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What makes Gruden Gruden is happening now on TV. espn2 7:30 Thurs.(scroll down please)
You'll see Jon Gruden at his cocky, snarling, football-smarts best this week, when he continues his must-see-TV series breaking down the top quarterbacks in the draft. Now, this is not to shred Jon Gruden the Monday Night Football color man. At all. This is to praise him for a series I love every year, Gruden's QB Camp on ESPN. This is what he does best -- coach and carouse with and stick the needle in the players we'll see on NFL fields in the future. And this week's the week to watch: half-hour shows on ESPN2 breaking down tape and on-field drills with West Virginia's Geno Smith (Tuesday, 7 p.m. Eastern), USC's Matt Barkley (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.), Florida State's E.J. Manuel (Thursday, 7 p.m.) and Syracuse's Ryan Nassib (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) The full schedule, which includes some position players such as tacke Luke Joeckel, can be found here.
What I find interesting about these segments, mostly, is they show quarterbacks in their natural habitat, or what will be their natural habitat in the NFL: the tape room, with the whiteboard for a coach, or player, to draw up plays. And they show which quarterbacks can keep up with one of the best quarterback minds alive, Gruden.
The other day, I saw the Smith show, and it showed one of Gruden's favorite running plays, "96 Wanda," as he called it. When he told Smith about it, Smith recognized it and told Gruden at West Virginia, the play was called "Y Quick 16."
As Gruden explained it to me, a quarterback calling 96 Wanda could have three options on the play, and his choice would depend on what the defense shows. Smith understood, and he explained how, as with Wanda, Y Quick 16 tried to get the ball to his lightning-fast receiver, Tavon Austin, who comes sprinting in from the right to possibly get a handoff from Smith. The options, with Smith in the Pistol or the Shotgun: hand to Austin, turn and hand to the back on a counter play, or, as Smith says to Gruden: "I've got the option to throw my 'Z' a quick screen because the corner's so far off him. So much intricacy."
So much of what quarterbacks are asked to do these days in college football comes prescribed from the sidelines. All the pre-snap reads in so many programs are done by signal, and you wonder if quarterbacks, when they get to the NFL, can adjust to checks at the line and what the defense is throwing at the young passer. As Gruden said to me: "This guy knows a huge volume of plays, and he showed me he can execute the plays by reading what the defense is doing.''
That's what's great about these shows. The players can't hide. Gruden throws friendly fire at them, but it's fire. They have to respond intelligently, or he'll eat them up. Affectionately, but you'll be able to tell they've got some recognition weaknesses. I didn't see that in Smith.
I asked Gruden Saturday what he thought of the 2013 class of passers.
"Last year was a ridiculous year for quarterbacks,'' he said. "I mean, five starters right away. This year, it's like every one of these guys comes from broken quarterback families. Tyler Bray at Tennessee: recruited by Lane Kiffin, family moves to Knoxville, everybody's excited, and Kiffin goes to USC. Bray ends up playing for another coach, coach [Derek] Dooley, who didn't even recruit him.
"Tyler Wilson at Arkansas: Bobby Petrino has his situation, he leaves, and Wilson -- now, he was the all-SEC quarterback under Petrino two years ago -- has to play in a disastrous situation at Arkansas, and he's wildly inconsistent last year. Matt Barkley at USC: Held that team together through all kinds of turmoil. Geno Smith at West Virginia: They go from one conference to a totally different one, and now he's playing at Baylor and Texas instead of the Big East -- and that's a huge difference -- and you're having to learn about new teams with new defenses while you have this 20-hour rule, all you can spend is 20 hours a week practicing and studying football, and how do you do that? So it's like nobody had the smooth sailing of some of the guys last year did.''
I can't wait to see the Nassib and Manuel shows. When I talk to teams leading up to the April 25 first round, I keep hearing both Nassib and Manuel as late-first-round prospects. Nassib in particular, and certainly more than Manuel. Gruden seems fascinated by both. The other day, one personnel man for a team not interested in drafting a quarterback this year told me, "No way if you want Nassib you think there's a realistic chance he gets past 41.'' That's the overall slot of the Bills' second-round pick. The Bills are coached by Nassib's four-year college coach, Doug Marrone. NFL types think Marrone loves him some Nassib.
"If the Bills really like him, and they think he's the best guy on the board, why not take him at eight?'' Gruden said. Eight is where the Bills pick in round one. "Why take even the slightest risk he wouldn't be there later?"
Nassib met Smith, the presumptive top quarterback in the draft, three times. When they met for the first time, in Morgantown in 2010, West Virginia had won seven straight meetings in the series between the two schools. In the three meetings -- at Morgantown, Syracuse and Yankee Stadium (for the Pinstripe Bowl last December) -- Nassib won every one, by scores of 19-14, 49-23 and 38-14. Average margin of victory: Syracuse by 18.3.
In the three games, Smith out-statted Nassib, throwing for 295 more yards, but made more mistakes. Nassib's touchdown-to-interception differential was 7-1, Smith's 5-5.
I could tell by listening to Gruden he likes Nassib. A lot.
"Here's a guy who went 3-0 against Geno Smith,'' Gruden said. "Imagine this pressure: Syracuse is expected to be pretty good last year, and they start 0-2, and they've losing to Stony Brook at home at halftime the next week. He brings them back there to win. They beat Louisville. They win at Missouri. They really handle West Virginia in the bowl game. Those are some good wins, now. And they do it after changing their offense two weeks before the start of the regular season. I like the way he plays. I like the way he handled his own people booing him.''
As for Manuel: "He'd be a fun guy to coach. Very fun. Can call any play. He can run any play. Upbeat. Powerful vibe around him. People just like him. They want to be around him. Loves the game. I really, really like this kid.''
Regarding Nassib and Manuel: "You want Nassib and Manuel on your team. You want to be around Nassib and Manuel. If you like those guys, you're on the right track."
Smith, Barkley, Nassib and Manuel, in a total of two Grudenized hours Tuesday and Thursday. I know I'm making that investment.
