Hackenberg “Frustrated” by Past Handling, “Excited” Moving Forward

[#27TheDominator]

3 minutes ago, RSJ said:

Which brings up another question. What kind of NFL head coach needs a QB on his roster making 10m to coach his young QB's? This isnt just about Hack either. Petty was basically the worst and most unprepared Jets QB I have ever witnessed. I am not being dramatic either. McElroy, Bollinger, Bubby Brister. Take your pick, all better and more prepared to play in a game. I know for a fact that Petty is not worse than some of those guys. There is no way Petty should have been looked bad. No one on any NFL roster could possibly have looked worse than Petty did when playing. While we are at it, can someone please name a decent QB that McCown has "mentored"? Seems to me everywhere this guy goes is a disaster.

Part of Petty's problem may have been the system.  Like Hackenberg's redshirt year, Petty was supposed to need time to acclimate to taking snaps under center and adjust to making reads coming out of Baylor.  Presumably Gailey's system suited him much better.  Petty was not ready to run any version of the west coast. 

[long suffering jets fan]

8 minutes ago, RSJ said:

Which brings up another question. What kind of NFL head coach needs a QB on his roster making 10m to coach his young QB's? This isnt just about Hack either. Petty was basically the worst and most unprepared Jets QB I have ever witnessed. I am not being dramatic either. McElroy, Bollinger, Bubby Brister. Take your pick, all better and more prepared to play in a game. I know for a fact that Petty is not worse than some of those guys. There is no way Petty should have been looked bad. No one on any NFL roster could possibly have looked worse than Petty did when playing. While we are at it, can someone please name a decent QB that McCown has "mentored"? Seems to me everywhere this guy goes is a disaster.

Don't necessarily agree with your last 2 sentences, but your opening is right on point. If McCown was brought in to develop Petty, or Hack, he failed miserably and why aren't our coaches filling that role.

[slimjasi]

2 hours ago, 56mehl56 said:

Then you obviously saw his Freshman season under O'Brien. 

I did. He completed 59% of his passes and struggled badly against the only top defense he played (OSU). He was a game manager type who did a nice job of keeping his turnovers down (20 TDs, 10 INTS), but was also not much of a play-maker who constantly missed open guys down the field. 

While he definitely regressed without O'Brien (and a worse offensive line), he was also just never very accurate and could just never handle a pass rush. He's one of those guys who loses his mind under duress. A bit Sanchez-esque in that sense. He wasn't a good college QB. I hate to sound harsh, but PSU fans generally couldn't stand him.  

For the record, I openly bashed the pick when we made it. Every PSU fan I knew basically agreed with my assessment of Hack. No one who watched him play, game in and game out, thought he was going to be a good NFL QB.

[#27TheDominator]

Just now, Jetsplayer21 said:

I’m loling becuse you are making me “ Laugh Out loud.  “ You are justifying petty deserved to stay in the game, play every week when he looked as lost as mark Sanchez vs Buffalo in 09. When you are that bad after 3 games it’s next man up. You don’t say “ well Bryce had a bad but not terrible camp, he will pull through.” It’s not as if we were playing for anything. Petty was a goner no matter what. 

Hackenberg deserved to play because Petty sucked?  The kid had no idea about the protections and blitzes and during some fairly vanilla preseason games was getting blown up regularly.  They did him a favor.  He would have had his brains scrambled if he had played.  He took like 10 sacks in the preseason. 

[RSJ]

Just now, #27TheDominator said:

Part of Petty's problem may have been the system.  Like Hackenberg's redshirt year, Petty was supposed to need time to acclimate to taking snaps under center and adjust to making reads coming out of Baylor.  Presumably Gailey's system suited him much better.  Petty was not ready to run any version of the west coast. 

Stop with this system stuff. You put a young QB in and you cut down the playbook in order to emphasize what the player does well. A team literally just won a super bowl doing this, Meanwhile Petty is getting sandwhiched like I have literally never seen before and unable to complete a pass.

[RSJ]

3 minutes ago, long suffering jets fan said:

Don't necessarily agree with your last 2 sentences, but your opening is right on point. If McCown was brought in to develop Petty, or Hack, he failed miserably and why aren't our coaches filling that role.

Exactly. Clearly McCown isnt the quarterback whisperer. Which is fine because it shouldnt even be his job. We need QB's who can get wins anyway.

