Feleipe Franks
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Seattle Rag Article on Franks and WSU
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports...-florida-starting-quarterback-feleipe-franks/
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports...-florida-starting-quarterback-feleipe-franks/
So far Wazzu is kicking the tires on the Jamie Newman, Nick Starkel, Costello and now Franks. Also the UNC QB but he signed already
So far we are looking at a DL, a linebacker, a safety and a CB so far in the portal. Don't know if we have offered, but we are def exploring ways to upgrade some positions for this next season.
If he does not win the starting nod he will sit on the bench until he graduates or transfers.He would not get one rep and that is not the way to develop.I would actually advise him to go elsewhere.They have a lot of QB s already who are more familiar with leach.
Franks is horribly inaccurate and a turnover machine. He would not get many reps here.
I saw his 61% completion rate. If Dan Mullen says he should go to WSU to get coached up, what does that say about his staff?
Hard to really know if any of those guys are better than what is already at WSU. However of that bunch Starkel is the one where you could see a huge improvement over his past if he played in Leach's offense. Like I said have no idea if that improvement would make him better than Cooper etc., but that kid in the right system might have a chance to be big time.
No surprise if he ends up at Kansas. He will have more opportunities there as there is a log jam in Pullman for QB s.
Starkel has dropped two golden opportunities to secure the starting job. I'd trust Leach if he offered, but he doesn't jump off the screen. I don't see the Wake Forest guy as a natural fit for our offense. Costello looks like nothing more than a game manager.
Franks seems like a talented guy who could benefit from Leach. Plus he's used to running the ball more in the SEC so I don't think he'd be forcing the ball into tight windows.
You could make the case that Minshew failed in 2 "golden opportunities" prior to landing at WSU. Just my opinion but watching Starkel's film he just looks like the type that Leach could do more with than where he has been.
Franks would also be interesting. But he would need to really commit to learning to go through reads etc.. Not sure he has that type of discipline, so he would probably best to go wing it with Lester at KU.
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It says his staff recruited a better QB who is going to start over him, Einstein.
I saw that Gardner Minshew guy and his 57% completion rate at ECU. Also only a 16/7 TD/INT ratio. Dude sucks.
Clearly, stats from one offensive system mean a guy can't play in the Air Raid and wouldn't have a higher completion rate in it.
And this Franks guy is a turnover machine with his 24/6 TD/INT ratio over 322 attempts in his full year of starting in 2018.
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Whats wrong with forcing the ball into tight windows if you xomplete the pass? GM did it all the time
Minshew is a different case. He was the starter by the end of his junior year but the coach wanted to go a different direction. One thing Minshew had going for him, which Franks shares, is a willingness to take off and run or handing the ball off. Agreed he'd need to learn to go through his reads, but I like his moxie. And his completion percentage would go up 10% by virtue of all the easy throws the air raid provides.
I've heard too many rumors that none of our returning QB's have looked great. A decent offense next year might require one of Leach's best coaching jobs yet.
All Franks does is force it into coverage. And his arm talent is not great. I have watched him quite a bit. He even struggles with the screen plays and throws picks.
He was a big time recruit out of high school. What happened? Was he coached down? Coached at all?
Maybe he doesn't have much of a shot of winning the starting job over the other WSU QBs. At least if he showed up he would get coached. Which is something he has never had apparently.
If I were advising him... Time to start thinking about your degree and playing one more year. The NFL for a 60% passer in college? That isn't likely to work out.
Be honest with what your skill set is, then find the place that uses it. You will be successful, your new team will be successful, finish off your career with a positive experience. Welcome to the real world.
I think these kids get sold a bill of goods. They buy into all the fans and money the school has and the celebrity they acquire by being on the team. The real question is how well are you going to be coached and how well will you compete? Everything else is just fool's gold to get you to go there.
It's also important to remember that Minshew grew up as a fan of the Air Raid and really embraced it. I have no idea if Franks is a good fit for the Air Raid, but he got benched at Florida and they were better without him. East Carolina was just a hot mess all around and was bad whether or not Minshew as in there. As mentioned above, he was playing in a system that wasn't the one he signed up for as well.
Minshew has created an addiction for our fans where we are always looking for the next GM II. Gubrud ended up demonstrating that just being a grad transfer doesn't mean that Leach is going to sprinkle fairy dust on them and they lead the country in passing. He might have....but it's just as easy to say that WSU wasted that scholarship this past season.
