Conner Weigman vs Riley Leonard was disappointing

This was a battle between two quarterbacks many see as capable of gatecrashing the first round. In reality, I think this game showed us that’s unlikely without major, sudden improvement.

This was only Weigman’s fifth college start. That has to be remembered. But amid all the lofty talk of being a high pick based on a completely inappropriate four-game sample size last season, this was a reality check. He isn’t remotely close to being considered a draft prospect on this evidence, let alone a first rounder. The accuracy, poise and experience is badly lacking.

He threw an awful interception in the second quarter, looking unnecessarily antsy in a clean pocket. His footwork was all over the place and he sailed a pass way over the receiver and straight to a safety.

Weigman ended the first half with another bad pick — he didn’t read the cornerback undercutting the receiver and threw it straight to him. He ended the game with a throw that should’ve been picked off in a very similar fashion.

There were no big plays, no real fluidity. There was very little to admire from a NFL perspective. He looks like a player who needs another full season or two to develop into something, rather than someone who should be on anyone’s NFL radar for 2025. He finished 12/30 for 100 yards with zero TD’s and two picks.

For Leonard, it felt like we were watching the exact same player we saw at Duke. He’s got the size. He’s got a decent arm. He can move around. But he’s never developed into an accomplished throwing quarterback. He remains a big athlete playing the position. That’s fine when you need a yard and want him to try and run to move the chains. But he hasn’t shown an ability to be a progression-based accurate passer who can work a scheme and challenge opponents with a consistent arm. This game showed more of the same. And yet, on a positive note, as we saw during his time at Duke — when he needs to come up with a drive in a tight game, he is capable of delivering.

Leonard almost gave up a horrible pick-six at the end of the third quarter. The cornerback anticipated the throw, baited the pass then jumped the route. If he catches it, he’s running it back for a touchdown but he couldn’t come up with it. There was very little in the way of dynamic downfield throwing or intricate, accurate consistency throughout the night.

However, as mentioned, we get to the last five minutes of the game. He converted a big 3rd and 5 play deep in his own territory to get a drive moving. Then he had a great shot to the right sideline to exploit a 1v1 outside for a chunk pass-play. He then ran for a first down, sprinting to the perimeter. At this point Texas A&M were tired and struggling. Two big runs by the running back capped off the drive with Notre Dame taking a seven-point lead with very little time to spare. This one drive sealed the game.

This is Leonard. He did this at Duke too. You just wish he could add some polish and technical skill to his passing. He finished 18/30 for 158 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. He also ran 12 times for 63 yards.

Now compare Leonard’s drive to Weigman’s subsequent attempt to rescue the game for Texas A&M. He threw out of bounds, then threw behind on a miscommunication with his receiver. They ran for a modest gain and then on fourth down, he threw incomplete with a cornerback jumping the route. It should’ve been an interception and possibly a pick-six but either way, it was game over.

Until either player shows a lot more, I won’t be considering them as likely first round talents in 2025. Weigman needs to focus on having an actual college career, while Leonard still needs to become an athletic quarterback, rather than an athlete attempting to play quarterback.

A couple of quick defensive notes too — Notre Dame’s undersized defensive tackle Howard Cross remains one of my favourites in college football. He is a pass-rushing menace and does such a good job swimming into the backfield. He had a sack in the second quarter with a classic interior rush on third down to force a punt. I would draft him whatever his size — he can do a job. The size, though, will dictate how early he goes.

Nic Scourton made his Texas A&M debut and while some have him as a future first rounder, I’m not convinced. He’s big and has some mobility for his size but has he got the burst and bend? It felt a bit weird that they took him off the field on 3rd and 8 late in the first half. You never want to see that.

Notes on the Georgia prospects as they demolish Clemson

Clemson, along with a few other notable teams (Florida) have not adjusted well to the transfer portal era. As a consequence, they are relying on solely working within the recruitment market. It’s an admirable approach, one I wish was working. But it isn’t. They’ve become a shadow of the team that used to be nationally relevant and their fall highlights the broader demise of the ACC — as we drift towards an inevitable ‘super conference’ or just two massive competing conferences like the NFL.

