QBs who ran the spread in college?

[Staggart]

Have any of them had major success in the NFL? Is the transition too hard to take snaps under center? If this is the case why would any qb recruit who wanted to make it to the next level want to play for a spread based offense?

[etk]

I can't think of one off the top of my head. I can think of 2 major busts...Vince Young and Alex Smith.

[iowatreat54]

Drew Brees and Kyle Orton.

[etk]

Originally Posted by iowatreat54

Drew Brees and Kyle Orton.

I thought about Brees, but Purdue is a different kind of spread. Their offense is not very different from what's run in NO...just a 3-4 wide pass heavy offense. When you talk about spread I think of the read option, bubble screens, QB draws, etc.

Purdue is somewhere in the middle between pro style and spread.

[iowatreat54]

Yea, I mean there are different types of spreads. But imo, Purdue's spread is maybe slightly different than those of TTech or Hawaii. To me, there are spreads designed for the run, such as Florida and Oregon, and spreads designed for the pass, such as Purdue, Tech, Hawaii.

The fact is, Purdue is closer to a spread than a pro-style offense. They rarely use the RB as a rusher and the only difference is their QBs aren't usually runners, although Painter was somewhat mobile and the other guy this year is a runner.

[keylime_5]

Didn't Joe Flacco play in one at Delaware, I can't remember.

[iowatreat54]

Originally Posted by keylime_5

Didn't Joe Flacco play in one at Delaware, I can't remember.

Prolly, or at least I think I remember reading that it was also a concern that the majority of his snaps weren't under center. Plus, it would make sense with his style of play.

Also, Rex Grossman. FML

[ElectricEye]

Flacco did indeed play out the spread.

This is tough to say considering most colleges use a bit of it from time to time. No one from extreme systems has really done much in the NFL yet though. It's a matter of time. Top level talent is being shoved into these systems. The NFL is going to have to figure out a way to transition these guys eventually because it's not going away in college.

[Staggart]

It would seem to me that it would be relatively easy to pursued a recruit to not want to go to one of these spread heavy schools... Especially if Tebow is a bust

[yourfavestoner]

Originally Posted by keylime_5

Didn't Joe Flacco play in one at Delaware, I can't remember.

Drew Brees, Chad Pennington, and Ben Roethlisberger as well.

[BuddyCHRIST]

I wouldn't think this would deter kids away from the schools though, most QB's especially aren't thinking that far ahead. Most 18 year old kids whove never been away from home before aren't planning for the pro's. Now pedigree certainly helps, but if your a QB you'd probably think that you're good enough for the spread thing to not matter.

[MetSox17]

Originally Posted by etk

I can't think of one off the top of my head. I can think of 2 major busts...Vince Young and Alex Smith.

Texas' offense around Vince Young was more of an option than a spread. It was an option IN a spread, actually. They dumbed it down as much as they could for him, basically only running three or four plays. Qb/Rb option, run/PA option, or straight up throw to Limas Sweed/David Thomas. That offense depended mostly on reading the DE's, so i think that contributed more to his suckage in the league.

The Texas offense when Vince was there is massively different than the real spread Texas is running now with Colt. I'd hardly call it a spread.

[duckseason]

Originally Posted by MetSox17

Texas' offense around Vince Young was more of an option than a spread. It was an option IN a spread, actually. They dumbed it down as much as they could for him, basically only running three or four plays. Qb/Rb option, run/PA option, or straight up throw to Limas Sweed/David Thomas. That offense depended mostly on reading the DE's, so i think that contributed more to his suckage in the league.

The Texas offense when Vince was there is massively different than the real spread Texas is running now with Colt. I'd hardly call it a spread.

"Spread offense" is a general term that covers a wide range of offensive schemes, many of which heavily rely on option reads.

The offense Vince was asked to run at Texas may be drastically different from the offense that Colt is currently asked to run, but that doesn't make one offense any more authentic than the other. They are both very real, and they both are based on spread concepts.

I think it's fruitless to throw all these QB's into the same category of "QB's who ran the spread," and use that chaotic compilation to establish correlations for use of analysis and prognostication. I think this is the point you were trying to convey.

As you stated, there is often a vast difference between what one guy runs to the next under the same umbrella of the spread. There's no more reason to lump Vince Young and Colt McCoy into the same category as there is to lump a 3-4 OLB into the same category as a 4-3 MLB.

But they both ran "the" spread. In the same sense that all whales live in "the" ocean.

I think you're on the right track as far as distinguishing one offense from the next, but the basis of your conclusion is unsound.

[BuddyCHRIST]

I really just consider the spread as running out of the shotgun with atleast 3 WR's most plays, in essence spreading out the defense. What Vince Young ran was much more of a spread option while McCoy spreads out to throw more often.

But either way many of the same issues still exist, not taking many snaps under center which not only is an adjustment in dropping back, but as far as reading pre snap coverages it's alot different. They also benefit from a often times horizontal running game that works in college when your athletes are surperior, but that type of running out of the shotgun hasn't had alot of success in the NFL. While that doesn't really involve the QB, it spreads out the defense even further making things easier.

I could see QB's running the pass happy type spread being successful, because that type of short throw offense is creeping into the NFL. But I don't forsee a spread option type QB having much success as the reads are often times so simple and all the misdirection that offense creates helps those QB's more than people realize. Yes I'm hating on Tebow.

[etk]

If that's the case, then Matt Ryan and countless other QBs were also "spread QBs".

[yourfavestoner]

Originally Posted by etk

If that's the case, then Matt Ryan and countless other QBs were also "spread QBs".

That's the thing. Every single team runs at least some spread concepts. Hell, the spread is blowing up at the high school level as well. So I guess the question we have to ask is what makes one college offense any more or less legitimate than another when it comes to preparing a prospect for the NFL. To be honest, the only thing that separates all these spread offenses in college is their run to pass ratio and the type of running that they do out of the spread. Passingwise, there's not a whole hell of a lot of difference between Oklahoma to Texas to Florida to Hawaii.

[BBIB]

Originally Posted by etk

I thought about Brees, but Purdue is a different kind of spread. Their offense is not very different from what's run in NO...just a 3-4 wide pass heavy offense. When you talk about spread I think of the read option, bubble screens, QB draws, etc.

Purdue is somewhere in the middle between pro style and spread.

LOL you are confusing the spread with the spread option which is just a play of the spread.

The actual spread offense actually became famous because of the school that Drew Brees came from in Purdue. Joe Tiller who just retired this year is considered the father of the spread.

QBs who came from the spread in the NFL?

Drew Brees and Kyle Orton from Purdue

Ben Roethlisberger from Miami Ohio

Joe Flacco at Delaware

McNabb and Vick ran the option


Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to run the USC pro style offense to make it to the NFL