Mailbag question: A freshman quarterback can be successful?

Mailbag question: A freshman quarterback can be successful?

Do you recall what Tim Tebow's "star-rating" was in high school? What were the scouting sites saying about him out of high school? What about Pat White?

I'm curious because Tebow seemed to do very well as a freshman. And there are countless other examples of freshmen who instantly make their mark. (Of course, I realize there are many, many more who don't.)

Nevertheless, I think people are being too guarded when it comes to Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson. I'm not succumbing to the "Fear of Freshmen" until I see them in an actual game. The great players are born ready. Sure, experience can only help them get better, but some players -- even when young and inexperienced -- have the chops and can somehow manage to raise their level of play to fit the situation.

Optimistically Blue,

-- Q

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Thanks for the question.

Tim Tebow was a five-star high school All-American his senior year. He also was not the starting quarterback his freshmen year. Chris Leak took a large majority of the snaps for the Florida Gators’ National Championship team. T. Tebow was used as a situational running quarterback the majority of the time, just to get him on the field and to change things up for the Gators.

Pat White did not even play as a true freshmen, he red-shirted his first year at West Virginia. P. White then split time with Adam Bednarik the first half of his red-shirt freshmen year.

P. White was not as highly rated as Tebow, but he was third in Mr. Alabama Football, passed for 1,500 yards, and rushed for another 1,900 yards. He also accounted for 36 touchdowns that year.

Can true freshmen be successful? Sure. Terrelle Pryor looked good at times last season. The key to his success and other true freshmen quarterbacks revolves around what are they asked to do. In Pryor's case, having a Beanie Wells to hand the ball off to sure made it a ton easier for him to be successful.

Also, you can look back to Michigan's own situation several years ago where Chad Henne had a very good freshman year. But it was a guy by the name of Braylon Edwards who helped Henne’s situation out as well. Whenever C. Henne got into trouble, he just threw the ball up and knew in most cases that B. Edwards would go after the ball or out jump the defender.

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine