It still feels like Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Jake Heaps just arrived at BYU. This will be his sophomore season, and many expect his best football to be one or two more years down the road. He will be a better quarterback as a junior, and even better as a senior, but his sophomore season—this season—will be his best year.
What exactly does “best” mean? Best stats? Win the most games? Score the most points? “Best” is a very subjective term. However, there are several dynamics indicating that this year Heaps’ complete body of work will be his best.
Dynamic #1—Pass Efficiency Rating
I start with pass efficiency rating because most of my argument revolves around this stat and when it occurred in two former BYU quarterback’s careers.
The two best pass efficiency ratings in BYU football history came in 1980 and 1989. In 1980, Jim McMahon posted an NCAA record 176.9 pass efficiency rating. It was his best season in almost every way imaginable (hence the astronomical efficiency). In 1989, Ty Detmer flirted with breaking McMahon’s pass efficiency record when he finished the year with a 175.6 passer rating. In Detmer’s case, a healthy, vigorous debate can be made whether 1989 or 1990 was his best season, but going by efficiency, it was clearly his best season.
How does this translate to 2011 and Jake Heaps? McMahon split playing time with Marc Wilson in 1978 and redshirted 1979. That made 1980 McMahon’s first season in full control. Detmer saw significant playing time as a reliever in 1988 before being the guy in 1989. The 2010 season was for Heaps the equivalent of 1978 for McMahon and 1988 for Detmer. Heaps was getting his feet wet, and working on timing in the passing game. Now that he has worked through those stages of his development, Heaps is ready to explode similar to the way McMahon and Detmer exploded.
Dynamic #2—Motivation
It would be silly to say that McMahon and Detmer were not as good of quarterbacks as seniors as they were in 1980 and 1989. Although they continued to progress during their careers, they didn’t reach the same level of efficiency. Part of that can be attributed to how motivated, or hungry, they were. Although they had some college experience already, including some great moments, they still needed to prove themselves. They were driven to prove they belonged as one of college football’s elite quarterbacks. Such a situation causes players to work harder and focus clearer on the task at hand.
Heaps finished out 2010 on a very positive note, but questions still linger. The level of competition was very bad. The season still ended just 7-6. In no way should Heaps be feeling complacent, and think that he has arrived. Cougar fans are sold on him, but he won’t go down in Cougar lore without building on what he has done so far. For a quarterback aspiring for an NFL career, he should be itching at the chance to get the rest of the nation on board the Heaps bandwagon. All of these factors combine to create an edge in Heaps that will come out in Heaps' play on the field.
Dynamic #3—An Unknown Talent
Even with their prior playing time, McMahon and Detmer were unproven talents. The opponents on the schedule didn’t spend all offseason devising defensive schemes to attack their weaknesses. There wasn’t much game film to break down even if their opponents realized McMahon and Detmer were going to be special players. Once the season started and they started eviscerating opponents, figuratively, week in and week out, it was too late. There is not enough time during a season to really study how to attack a certain player.
The game film available for Heaps is more abundant than either McMahon or Detmer, but the new independent schedule removes almost all the teams that got an introduction to Heaps last year. While you can learn from film, it is not the same as playing in person. Heaps is unknown to all the teams, but three on the schedule. As for those three games (Utah, Utah State, and TCU), BYU and Heaps have some serious motivation. All three were ugly losses last year.
Dynamic #4—Consensus All-American Linemen
BYU has had only two offensive linemen be named consensus All-American. They were Nick Eyre in 1980 and Mohammed Elewonibi in 1989. Do you think that it is a coincidence that McMahon and Detmer had their best seasons when they had BYU’s best offensive linemen blocking for them?
Heaps will have Matt Reynolds blocking for him this year. For the second consecutive season, Reynolds is getting loads of pre-season love. From pre-season All-American lists to the Outland and Lombardi watch lists to being projected as a high NFL draft pick, Reynolds is widley respected and viewed as the real deal. He just might be BYU’s best lineman since John Tait (1996-98).
You cannot overestimate the importance of having great linemen. Heaps will benefit this year from having Matt Reynolds block for him, a luxury he won’t have the next two seasons. Sure, BYU will have good linemen, but it is not likely that any of them will be as good as Reynolds.
If you didn’t have enough reasons to keenly watch BYU football in 2011, you can put down one more. This will be Jake Heaps’ best season in Cougar blue. He now has command of the offense, but he hasn’t lost his hunger to prove himself. He is still flying under the radar, and will likely have better pass protection than any future season. This formula has worked twice before. There is no reason to expect it won’t work again.
