Now...name the 43 other ND QBs who have had a higher completion % through 3 games as the starter? If you can't do that, name one? It is not surprising that the list does not have another name on it but Drew Pyne.
Sure, in a perfect world he would be 6'5" tall, faster, have better lateral quickness, and a stronger arm. But that guy does not exist...anywhere in college football. He deserves and gets a tip of the cap from me. Fortunately, he plays for the Fighting Irish.
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Considering this was just his 3rd start, I'd say he's doing damned good. Yeah he was a hot mess in start #1 vs Cal, but he picked it up big time on the road at UNC, and vs BYU (a team with a fairly respectable defense) still out on the road even though its labeled a home game, hot damn! he made some excellent plays, both from the pocket and ad-lib! Yeah he had the one pic, but that was on a tipped ball which in many cases is the fault of the OL for letting the DL get up in the air cleanly.
Pyne has some special to him in the intangible department, he's a guy that if he wasn't 5'10" and had slightly better wheels could probably be elite.
Angeli, if he has to, can come in and perform like he did in the Spring because he surely looked like he had good coaching to be a true QB in high school.
le is just a product of what he is physically. Tipped balls are common for people that short. Missed Jayden Thomas when wide open and then threw it to him into double coverage late. His deep ball to Jayden Thomas was woefully underthrown. I mean, Thomas had to basically stop his route, wait for the ball and then jump over the guy to take it off his back. Great play by Thomas but a terribly thrown ball and very easily could have been an INT. I'm really hoping that is not due to his limited arm strength. The scramble he made for the first was functional but a QB with any kind of elite athleticism might have taken that for a big gain as the space was there.
That said, his second TD to Mayer was outstanding and in general he managed the offense well. Truth of the matter, when you are running the ball and providing protection like we are, anyone playing QB will do fine.
had the feel to juke the guy and get a very important first down. I thought it was a great play. He was lucky on the pass to Thomas for the TD. Pyne underthrows at times but if he can limit that the rest of his game is full of very solid plays.
elite speed/athleticism. I hope his range is far more than what he showed on his throw to Thomas, because if he can't push the ball any further downfield than that, it will greatly limit what we can do. That ball was under thrown by probably ten yards when Thomas had the step on his defender. Again, against anything close to elite that just won't work. If that was an INT instead of Thomas making a ridiculous play for a TD, we'd probably be having a completely different discussion and very well might have lost the game.
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