As such, it’s hard to get much out of Georgia slapping them around the field for four quarters. Here are my notes anyway.

I don’t think Carson Beck is the shoe-in QB1 many believe. The Georgia system is very much suited to him. There are a lot of short passes and dump-offs. It’s not a stretch the field system. Credit to Beck for executing the scheme he runs but I’m not sure his physical ceiling is very high. He needs to hit his shallow crossers, his slants etc — while playing behind an excellent college O-line. This same system enabled Georgia to have success with Jake Fromm and Stetson Bennett.

Beck puts the ball in the right areas including in the red zone. He has good size. He’s a bit more athletic than you might think but not in a way that’ll make him particularly dynamic as a runner, extender or scrambler. He made some nice runs though against Clemson when the field opened up.

In terms of pure physical and natural talent, he is not on the same level as Shedeur Sanders. Yet for coaches who value someone who will come in and master their system and basically do what they want, he will carry appeal.

This is the analogy I’d use for Beck. Being the Georgia quarterback is like trying to reverse-park a top of the range sports car that looks and sounds amazing, with parking sensors, a rear camera and power steering. You still have to execute the park job and you can even do it with a touch of finesse. Yet everything is there for you, it’s just about executing. At times it feels like Sanders at Colorado is pretty much trying to reverse-park a big red van from the 1970’s and the wing mirrors have fallen off (although admittedly, he has a couple of very good receivers).

Beck showed again in this game he’s a very tidy, accomplished player. He’s not a wow player though. There will be teams who really value what he does. But it’s currently difficult to project a draft range for a player like this.

On the other hand, it’s pretty clear that safety Malaki Starks deserves top-20 pick attention. He had a wonderful high-pointed interception on a deep throw to the right sideline in this game. The ball did hang in the air an awful long time but it’s still an outstanding play from the safety. He showed last year that he’s a rangy, hard-hitting, very quick defender. He’s not just about speed and coverage ability either — his run defense is excellent. He was a first round talent after my summer scouting work from last season and nothing about this game made me second guess that assessment.

I’m also quite high on linebacker Jalon Walker. He’s so quick to fly to the ball, he’s an electric force who can attack downfield. He also carries some pass-rushing chops off the edge. He’s playing as a more conventional linebacker this year and led Georgia in tackles (six) against Clemson, while registering 1.5 sacks and 1.5 TFL’s. I thought Mykel Williams, the highly touted defensive lineman, was pretty quiet. He had a couple of TFL’s but as with last year, you’re left waiting for the ‘big moments’ where he splashes and shows off his size, length and athleticism.

Notes on Quinn Ewers

I thought this was a very good start for Ewers, who let’s not forget lost his top two receivers, his receiving tight end and a good college offensive tackle this year to the NFL. His release and the way he spins the football out of his hand or with a flick of the finger is superb. I’m very much drawn to players who can deliver velocity and just rip the ball with minimum effort. Ewers shows off improbable delivery angles with the ball bursting out of his hand when he identifies a target. I’m permanently shocked at how compact his delivery is, so that even when he has that split second longer in the pocket to allow a receiver to uncover, and you think he’s going to get hit, he can get the ball out to where it needs to go in the nick of time.

Ewers’ first two touchdown passes against Colorado State were nicely delivered, accurate throws. His interception was unfortunate — his arm was hit as he threw after stepping up into the pocket. The pass looped up into the air and was caught by a defender. It’s more of a forced fumble than a pick.

He ended the day with a party-piece no-luck pass. I mean, how can you not be impressed with this?

The natural talent oozes out of Ewers. Bigger tests await and staying consistent and injury-free will determine his draft stock. However, he is one of the more gifted players to play in college football and teams will have that Alabama tape from last season in the front of their minds when doing eval’s next year.

