Sam’s accuracy wasn’t great, but the size and length of Collin Johnson & Lil’Jordan Humphrey, plus the speed of Devin Duvernay boosted Sam’s completion percentage and helped move the team downfield when his throws went haywire. The same can be said for X and AD taking off like rockets to catch Quinn’s moon balls that kept sailing for what felt like an eternity.
I don’t recall a time when Sam’s throws put his receivers in a position to get completely rocked the way Quinn’s did waiting for the ball to hit the target. Quinn’s style of play is difficult to translate at the next level. He’s not just putting himself in danger, he’s also putting his receivers at risk. Say what you want about Bond and his serious shit, but he got hurt in the OU game while he was wide open trying to catch one of Quinn’s floaters that turned into an INT.
A lot of people say Quinn just turtled under pressure and fell to the ground. Sam’s version of turtling was throwing those idiotic INTs vs Maryland and USC. The difference I saw was that Sam’s body language never wavered. He never shrugged like Quinn on the field before walking to the sideline after a shit play against Georgia. Sam was locked in even when Herman was chewing gum and blowing his bubbles on the sideline when we all knew the game was out of reach. It seems like throughout the whole Herman era, Sam was the adult in the room.
It really bugs me that Sark supposedly told Sam to kick rocks even though he had another year of eligibility, but Sark must’ve felt it was time to move on. I just don’t see how having Casey and Hudson as the only vets in the QB room was the best option when the whole team was shit because of Herman being an egomaniac. The negative recruiting from the inside and out was real and the culture around Texas was in the toilet with pee charts.
I can’t wrap my head around how there has been little to no improvement in offensive PPG under Sark while he is supposedly a QB guru. I’ve been hard on Quinn but I think a lot of it has to do with Sark and his decision making. Knowing that Bert is dogshit from one side of the field and still running plays to that side is what makes me ragey. I feel like that’s why Quinn looks like shit sometimes with the offense. Sark doesn’t know how to play to the strength of the team and it exacerbates the issues Quinn already has on an individual level.