[Jetsplayer21]

2 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

Hackenberg deserved to play because Petty sucked?  The kid had no idea about the protections and blitzes and during some fairly vanilla preseason games was getting blown up regularly.  They did him a favor.  He would have had his brains scrambled if he had played.  He took like 10 sacks in the preseason. 

Lol again ?. Come on! He is a big tough boy. If he was as bad as you say, he wasn’t coming back. Do we really care then ? If Bowles loved Petty that much more wouldn’t he want to protect him in the garbage time ? Instead of putting him behind a bad line that was getting tired ? Was Mac worried the whole league would see how bad hack was and we wouldn’t get better than a 7th round pick for him in a trade ? Ohh wait ? lol. 

   The ONLY good thing about being out of playoff contention, is a chance to play young guys you normally wouldn’t have time to take flyers on. Todd Bowles didn’t understand that. He was trying to win the Toilet Bowl. Look at Nate sterling. You would probably say he was a jag and had a bad camp, ect. But the kid came in ( only because Jenkins got hurt not becuse of Bowles being smart ) and did very well in the very limited time he was given. Look how many other good players only got their chance due to injury. Even if the chances are very low, you can never be 100% sure until they are in real games. 

[Jetsfan80]

3 hours ago, Ken Shroy said:

Bowles IS an idiot but that doesn't change the fact that Hack just sux.

Exactly.  These aren't mutually exclusive concepts. 

Just like how Mark Sanchez sucked AND Rex Ryan sucked.

And like how Geno Smith sucked AND Rex Ryan sucked. 

And just like how Chad Pennington sucked AND Herm Edwards sucked. 

[southtown24th]

**** this guy

[Joe Jets fan]

5 hours ago, #27TheDominator said:

He started 2 of the games and he was outplayed by Bryce Petty by a country mile.  Bryce Petty came from a spread offense and rarely took snaps from under center, but Hackenberg deserves a 3rd redshirt season?   

They changed offensive coordinators specifically to help him.  That is why he was moved ahead of Petty in camp after playing worse all of 2016.

Maybe the change of scenery will do him well, but Gruden doesn't have such a great track record with young QBs.  Most of his success came with vets, and older vets at that - Gannon, Johnson, Garcia.  

This is the most untrue thing I have read on this site.  

 

Look, Bowles never wanted him.  The CS never wanted him.  They never worked with to make him better.   Maybe he sucks so bad it would not matter but they never tried.    Please don’t let them do the same with Sam.  

[jetstream23]

3 hours ago, Joe Jets fan said:

This is the most untrue thing I have read on this site.  

 

Look, Bowles never wanted him.  The CS never wanted him.  They never worked with to make him better.   Maybe he sucks so bad it would not matter but they never tried.    Please don’t let them do the same with Sam.  

Darnold's future lies in the hands of Jeremy Bates, for better or for worse.  Having McCown there, who was coached to his best season by Bates last year, is a good thing.  I believe the Jets are setup well to groom Darnold but we'll see.  This isn't Doug Pederson, Frank Reich and John DeFillipo here.  But we have to trust that the Jets have the right guys in place.

[jetstream23]

Great article about Wentz's progress from year 1 to year 2....and this was written in September of 2017, just as Wentz was starting what would be a phenomenal season until he got hurt.  Too difficult to copy paste the whole thing but here's the link and here are some tidbits...

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/philadelphia-eagles-carson-wentz-doug-pederson-frank-reich-john-defilippo-20170905.html

 

Quote

Reich’s performance in the greatest comeback in NFL playoff history occurred in Buffalo after the grip alteration. It’s impossible to know if there was a direct cause and effect. Reich clearly felt it helped. Ultimately, that is what mattered the most – his confidence after the new grip – and the same could be said of any quarterback who must perform one of the most difficult jobs in all of sport.

Which brings us back to Wentz. Much has been made of the changes the Eagles quarterback underwent during his first full NFL offseason – the guru he trained with for a week, the  modification of his footwork, and the natural maturation that comes simply with time. But Wentz and the Eagles say the sum has been greater than the individual parts.

Quote

Wentz’s rookie year showed great promise, but there was the negative, particularly after a hot four-game start. His accuracy on intermediate-deep throws was inconsistent. He completed just 32.7 percent of his attempts over 20 yards, and his 36.8  rating on deep passes was 25^th among 27 qualifying quarterbacks.

