Who Are You Picking to Win the Superbowl?

[TheMeInTeam]

I think Lamar Jackson might have been accurate in college, but I don't follow college so I don't really know. I read somewhere that he said his year one inaccuracy surprised him and was due to him having a lot more trouble adjusting to an NFL ball than he expected. So he spent the off season carrying an NFL ball around with him everywhere just to get accustomed to how it fit in his hand, and voila, he's accurate and the MVP. I had never heard that there was a difference between a college football and an NFL football, but I looked it up and there really is.

Jackson had a bad completion percentage in college. Career average of 57% (rounded up), his best year was 59%.

For comparison:

Mariota: 67% completions in college
Josh Allen: 56%
Andrew Luck: 67%
Tyler Bray: 59%

There's a lot more to QB than completion%, even if we're only talking about accuracy. But accuracy was a concern for Lamar Jackson coming out of college, and "Tyler Bray except he runs well" wouldn't sound like a ringing endorsement. Most sub-60% college guys never become accurate passers in the NFL. That's rare. This season, he improved so much that his completion % is close to what Luck's was in college. You have dozens of NFL washouts who have the "raw material" for every Lamar Jackson. It's a testament to both Jackson's capability and work as a player and his coaches to see this kind of rare climb. You don't get this kind of improvement by just acclimating to a different football, there were real leaps in terms of cognitive reads *and* mechanical ability.

I'm not too familiar with differences between NFL vs College football regulations for the ball itself. Maybe we could ask New England, they probably know.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Jackson had a bad completion percentage in college. Career average of 57% (rounded up), his best year was 59%.

For comparison:

Mariota: 67% completions in college
Josh Allen: 56%
Andrew Luck: 67%
Tyler Bray: 59%

There's a lot more to QB than completion%, even if we're only talking about accuracy. But accuracy was a concern for Lamar Jackson coming out of college, and "Tyler Bray except he runs well" wouldn't sound like a ringing endorsement. Most sub-60% college guys never become accurate passers in the NFL. That's rare. This season, he improved so much that his completion % is close to what Luck's was in college. You have dozens of NFL washouts who have the "raw material" for every Lamar Jackson. It's a testament to both Jackson's capability and work as a player and his coaches to see this kind of rare climb. You don't get this kind of improvement by just acclimating to a different football, there were real leaps in terms of cognitive reads *and* mechanical ability.

I'm not too familiar with differences between NFL vs College football regulations for the ball itself. Maybe we could ask New England, they probably know.

I looked it up when I read it, and the ball is fatter. I was sort of surprised I'd never heard it before, because that did seem to me like even a small amount would seriously change the grip.

Didn't Jackson play at some lower range college where he'd have not gotten a whole lot of help? Maybe he just never got the kind of coaching he's getting now.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I looked it up when I read it, and the ball is fatter. I was sort of surprised I'd never heard it before, because that did seem to me like even a small amount would seriously change the grip.

Didn't Jackson play at some lower range college where he'd have not gotten a whole lot of help? Maybe he just never got the kind of coaching he's getting now.

Louisville has been a decent football program for a while now. They play in the same conference as FSU/Miami/Va Tech/Clemson and such. Usually QBs at smaller schools have better completion % though, since they outmatch competition. There are exceptions to that as with anything else.