Notes on Wisconsin’s Tyler Van Dyke and Jack Nelson

Wisconsin ran a conservative game-plan against Western Michigan. I thought overall TVD played OK. He wasn’t really pushed. There were a lot of shorter throws and dump-offs. He made some runs with his legs and looked more agile than he did at Miami. He made one great 3rd and 10 conversion, scrambling to his right and then as he was clipped by a blitzing DB and going to the turf, he somehow was able to still throw the ball for a 14-yard completion.

TVD can throw off a boot-leg motion with ease, he has the core and arm strength to generate power on the run without needing to be properly set.

He should’ve been picked-off late in the second quarter with an awful throw right to a defender (it was dropped). He forced another red zone throw into coverage that was bobbled and dropped in the third quarter. These kind of forced throws and errors dogged his 2023 season at Miami. His internal clock was also off too often — sitting in the pocket and inviting pressure.

There weren’t many deep shots in the game-plan which was a shame.

There’s something here at least physically with TVD but I’m not convinced he’s ever going to put it together. He’s missing that bit of magic and some consistency. He has a lot of the physical characteristics you look for in a NFL starter but he seemingly can’t cut out the mistakes, play on time and highlight his physical talent without the negatives. He showed he can do it in his first season at Miami but in this game, it felt like a continuation of what we saw last year. He can look good at times, right up until the point the wheels come off a bit. But the physical potential is there.

I really like Jack Nelson the Wisconsin left tackle by the way. Physical, recovers well if he looses initial leverage, gets into position and he’s not an easy out for any edge rusher. He can deal with inside counters. He’s probably a right tackle at the next level but he’s interesting.

Quick notes on the Ohio State players

I’ve not watched the full game but I did want to offer some thoughts based on a quick skim through some extended highlights. I quite liked safety Lathan Ransom when I watched him this summer and he led Ohio State in tackles (eight) and also had two TFL’s and returned a fumble for a touchdown in the game against Akron. I think he has some day-two potential for the next level with reasonable size and a rounded, versatile game. Cornerback Denzel Burke had an interception — stealing it away from the receiver as he tried to complete a catch. Burke has as much potential as any cornerback not named Will Johnson in this class.

How Will Howard gets on at quarterback will be fascinating to see. His first touchdown is a frozen rope, right on the money to Jeremiah Smith (Geno’s cousin) on a 10-yard slant. He also threw a nice 50-yard downfield pass to Smith for a big gain. Howard’s final score was an anticipation throw over the middle, allowing the receiver to create YAC and get in the end zone. Tougher challenges await and Howard’s ceiling might be somewhat capped — but he’s a better athlete than many realise, his arm is decent and he has a real spirit to his attitude.

Notes on Miami’s Cam Ward

I thought this was an extremely entertaining showing from Ward, albeit with the caveat of who Miami were playing. The Florida Gators have been a mess for a long time. Their current coach felt like a lame-duck entering the season and after one game, it now feels like ‘when’ not ‘if’ he’s fired. Like Clemson, they haven’t operated in the transfer portal well enough and are relying on young players thrust into playing too early — with significant doubts as to whether the coaches in charge are capable of developing them. They’ve lost key players like Trevor Etienne to rival Georgia. Based on what they showed against Miami, I’m not sure who Florida will beat at the moment.

Ward and the Hurricanes easily handled their opponent and looking at their powder-puff schedule, they might not face a stern test all season. I’d caution against building too much hype based on this game or in future games. Mario Cristobal might be a constant liability but even he might not be able to screw up a year like this.

We saw the best of the quarterback and this was a nice showcase opportunity to express what Ward does well. He loves to play off script, move around and improvise — with positive and negative consequences. In this game he had some really nice plays as the game went on. Physically he has some talent. I thought his best throw was an excellent 32-yard lob to the left sideline with 7:20 in the third quarter. Accuracy, anticipation, timing and velocity. That was a NFL throw. He then capped it off with an excellent scramble and pass to the end zone for a touchdown. There were four or five highlight reel plays in the game that showed off Ward at his best.