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
What exactly does “best” mean? Best stats? Win the most games? Score the most points? “Best” is a very subjective term. However, there are several dynamics indicating that this year Heaps’ complete body of work will be his best.
Dynamic #1—Pass Efficiency Rating
I start with pass efficiency rating because most of my argument revolves around this stat and when it occurred in two former BYU quarterback’s careers.
The two best pass efficiency ratings in BYU football history came in 1980 and 1989. In 1980, Jim McMahon posted an NCAA record 176.9 pass efficiency rating. It was his best season in almost every way imaginable (hence the astronomical efficiency). In 1989, Ty Detmer flirted with breaking McMahon’s pass efficiency record when he finished the year with a 175.6 passer rating. In Detmer’s case, a healthy, vigorous debate can be made whether 1989 or 1990 was his best season, but going by efficiency, it was clearly his best season.
How does this translate to 2011 and Jake Heaps? McMahon split playing time with Marc Wilson in 1978 and redshirted 1979. That made 1980 McMahon’s first season in full control. Detmer saw significant playing time as a reliever in 1988 before being the guy in 1989. The 2010 season was for Heaps the equivalent of 1978 for McMahon and 1988 for Detmer. Heaps was getting his feet wet, and working on timing in the passing game. Now that he has worked through those stages of his development, Heaps is ready to explode similar to the way McMahon and Detmer exploded.
Dynamic #2—Motivation
It would be silly to say that McMahon and Detmer were not as good of quarterbacks as seniors as they were in 1980 and 1989. Although they continued to progress during their careers, they didn’t reach the same level of efficiency. Part of that can be attributed to how motivated, or hungry, they were. Although they had some college experience already, including some great moments, they still needed to prove themselves. They were driven to prove they belonged as one of college football’s elite quarterbacks. Such a situation causes players to work harder and focus clearer on the task at hand.
Heaps finished out 2010 on a very positive note, but questions still linger. The level of competition was very bad. The season still ended just 7-6. In no way should Heaps be feeling complacent, and think that he has arrived. Cougar fans are sold on him, but he won’t go down in Cougar lore without building on what he has done so far. For a quarterback aspiring for an NFL career, he should be itching at the chance to get the rest of the nation on board the Heaps bandwagon. All of these factors combine to create an edge in Heaps that will come out in Heaps' play on the field.
Dynamic #3—An Unknown Talent
Even with their prior playing time, McMahon and Detmer were unproven talents. The opponents on the schedule didn’t spend all offseason devising defensive schemes to attack their weaknesses. There wasn’t much game film to break down even if their opponents realized McMahon and Detmer were going to be special players. Once the season started and they started eviscerating opponents, figuratively, week in and week out, it was too late. There is not enough time during a season to really study how to attack a certain player.
The game film available for Heaps is more abundant than either McMahon or Detmer, but the new independent schedule removes almost all the teams that got an introduction to Heaps last year. While you can learn from film, it is not the same as playing in person. Heaps is unknown to all the teams, but three on the schedule. As for those three games (Utah, Utah State, and TCU), BYU and Heaps have some serious motivation. All three were ugly losses last year.
Dynamic #4—Consensus All-American Linemen
BYU has had only two offensive linemen be named consensus All-American. They were Nick Eyre in 1980 and Mohammed Elewonibi in 1989. Do you think that it is a coincidence that McMahon and Detmer had their best seasons when they had BYU’s best offensive linemen blocking for them?
Heaps will have Matt Reynolds blocking for him this year. For the second consecutive season, Reynolds is getting loads of pre-season love. From pre-season All-American lists to the Outland and Lombardi watch lists to being projected as a high NFL draft pick, Reynolds is widley respected and viewed as the real deal. He just might be BYU’s best lineman since John Tait (1996-98).
You cannot overestimate the importance of having great linemen. Heaps will benefit this year from having Matt Reynolds block for him, a luxury he won’t have the next two seasons. Sure, BYU will have good linemen, but it is not likely that any of them will be as good as Reynolds.
If you didn’t have enough reasons to keenly watch BYU football in 2011, you can put down one more. This will be Jake Heaps’ best season in Cougar blue. He now has command of the offense, but he hasn’t lost his hunger to prove himself. He is still flying under the radar, and will likely have better pass protection than any future season. This formula has worked twice before. There is no reason to expect it won’t work again.
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
If Heaps can stay healthy, this will be a very special season.
ReplyDeleteBWAHAHAHAHA!!!
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