The pounding he increasingly took in the pocket during Lane Johnson’s 10-game suspension didn’t help matters, and neither did the ineffectiveness of his outside receivers. Wentz tossed 10 interceptions over a seven-game span, culminating with a three-pick performance against the Bengals on Dec. 3. His footwork had become erratic.

“There’s the famous line of Bill Walsh that he could just watch tape of a quarterback’s feet — Joe Montana’s feet — and tell you whether or not every throw was a good throw,” Mayock said. “So the foundation is built from the ground up, and [Wentz’s] footwork was highly inconsistent last year as far as the season went along, getting back over that front foot.”

The Eagles had Wentz initially hold the ball higher and widen his base after the draft.

“There were things that you see and you say, ‘Boy, I want to change all of that right now,’” Reich said. “But you got to take a mature approach. It takes time.”

But the Eagles also didn’t want to turn the naturally athletic and instinctive quarterback into a robot.

Quote

“There’s an art and a science to playing quarterback, and I really try to bring both,” Reich said. “I feel very comfortable with my understanding of mechanics and the fundamentals, but because I have experience as a player there’s a side of it – the art of it, the feel of it, the instinct of it – I don’t ever want [Wentz] to lose.”

After the season, DeFilippo gave Wentz a few minor mechanical things to work on before they parted in January. A month later, Wentz enlisted the aid of 3DQB’s Adam Dedeaux, who had previously worked with Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, and many other top quarterbacks.

A former pitcher, Dedeaux uses biomechanics and motion analysis to analyze throwing motion. When Wentz overstrode last year, the ball would sometimes sail high, wide, or both. DeFilippo said he has seen a difference in the footwork.

“I think he’s doing a much better job of keeping his right foot under his shoulder, and that’s causing him to overstride less,” DeFilippo said. “So from a lower-body standpoint I think he’s really shortened up his front foot.”

 

[Villain The Foe]

Hack can kick rocks. Dude was terrible since college. Why debate over who's fault it was? The last time Hack was considered "good" he was in high school. Good riddance.

[Dunnie]

Exactly. Clearly McCown isnt the quarterback whisperer. Which is fine because it shouldnt even be his job. We need QB's who can get wins anyway.

What is McCowns win loss reco r d again ? He seems like a good guy and great team mate ... But he's been on a lot of teams that suck.

 

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[BurnleyJet]

2 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

Hack can kick rocks. Dude was terrible since college. Why debate over who's fault it was? The last time Hack was considered "good" he was in high school. Good riddance.

People love to outrage, good bye Hack, we have Sam D, and two great backups.

Our second round bust rate is massive. 

[Sonny Werblin]

9 hours ago, 56mehl56 said:

No more of an anomaly then his 3 PS games. 

When you suck for the better part of 4 years, it is not an anomaly.

I'm disappointed that hack chose to hang his frustration on the Jets. That just speaks poorly of him as a leader and a pro. He need only look in the mirror to find the person that is most to blame for his lack of success. The Jets were begging him to win the starting job last season, and he couldn't even out play Bryce freakn Petty.

See ya Hack. And I can't say it's been fun.

[Sonny Werblin]

3 hours ago, jetstream23 said:

Great article about Wentz's progress from year 1 to year 2....and this was written in September of 2017, just as Wentz was starting what would be a phenomenal season until he got hurt.  Too difficult to copy paste the whole thing but here's the link and here are some tidbits...

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/philadelphia-eagles-carson-wentz-doug-pederson-frank-reich-john-defilippo-20170905.html

 

 

Good read. Thanks for posting. Not sure if you are making any kind of hack comparison? Since wentz was the second pick of the draft and hack was a reach pick in the second round, their really is no basis for comparison.

[Sonny Werblin]

9 hours ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

Lol again ?. Come on! He is a big tough boy. If he was as bad as you say, he wasn’t coming back. Do we really care then ? If Bowles loved Petty that much more wouldn’t he want to protect him in the garbage time ? Instead of putting him behind a bad line that was getting tired ? Was Mac worried the whole league would see how bad hack was and we wouldn’t get better than a 7th round pick for him in a trade ? Ohh wait ? lol. 

