Shrader was moved to wide receiver by Mike Leach at Miss St because he was behind others at QB so he portaled and came here to play QB and took Devito's job.
Villari was recruited by Michigan for QB but couldn't beat out JJ McCarthy. If he winds up being our best #2 at QB, what is Dino and the staff doing in identifying talent and putting them in a position to succeed? Dino is the same HC that figured out, by accident, that Sean Tucker was not only our best RB, but the best back we've had in a generation.
This is a good re-read on Villari:
Dan Villari’s position change required a shift from ‘quarterback tough’ to ‘football tough’
Long story short, Villari may well have been our best #2 QB all along... Or maybe even number 1?? I mean Shrader coming out and saying he can't throw due to his injury recovery and it's a known issue that 2 years are needed to get pain-free range of motion back on his injury... How the hell did our head coach not know this, this far into the season and why were we forcing him to throw when he couldn't?? Reason #498 why Babers should not be coaching this team... Villari may be our best QB at this point and it would be fitting that Dino took this long to figure it out.
Three things I hope are happening this week:
1. Continue Villari with wildcat reps but work in traditional sets as well (see 2)
2. Get Villari significant reps in some type of scaled-back, simpler traditional offense that uses running and passing, including passing downfield ( even if just short passes and bubbles) and see if he can shake the rust off and deliver the ball consistently. I hope he can. We'll need something to switch to if the wildcat isn't working and the cat's out of the bag on that. Our opponents will have a week to prep for it (unlike Pitt.)
3. Ball protection fundamentals... No more fumbles.