Unconquered

Bottom line for me is we know he can do it. We know he's got the intangibles. We know hes got the receivers, TEs and RBs and defense for field position. Lets can the banter and let the young man prove himself this year. From what I've seen on the O- Line thus far, he has every tool. There should be no excuse this year for him to be less than elite. I'm all for him and fully support him. If Jimbo raves him; theres a reason.

Go Noles!

Here is the thing. Two things happened last year.

1) Worst OL he / Ponder had the privilege of enjoying. More pressures and sacks.

2) His attempts per INT went down.

So I am having a problem with suggesting that he regressed. With the most pressure he has faced in his career, his decision making had actually gotten better. Went from 2010 season of 4 picks in 65 attempts, to 8 picks in 311 attempts. How exactly did he regress?

*****

To the poster calling people cracked out for believing in him, suggesting he can't read a defense....he is light years ahead of Ponder going into his senior season. Throw a good zone coverage at Ponder, and apply the slightest of pressure, and the kid would throw into the teeth of the D. EJ is a kid that has learned when the pressure is applied, find his check down (again, a trait many great NFL QBs learn), or get rid of the ball. For as many times as he was pressured, and if you would have told me based on his sophomore season, that he would only toss 8 picks, I would have laughed. Kid HAS developed.

Perspective.

Ponder SR - 184-299 2044 20-8 RTG 135.7 - all while being sacked as a team 27 times

Emanuel JR - 203-311 2666 18-8 RTG 151.2 - 41 team sacks

So again, MORE pressure, MORE hurries, better QB rating, less picks per attempt, and higher yards per completion. And EJ can't read a defense?

I hate the race card, but honestly, anyone suggesting those numbers under those circumstances isn't a visual example of reading the defense, I don't know.....

Yet Ponder did? And Ponder was a round 1 QB?

I'll be honest. EJ reminds me of Ben Rothlesberger.

Big guy with a good frame, solid arm (not the canon of Ben, but more than NFL solid), and good at using his feet (ie boot legs, etc). He also throws a pretty good deep ball. People bitch about the overthrows, but go look at his highlite tape. The kid has like 6 alone from last year. That is connecting. I see a lot of Big Ben.

Never going to be confused for a Brady, who is just lightning through his reads, but instead a guy that 1st and 2nd down, can hit his #1 target accurately, or boot to his checkdown. Is also a threat to run, which can cause safeties to bite, which gets guys open deep. And with solid NFL protection (ie a squad who has built their foundation with a solid OL), the kid can be a very good QB IMO.

He needs a system that is going to develop a running game, have some solid outlet receivers (backs, TEs). He would do very well in Pittsburgh just like Big Ben IMO.

My goodness sa, some of those guys you listed are scrubs.

EJ is a good QB. Not great. I think he was also slightly overrated coming out of HS. However, he is EASILY a top 20 QB in CFB. Easily. If you don't think having a separated shoulder and an offensive line blocking for you that wouldn't start on some high school teams is a problem and will hurt QB performance, you are quite delusional.

One point that I think is sa made that is simply tremendously unfair is this:

You can claim that FSU has great WR's and you can hold that against E.J.; I have no problem with that, because it is true, E.J. has a lot of weapons to throw to.

However, if you are going to hold that against him, I think it is only fair to factor in the OL he plays behind. Anyone who thinks the poor OL play didn't dramatically effect the type of season he had is kidding themselves.

You are right, the OL was very pourous and did the QB no favors. Absolutely.

But my point is, despite a bad OLine, we had tons of weapons.... so when people use the OLine as an excuse, to writeoff EJ's poor year... you have to remember that too.

It just seems like it's so impossible for fans to say "You know what, our QB is basically just average. It is what it is.". No, instead we (on the sports boards) always seem to find a way to totally excuse it as long as possible citing other factors.

I guess where I have an issue is when you say things like "he" had a poor year, when statistically he didn't and it was the offense that had the poor year [can you really put the blame on one player even the QB?].
And when questioned you admit the one game where he had some decent offensive line work for the second half he played well. It just seems to me that you are ignoring the facts to reify your opinion.

B4P is a former scout? As in college or NFL?

A hit dog will holler

I don't want to sound anti-FSU here, and take away from a good win... but Notre Dame owned the lines and we couldn't stop their blitzing and pressure in the first half. Owned the lines.

Then Notre Dame totally stopped doing it. Completely abandoned their first half defense. Why? I"ve always wondered that. We may have won anyway, but they really did sit on their hands and give the game away.

Their defense got very tired in the second half of that game, and it showed. They couldn't keep blitzing, and then our front started picking up their front.

Plus, Michael Floyd grew a vagina in the fourth quarter.

LOL.

I think all of us who came from ND have had a love/hate relationship with each other over the years. A crappy team will do that to a fanbase.

I am overly critical of people at times...but B4P is top notch. Hard pressed to find a better all around dude.

He IS bisexual though, so don't send him any shirtless pics.