   The ONLY good thing about being out of playoff contention, is a chance to play young guys you normally wouldn’t have time to take flyers on. Todd Bowles didn’t understand that. He was trying to win the Toilet Bowl. Look at Nate sterling. You would probably say he was a jag and had a bad camp, ect. But the kid came in ( only because Jenkins got hurt not becuse of Bowles being smart ) and did very well in the very limited time he was given. Look how many other good players only got their chance due to injury. Even if the chances are very low, you can never be 100% sure until they are in real games. 

You earn your spot on the field in a regular season game by playing well in practice, regardless of whether the team is out of playoff contention. Your draft position may get you more "opportunities" to earn your spot, but you have earn it. Hack did not. That's on hack and nobody else.

[jamesr]

There's a difference between coaching and mentoring.

The QB coach is there to coach, the mentor is there to mentor. McCown should NOT be coaching our young guy.

Coaching is about the tasks and the mechanics of the game. If a player isn't picking up the playbook, or is having to refine his mechanics, or needs help reading defenses, that is purely a job for the coach. You can't have multiple coaches or you'll confuse the hell out the player.

Mentoring is about the longer term and possibly the less tangible stuff. How to "be a pro". How to lead a team. How to build relationships with the guys around you. Bates isn't going to be talking to Darnold about those things, or at least nowhere near as much as prepping him to play his own role. You can also have more than one mentor (e.g. maybe a defensive player will talk to the QB from the "other side of the ball" perspective).

At its most basic - Bates is there to push Darnold as hard as he can to be the best QB he can be. McCown is there to show Darnold how to do all that in a professional way that gainers the respect of his team mates. IMHO a guy like Darnold may not need that much mentoring as he seems to have his head screwed on right. But a guy like Mayfield may at times need a voice of experience to tell him to to knuckle down, learn humility and focus on the team - that message comes across easier from a guy who's been there than from a coach.

[#27TheDominator]

9 hours ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

Lol again ?. Come on! He is a big tough boy. If he was as bad as you say, he wasn’t coming back. Do we really care then ? If Bowles loved Petty that much more wouldn’t he want to protect him in the garbage time ? Instead of putting him behind a bad line that was getting tired ? Was Mac worried the whole league would see how bad hack was and we wouldn’t get better than a 7th round pick for him in a trade ? Ohh wait ? lol. 

   The ONLY good thing about being out of playoff contention, is a chance to play young guys you normally wouldn’t have time to take flyers on. Todd Bowles didn’t understand that. He was trying to win the Toilet Bowl. Look at Nate sterling. You would probably say he was a jag and had a bad camp, ect. But the kid came in ( only because Jenkins got hurt not becuse of Bowles being smart ) and did very well in the very limited time he was given. Look how many other good players only got their chance due to injury. Even if the chances are very low, you can never be 100% sure until they are in real games. 

You are arguing something different.

Should Bowles have given Hack a look?  Sure, maybe, but that in no way stunted his development or kept him from becoming a "franchise" QB.  Hackenberg was not going to suddenly step up under the bright lights.  I totally disagree with your "never be 100% sure" analysis.  The guy's draft profile said his accuracy was terrible and he "made receivers into goalies" If you think that is changing in game compared to practice, I can't help you.

[#27TheDominator]

9 hours ago, Joe Jets fan said:

This is the most untrue thing I have read on this site.  

 

Look, Bowles never wanted him.  The CS never wanted him.  They never worked with to make him better.   Maybe he sucks so bad it would not matter but they never tried.    Please don’t let them do the same with Sam.  

Wow!  Another accolade!  

Maybe it wasn't specifically to help him, but if they hated him so much then why was he getting starter reps through camp and preseason in 2017?  I can believe that Gailey never wanted him, but Bates knew what was in the QB room when he took that job and his purpose was to get something out of those guys. 

[#27TheDominator]

13 hours ago, dbatesman said:

you’re gonna feel really dumb when the Raiders coaches make him good

I already do for getting involved in this.  All of Hackenberg's faults lie with Bowles. Even though they were evident well before the Jets ever drafted him.  This seems very similar to the argument that the Jets had to suck in 2017 because Woody forced Maccagnan to make poor draft choices and sign free agents that were going to be good for one year, but get paid for three. 

[Sonny Werblin]

1 hour ago, jamesr said:

There's a difference between coaching and mentoring.

The QB coach is there to coach, the mentor is there to mentor. McCown should NOT be coaching our young guy.

Coaching is about the tasks and the mechanics of the game. If a player isn't picking up the playbook, or is having to refine his mechanics, or needs help reading defenses, that is purely a job for the coach. You can't have multiple coaches or you'll confuse the hell out the player.

Mentoring is about the longer term and possibly the less tangible stuff. How to "be a pro". How to lead a team. How to build relationships with the guys around you. Bates isn't going to be talking to Darnold about those things, or at least nowhere near as much as prepping him to play his own role. You can also have more than one mentor (e.g. maybe a defensive player will talk to the QB from the "other side of the ball" perspective).

At its most basic - Bates is there to push Darnold as hard as he can to be the best QB he can be. McCown is there to show Darnold how to do all that in a professional way that gainers the respect of his team mates. IMHO a guy like Darnold may not need that much mentoring as he seems to have his head screwed on right. But a guy like Mayfield may at times need a voice of experience to tell him to to knuckle down, learn humility and focus on the team - that message comes across easier from a guy who's been there than from a coach.

Totally agree. That QB room -- with great guys beloved by their teammates wherever they go in McCown and Bridgewater -- was IMO created because the Jets thought that either Mayfield or Rosen would be their pick at 3, and both of those guys need some mentoring.

Darnold reminds me of Derek Jeter. The moment is never too big for him, he stays out of the non-sports news, and he always says the very vanilla right thing when talking to the press. 

The quotes in this article speaks volumes about how high the character is in the Jets QB room. https://nypost.com/2018/05/22/what-sam-darnold-showed-his-competition-on-jets-day-1/

[Raideraholic]

16 hours ago, #27TheDominator said:

You guys did see him play in the preseason last year, right?  He sucked.  They gave him a chance to win the job and he fell on his face.  He was 21st in yards, but 5th in attempts.  All the guys ahead of him in attempts had at least 80 yards more.  Matt ******* Simms had 3 more attempts and 612 yards compared to 372.  One of the only guys that was worse?  Connor Cook.  Guess that is why the Raiders gave him a shot. 

You can't judge a third string Qb off the preseason.  For the simple reason when a third string enters the game he playing with a really bad offense line.   It really hard to judge what you have when the Qb a sitting duck back there.   

Now if that Qb saw time with the first string offense line, and he struggled it's a much better indicator of the Qb .

[#27TheDominator]

Just now, Raideraholic said:

You can't judge a third string Qb off the preseason.  For the simple reason when a third string enters the game he playing with a really bad offense line.   It really hard to judge what you have when the Qb a sitting duck back there.   

Now if that Qb saw time with the first string offense line, and he struggled it's a much better indicator of the Qb .

Well, he started games 2 and 3 and came in after the first series or two in game 1.  How is that for an indicator? 

[JustInFudge]

Honestly, I'd be frustrated if I were Hack too.  Everyone knew he sucked and needed a ton of work.  He was drafted with a "plan" and apparently that plan was to just to let him sit around and pick his nose.

That's on the Jets. 

[Matt39]

11 hours ago, slimjasi said:

I did. He completed 59% of his passes and struggled badly against the only top defense he played (OSU). He was a game manager type who did a nice job of keeping his turnovers down (20 TDs, 10 INTS), but was also not much of a play-maker who constantly missed open guys down the field. 

While he definitely regressed without O'Brien (and a worse offensive line), he was also just never very accurate and could just never handle a pass rush. He's one of those guys who loses his mind under duress. A bit Sanchez-esque in that sense. He wasn't a good college QB. I hate to sound harsh, but PSU fans generally couldn't stand him.  

For the record, I openly bashed the pick when we made it. Every PSU fan I knew basically agreed with my assessment of Hack. No one who watched him play, game in and game out, thought he was going to be a good NFL QB.

Hackenberg had a lot of hype out of high school I believe- which really didnt do him any favors. Similar to Jimmy Clausen.

[Raideraholic]

12 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

Well, he started games 2 and 3 and came in after the first series or two in game 1.  How is that for an indicator? 

Never said Hackenberg was any good .    My point is you really can't judge any Qb in the preseason.  See Browning Nagle, and Ryan Leaf- who looked great against Vanilla defenses, only to be exposed bigtime  when they started to play against real defenses.