However, I’ve watched Ward live in person. I’ve also watched every Washington State game I could find online over the last two seasons. I would expect him to do well in a game like this, in August, against an overmatched opponent. And it shouldn’t gloss over the other things he’s shown on tape in his college career.

His decision making and tendency to move around too much gets him into trouble as much as it also can be his best aspect. This was on show with his interception against Florida — a really poor throw across his body after scrambling unnecessarily.

There was some A-gap pressure but he sidesteps it. As you see below, he can sit in the pocket and wait for the receiver to uncover working across the middle:

The red circle is the place where he could/should be in the pocket. The black circle shows the receiver has separated and is wide open. Instead, the QB has set off and is running to his left, a big error because he’ll need to readjust his whole body to set and throw, or he’ll end up throwing across his body (which is what happens):

He ends up trying to throw to the same receiver but instead of delivering an easy pass from a mostly clean pocket, look at the situation he ends up in — he’s throwing from an awful angle, with terrible body position and a defender in his face:

The throw sails and is picked off.

When Ward was at Washington State he tried to do too much and we saw mistakes. I’m not sure swapping to an easier situation should excuse the two previous years of that, or the fact it’s still showing in this game.

There are clean pockets where he doesn’t come close to setting his feet, playing on schedule and he drifts and freelances. This leads to throws that are off, such as the one behind his receiver with eight minutes left in the second half on Saturday when it was a fairly easy pitch-and-catch. In the NFL, he’ll need to be able to sit in an unclean pocket, let alone a clean one, and rely on his feet and arm being coordinated to deliver accurate passes. He won’t be able to move around constantly and play backyard football down-to-down.

There were examples in the game where he was leaving the pocket unnecessarily in quite a frustrating way. You don’t have to drop back 20 yards like he did mid-way through the first quarter in a perfectly clean pocket only to throw the ball out of bounds and give yourself no shot of a redzone touchdown because you’ve put yourself in an impossible situation.

How do you go from this:

To ending up in this position, with Florida only bringing a three-man rush, predictably failing to create any pressure? Why has he dropped into this position?

On the very next play he immediately started drifting backwards again off the snap, for no reason, dropping 10 yards and then having to dump it into the turf. His instinct is too often to get on the move — either out of the pocket or backwards. He doesn’t need to do this.

Now in fairness, he showed he can be better — because forty seconds after the play referenced a moment ago in the second half — he delivers a great chunk play by setting his feet and playing conventionally. It has to be more consistent though and what tended to happen at Washington State is when things unravelled and the games became tougher, he’d try to do more all the time and that’s when the errors stacked up. The big challenge this season is to become more conventional and use the creativity to be a force for exciting big plays, not the sum-part of your game with mixed results.

I think he can do this. Yet I’m not sure Miami will challenge him to — especially if the freelancing leads to a performance like Saturday. With no big test on the schedule, I suspect he’ll just carry on playing this way and it’ll make for production, if not allaying fears of NFL executives about how his game translates.

I came into the season feeling like Ward was a day three pick. Remember, he had a strange off-season. He took an age to decide where he was going to play college football, before then surprisingly announcing he was turning pro. Then, he reneged on that and withdrew his name from the draft, before joining Miami. It may be that all’s well that end’s well — yet I don’t think any of that process ties along with a player receiving the kind of feedback he was perhaps expecting.

Based on what we saw on Saturday, Ward will improve his stock. However, I would urge people to be realistic about the environment, the actual challenge at Miami, the fact he still has to play for Cristobal and the skill-set NFL teams look for in a quarterback they’re prepared to take early. Michael Penix Jr and Bo Nix elevated their way into round one playing within structure from the pocket. Caleb Williams was a phenomenal physical talent, a genuine rare player. Jayden Daniels dominated from the pocket and sprinted around like Lamar Jackson to make huge plays as a runner. Ward is creative and fun to watch — but his freelancing style will cause scouts frustration as well as enjoyment this year.

At 1pm PT I will be joining Brian at Hawk Blogger to preview the start of the new season for the Seahawks. Do join us: