a lower number for his longest passing td all year------ 44. And I think we can all agree, wisconsin is not a beacon of wr play.....

We have 3 really fast guys at wr..... yet our longest td is only 48 yards. This is a big problem. This tells Defensive coaches that we don't have big play ability. This will be flagged by Kirby smart because, well, he's really smart. He'll see that Georgia doesn't have to worry about giving up the deep ball because, well, we can't complete it.

Please feel free to add your stats that look alarming or encouraging.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

Touchdown passes: 25 for sam.

25-5 with most INT's coming during the Kansas game which still blows my mind. His accuracy on the long ball needs improvement he just seems to over throw everything. Hopefully it get's corrected during the offseason.

As for Georgia I actually think we'll be in this game.

 

[speedstrength]

I don't think the sack numbers tell the whole story. Sam is big and physical and he is able to make some things happen with his feet. There were times he held onto the ball too long but was able to get a yard or two. Not a sack but it put us behind schedule or killed a drive. Yds per attempt 7.9 and that's a little elevated because he has some big time YAC help this year. He needs to throw the ball downfield more, especially the deep middle which pulls Safetys out of run support. You are looking at a dig route from the slot or some kind of deep curl from the TE spot. Not sure we have an TE with enough athleticism or enough pass protection to make that work. I would also like to see his completion percentage on second and third and long.

 

[CoachEmUp64]

All I know is if you would've told me at the beginning of the year we'd be 9-3 at the end of the regular season, play in Big 12 championship game, and then play in the Sugar bowl.... I would've told you that you were high as a kite.

It was a heck of a season. And honestly I think we should've won every game except the Maryland game at the beginning of the year. I feel like the other games we beat ourselves for various reasons.

Mensa Herman is worth his salt.

 

[Hornsfan722]

I really thought going into the season based off of what I seen from Sam last year that we were in for a long year. Even after the Maryland game I was still scratching my head. What I saw out of Sam more than anything this year was his leadership capability, and to me that goes a long way as a quarterback. He needs to work on his touch so he can complete those fade routes that he missed on a lot this year. I can think of probably 15 to 20 passes where a receiver had the defender beat but Sam just over threw him. If he can learn to get that fade route throw down with a little touch on it then that will really help with our lack of big plays. If Colin Johnson and Lil Jordan both decide to stay I can see this offense averaging over 40 a game next year. Herman needs to work in some more run plays outside, I feel like the only runs we have in the playbook is that inside zone and inside zone read. I’m excited to play Georgia that should give us a good indication of how far we have really come as a program.

 

[DHHorn]

I'm pleased with the growth from Sam. Hope he stays on the same trajectory.

 

[clob94]

All I know is if you would've told me at the beginning of the year we'd be 9-3 at the end of the regular season, play in Big 12 championship game, and then play in the Sugar bowl.... I would've told you that you were high as a kite.

It was a heck of a season. And honestly I think we should've won every game except the Maryland game at the beginning of the year. I feel like the other games we beat ourselves for various reasons.

Mensa Herman is worth his salt.

Dude...... I told you at the beginning of the season that if we stayed healthy, we'd be 9-3. Were ya just not listening bruh?

 

[elcapitan009]

Sams numbers may take a huge hit if CJ and LJH leave next year. He has been throwing to 6'4" and 6'6" NFL receivers.

How many less than 50/50 balls did he chuck up where the WRs made fantastic plays?

He's definitely progressed from last year, but he needs to make another big leap if he wants to lead us to the promised land with the WR talent he'll have senior year.

 

[UTGrad87]

I was very tough on Sam prior to this season. I liked his leadership skills and his running but hated his decision making and his passing skills. I stated that I thought his decision making would get better but doubted his passing would improve.

I never in my wildest dreams thought one of his weaknesses would become a strength and the other weakness would diminish greatly . . . Both happened.

So now I'm a big fan of Sam. He made great decisions this season and his passing has improved tremendously. He needs to continue to refine his accuracy, especially on long throws down the sideline, and stay the course with his decisions. If Sam can put the ball on a dime at 50 yards next year . . . Look out! We'z gonna be goot!

 

[Longyac]

Sams numbers may take a huge hit if CJ and LJH leave next year. He has been throwing to 6'4" and 6'6" NFL receivers.

How many less than 50/50 balls did he chuck up where the WRs made fantastic plays?

He's definitely progressed from last year, but he needs to make another big leap if he wants to lead us to the promised land with the WR talent he'll have senior year.

I think is INT numbers are so low because he didn't throw as many 50/50 balls as he should have with the big guys.

If he can stop overthrowing wide open guys on the deep ball it will change how teams defend Texas and open up the running game. As long as his completion rate on those stays around 0% defenses will continue to risk it.

 

[Metcalf #2]

His biggest problem to me is that he immediately from the snap locks on to his target, and by god he's gonna throw it there even if there's five dbs in the area.

This drives me nuts. Our backup QB in high school knew better than to lock in on his target, or he was getting the dreaded whistle to the dome. How in the hell is a two year starter in college still doing this? I just don't get.

Like I've said he's impressed me this year, but he's got to clean that mess up. Must learn to look defenders off and go through progressions, or Duvernay may end up choking him out if he misses many more of those wide open TDs. And saying wide open is understatement. Good god he could've punted to Devon.

EDIT: and ffs please learn some touch. You don't just throw deep balls as hard as you can.

 

[hookem777]

Sam has a lot of improvement to do before he becomes "elite" or even "great". With that said he has made strides and I mean huge strides compared to last season. He seems like a leader and his statement after the big 12 game tells me he is ready to take on the role of it's his team and this off season really study his game. I don't think he is a national championship qb still. But I do think we can win the big 12 the next to years with his game as is now.

 

[bschroed21]

There are some cerebral things, presnap and early in play development that he seems inconsistent at as well. Two glaring examples were 1. Not seeing Duv wide open across the middle against OU. The middle of the field opened up immediately and he was totally unaware, eyes locked on LJ I believe. 2. The safety he took, the OU DB is on the line of scrimmage, 5 yards away. That is an immediate threat, on his right hand side, and he never identified it. What’s more glaring is that it was on CJ’s side, which probably ought be his first check. I didn’t see where the safety was, but if a tiny corner is up in CJ’s jock, that’s probably where you need to be going with the ball.

To get more long pass plays, I’d like to see us implement more crossing route stuff for guys like Duv, Bert and some of these fast young kids. Those guys can fly and can turn a 12 yard drag into a huge play if our big outside receivers are occupying more than one defender. Deep balls are great, and we need more, but you can get those long pass plays with design as well. We’ve been lacking in this area for some time. Early in the season, I thought the use of Duvernay was potentially going to unlock our offense more than it has.

 

[CoachEmUp64]

Dude...... I told you at the beginning of the season that if we stayed healthy, we'd be 9-3. Were ya just not listening bruh?

If I remember correctly you doubled down on your first prediction and said if we caught the injury bug we'd be 6-6?

 

[clob94]

If I remember correctly you doubled down on your first prediction and said if we caught the injury bug we'd be 6-6?

Don't make me repost again. 9-3 if we stay healthy and 8-4 if we don't. Hang on, I'll find you the link coach.

 

[clob94]

If I remember correctly you doubled down on your first prediction and said if we caught the injury bug we'd be 6-6?

Here you go coach.

https://texas.forums.rivals.com/threads/through-my-eyes.377612/

 

[WRLHookem]

After the first big long ball miss to CJ in 1st quarter I told my son, “that’s ok, it’s going to be there all day.” It was, and he missed on multiple occasions. He’s got a lot to work on.

 

[The Great Bolo]

Sooner fan here but I have a lot of respect for Sam and he certainly was the biggest factor in beating us in October. I think to approach the effectiveness of KM he also will need better pass protection and do a better job with read progression. These two things allowed KM to utilize a whole bunch of different receivers, as you saw in the last game.