We have seen some third stringer Qb's look great going against guys that will be doing something else beside playing football too.

Accuracy is the most important quality for any Qb( isn't arm strength) .   Hackenberg having to radical change his delivery isn't condusive to him ever developing in to an NFL Qb. 

[Jetsplayer21]

2 hours ago, #27TheDominator said:

You are arguing something different.

Should Bowles have given Hack a look?  Sure, maybe, but that in no way stunted his development or kept him from becoming a "franchise" QB.  Hackenberg was not going to suddenly step up under the bright lights.  I totally disagree with your "never be 100% sure" analysis.  The guy's draft profile said his accuracy was terrible and he "made receivers into goalies" If you think that is changing in game compared to practice, I can't help you.

I’m not saying I think he would star. I think he is a horrible qb. He wouldn’t have been picked until the 4th round if mac wasn’t an idiot and picked him 2nd. I think when you draft a qb that high, in the early second round, you have a duty to your fans to show your high draft pick in the garbage time of a 5-11 season. Especially when the guy ahead of him is playing like complete garbage. 

  There were articles reading end of the yr that had coaches saying he was looking great in practice. Well let’s see it, prove your not full of complete shhit. 

  It’s water under the bridge now. 

[jetstream23]

3 hours ago, Sonny Werblin said:

Good read. Thanks for posting. Not sure if you are making any kind of hack comparison? Since wentz was the second pick of the draft and hack was a reach pick in the second round, their really is no basis for comparison.

Nope, definitely not a Hack comparison.  I'm talking more about surrounding Darnold with the right coaches and developing him....starting from the toes on up!  Cautiously optimistic that Bates is the right guy but the Eagles had a really great setup with Pederson, DeFillipo and Reich those first couple of years, and as the article mentioned, they sent Wentz to "guru camp" with Dudeau in the offseason.  I hope the Jets are spending a lot of time thinking about who and how to bring Darnold along and not just winging it!

[Jetsplayer21]

3 hours ago, Sonny Werblin said:

You earn your spot on the field in a regular season game by playing well in practice, regardless of whether the team is out of playoff contention. Your draft position may get you more "opportunities" to earn your spot, but you have earn it. Hack did not. That's on hack and nobody else.

It was a TERRIBLE pick. Everyone knew it at the time. I was listening to show last night saying he would have went in the 4th or even 5 th round had mac not plunked him in middle of 2nd.

 Mac is a very bad drafter. Anybody can pick Sam Darnold, or the #1 BPA guy with the 6th pick 2 years in a row. He has been horrible when you have to actually use skill. He should be stripped of drafting decisions, especially after he just flipped a mid 2nd for a conditional 7th without the guy taking the field. 

[Sonny Werblin]

39 minutes ago, JiF said:

Honestly, I'd be frustrated if I were Hack too.  Everyone knew he sucked and needed a ton of work.  He was drafted with a "plan" and apparently that plan was to just to let him sit around and pick his nose.

That's on the Jets. 

In all fairness, why would anyone groom a nose picker to be their starting QB?

[JustInFudge]

1 minute ago, Sonny Werblin said:

In all fairness, why would anyone groom a nose picker to be their starting QB?

[Freemanm]

Good luck Hack. I hope someday you are able to hand out cups of water to actual players during games

[56mehl56]

4 hours ago, Sonny Werblin said:

When you suck for the better part of 4 years, it is not an anomaly.

I'm disappointed that hack chose to hang his frustration on the Jets. That just speaks poorly of him as a leader and a pro. He need only look in the mirror to find the person that is most to blame for his lack of success. The Jets were begging him to win the starting job last season, and he couldn't even out play Bryce freakn Petty.

See ya Hack. And I can't say it's been fun.

What is the better part of 4 years.

2 years on a team stripped of talent by a scandal and playing for a HC and system not suited to his style.

2 years on a team who basically had no interest in developing a QB , who needed tons of development.

I'm not saying Hack would have ever become a decent starter , he may not have even have become a viable backup , but it sure would have been nice to at least find out.

I personally think he handled the situation remarkably well considering how he was handled , of course no one really knows what went on behind the scenes and he could have been a grade A Ahole for all we know. But a kid who stuck with PSU when he could have easily bolted doesn't come off as being that type of person.