If Leach sees the right guy, hell yes he should go after him. If he's really concerned about the ability of our young QB's to handle the situation, we should look at a new guy. At some point, it becomes a point of concern if we never get any young QB's that we can develop into starters. We aren't there yet, but based on this desperate desire to land every QB that enters his name in the portal, it sure looks like our fans don't respect Leach's ability to recruit and develop young quarterbacks.....and the bullsh!t excuse about "never turn down depth" doesn't make sense when we will have at least five quarterbacks on the roster in 2019. A sixth dude isn't going to make a material difference when it comes to "just for depth". At that point, you're saying that you don't think Leach is doing his job well.
This raises a bigger question for me.
What started this whole Grad trasfer thing was the TH3 tragedy. There was a gap in that recruiting position. So is there still a gap? Are we lacking in ANY position on the O but specifically QB? Is THAT were we need to up our game and throw another schollie at?
I'm all for increasing the competitive level. But not when we have the obvious issues else where. I mentioned this in another discussion but from a different angle... Shouldn't the D be our focus? I don't agree that this is where we should be putting an extra schollie. Unless it's a given that we have the second coming of Minshew or coach see's an obvious lack in talent at the current QB position (which I don't see but I'm not a practice, either), I think we should pass on any Grad Transfer at the QB position. We have too many issues on the D side.
What started this whole Grad trasfer thing was the TH3 tragedy. There was a gap in that recruiting position. So is there still a gap? Are we lacking in ANY position on the O but specifically QB? Is THAT were we need to up our game and throw another schollie at?
I'm all for increasing the competitive level. But not when we have the obvious issues else where. I mentioned this in another discussion but from a different angle... Shouldn't the D be our focus? I don't agree that this is where we should be putting an extra schollie. Unless it's a given that we have the second coming of Minshew or coach see's an obvious lack in talent at the current QB position (which I don't see but I'm not a practice, either), I think we should pass on any Grad Transfer at the QB position. We have too many issues on the D side.
The "gap" is because there was no HS QB in the 2016 class. Ian Book was committed, but flipped to ND. Gordon came in after one year of JC and redshirted. For the 2017 class, Connor Neville transferred. So that is why we have Cooper (RS So.), Cruz (RS Fr.) and De Laura (true Fr.).
A JC guy or a grad transfer would balance out the QB roster. But if it's just a guy that's going to fill a scholarship slot, I'd rather see them take a flyer on a defensive prospect.
I don't know if he's a serious candidate for playing time, but Bledsoe will be a RS Jr. and would fill that gap from the 2017 class due to Neville's transfer.
Glad Cougar
I see where you're coming from. But when the heir apparent from the 2015 class is no longer there, it left a massive hole. I believe that if TH3 were still here, the Connor Neville transferring wouldn't have been an issue. Gordon would have filled aptly. Non-issue.
I also wouldn't discount Bledsoe, an upcoming Junior. You also miss Aaron Angelos, upcoming Soph.
If there's one thing everyone should recognize with CML, he doesn't care about your stars but if you stick it out, you develop (yes, I believe WSU develops players... all positions) then you've got a shot at starting. So walk on or 4 star, you're pretty equal at WSU as far as opportunity to play.
All of this to say, unless its as close to Minshew II as possible, I personally wouldn't throw a schollie at this position. My only caveat, as I stated above, was if our talent was worse than we all thought. That Cooper/Bledsoe/whomever is not as developed as we all assume/hope/thought. But to throw a schollie at the concept of "competition will make everyone better" is not valid to me. We will have 5 QB's on roster. That's plenty of competition.
Hilinski's eligibility would have been exhausted at the end of the season. Hard to say for sure, but in broad strokes, I think the only thing that would have been different is Hilinski would have been on the roster instead of Minshew for 2018 and Gabrud in 2019.
And that is where you are playing the "what if" game. I could also assess the situation and say that Minshew wouldn't have been picked up by WSU if TH3 were still here. That TH3 would have been rocking WSU and Minshew wouldn't have been a thought. But that would also be conjecture.
My point is based on fact. We have plenty of QB's. The competitive level is there. 5. "Normal".
By all accounts, we are lacking on D. By many accounts severely lacking. That's my whole point.
The funny thing about fans and recruiting is that when Cooper signed in 2017, it was generally regarded as perfect timing for him to take over the job in 2020 as a redshirt sophomore with two full seasons to watch other QB's play and he could learn the offense. Now, without seeing him play any meaningful minutes as we have two straight QB's set Pac-12 records.....we are panicked that Cooper might not be able to handle the job.
I certainly hope that Cooper is the guy. Seems like it's time for a HS QB recruit to pan out. Especially a four star guy.
I'm not sure what your point is now that you say this but above you were making an argument for a transfer:
"A JC guy or a grad transfer would balance out the QB roster. But if it's just a guy that's going to fill a scholarship slot, I'd rather see them take a flyer on a defensive prospect."
I was saying, due to numbers, I don't see how a transfer would balance anything out. We have 5 QB's.
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