MMQB - Luke Falk and the Air Raid Conundrum

[Plankton]

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/10/19/nfl-draft-2017-luke-falk-washington-state-air-raid-qbs

We’re halfway through the college football season, and when it comes to the draft-eligible quarterbacks there is no consensus for be found. Summer frontrunner Deshaun Watson has been inconsistent. Junior pocket passers Brad Kaaya and DeShone Kizer flash high ceilings, though one or both could return to school. Senior Chad Kelly remains polarizing for his play on the field and his actions off of it.

With the top-tier passers struggling to separate themselves, scouts are spending more time mining the rest of the pool of quarterbacks. And the next name for many evaluators is Luke Falk.

The Washington State quarterback is 6' 4" and 203 pounds. He has completed 71.5 percent of his passes for 352.2 yards per game this season. After starting the year 0-2, the Cougars have rolled off four straight wins and emerged as a surprising Pac-12 contender. He is tough; look no further than a 42-16 win over then-No. 15 Stanford on the road. In the third quarter, Falk’s jersey was smeared with grass and red logo stains. He lay on the ground after absorbing a massive hit while sliding (the defender was ejected for targeting). He sat out one play, upon returning scrambled for a first down on his first play back, then capped the drive with 17-yard touchdown pass.

But there’s a familiar caveat with Falk. Barring injury, he’ll throw for 4,000 yards for a second straight season. But he’ll do it on about 50 pass attempts per game (last year it was 53.7, so far this season it’s 49.2). Falk plays for Mike Leach. He is an air raid quarterback.

 

[RS12]

“There’s a lot of throws these guys were making in college translate to the NFL,” Whipple says. “But it’s really what I call the hash game—the tight end throws on linebackers—that these guys have difficulty getting. The tight end throws in the middle of the field, where in the spread offense you may not be getting them as much. Then turning your back to the defense on play-action, that's something we spend a lot of time on with Brandon, kind of get your eyes on faster, reaffirming some of your pre-snap reads, and your decision making is a little different.”


Key paragraph in the article and apparently key to making transition the NFL.

 

[RS12]

But an evaluator who has watched Falk says production aside, the one thing he has been impressed with is the quarterback’s accuracy. Yes, he throws a ton, but does so accurately and has a nice feel of both deep touch passes and short strikes. That’s something that pleases Leach.

“I get a kick out of guys who say he’s this big, he’s this strong, he’s this fast, all you need to do is work on is accuracy,” he says. “You’re not going to fix that [if somebody doesn’t have it], no matter what college system they came from.”



It all about decision making and accuracy.

 

[Plankton]

But an evaluator who has watched Falk says production aside, the one thing he has been impressed with is the quarterback’s accuracy. Yes, he throws a ton, but does so accurately and has a nice feel of both deep touch passes and short strikes. That’s something that pleases Leach.

“I get a kick out of guys who say he’s this big, he’s this strong, he’s this fast, all you need to do is work on is accuracy,” he says. “You’re not going to fix that [if somebody doesn’t have it], no matter what college system they came from.”



It all about decision making and accuracy.

Accuracy is literally the only measureable for a QB that matters.

All of the other important traits are intangibles. This is why you have such epic busts at the QB position - it's the hardest to properly measure and evaluate.