Will Kevin Newsome Play?

I’ve always said, I’d rather play a guy, all right, two weeks later than one week early, all right? Put him in, he’s not ready, he doesn’t play with some confidence or have some success, particularly at quarterback, you’ve got a confidence problem.

Next year no matter who we start they are probably “not going to be ready”, why not let him get at least a little more time under his belt. A handful of wildcat plays would probably boost his confidence going into next season, and if LSU is anything like A and M they won’t figure it out until the end of the 4th quarter. And hopefully one of their players will be crying on the sideline.

to get Newsome ready for primetime. I really don’t believe a series in this year’s Capital One Bowl will help Newsome next year at Alabama any more than Morelli’s Outback Bowl performance helped him in the fall of 2007. Put the best guys out there at all times and win.

him and let him run a series or two. Even if it’s a glorified option package, give him Devon Smith and a couple of tight ends and run single wing if that’s all they’re comfortable with, but he’s got to see some game time.

If it doesn’t work, the coaches scheme didn’t work, so there are no confidence issues.

But I think he’s got to play. I also think Joe may be playing possum a bit.

How about running the same play that we ran against MSU, with Newsome taking Drake’s place?

I thought the Alamo bowl was a bit of an exception. If you look at Robinson in the Mills years, Newsome this year (in other than the Eastern Illinois gme) and even Clark in the Morelli years, it didn’t seem like there was anyone that didn’t know the QB was going to run when he was in the game, regardless if they took the direct snap or not. If you’re going to let him play (be it a couple of snaps or a series) do something to shake it up again so that when you do want to run him, it’s not telegraphed before they even come out of the huddle.

Start the game with him kicking off.

No but seriously, I’d much rather have seen Newsome play some significant time after the Ohio State loss (except for that 1st half travesty against Indiana).

Had Newsome already played he could have either
     A.) Gotten some work in for the bowl game with actual experience under his belt
     B.) Given Clark the entire last game to be “The stud”

As people have commented, the only way this game changes anything about Newsome is if he plays the a majority of the whole damn game. A few snaps, or even a few series are of little consequence when his next game is 9 months away. For better or worse. His development is squarely on the coaches and how he advances during spring and summer.

I expect fully to see him on a couple plays, but nothing much.

What are a few snaps against the LSU defense in January going to do to help him that a spring and summer against the Penn State defense can’t do? Probably nothing.

But regardless, it would be a fun (and maybe successful, since hopefully LSU won’t be expecting it) chance to see him play in the Citrus Bowl.

There were games where Morelli was simply unable to pick himself up off the mat after a bad series, and putting Clark in could have dramatically changed the momentum of the game (Michigan, Illinois, MSU, etc.). Clark should have been seeing snaps at the wildcat by the first conference game: our running game was a mess, Morelli was plain aweful, and our entire offense lacked a spark. The Alamo Bowl we saw that spark, 12 games too late.

This is 2009, and our problem isn’t a spark, or our QB, its the offensive line. You could argue that this team is actually worse than the 2007 except for the QB position. If Clark had been our QB in 2007 we may have been 10-2 at the end of the year, maybe even 11-1; likewise if Morelli were our QB this year we could be 7-5.

I think he knows what he’s doing, and has for the last 40 years.

I want to win the game, and we may need every series to do it.

If Joe has a plan that he thinks will be effective, fine. Putting him in just to put him in for a couple/three series is pretty silly IMHO.

The kid is our entire next year in all probability. Every year we lose a guy to injury in the bowl games, and having it happen to him means we’re totally screwed come September.

I know, I know – injuries happen. But as I said: if there’s a plan for him, do it. If it’s just for 2:20 of playing time with no concrete objective, let him signal in plays, or just pay attention and learn. Dude’s gonna get his time this spring and summer.

After all that, I now readily admit I have zero qualifications for even pontificating on the matter.

So there.

…He might actually HELP ala Clark against The Wrecking Crew plus the experience will help for next year.