Camp battles

[Beyerball]

Kyle Kempt is the goat..sorry but he is. Dude is one cool cat. I mean how many ISU QB’s during their first 2 starts uhm ever beat two top 5 teams? LMAO..uhm..ZIPPO. Just KK.

This non sense about arm strength is a bunch of crap spun up by media members to have at least one negative thing to talk about in regards to KK.

Go back and watch Tom Brady at U of M...His “Arm Strength” wasnt good...i guess. He still doesnt have the greatest arm strength..but he wins and he’s calm and cool under pressure and doesnt make mistakes. Sounds like someone we have. No I’m not comparing him to one of greatest QB’s of all time. I’ll take KK accuracy and decision making all day and every Saturday.

 

[Bipolarcy]

Look go watch a couple games last year and there were quite a few near picks by Kempt that were drops by the D. Not that Zeb was perfect either but I give Zebs ability to actually run the ball the edge all other things held equal.

Kempt completed 66 percent of his passes last year, setting a school record for completion percentage, and threw 15 TDs with 3 picks. Extrapolate those over an entire season and those are the stats of a high-end Big 12 QB. Granted it's a smaller sample size, but meanwhile, Noland completed 54 percent of his passes with 2 TDs and 1 INT. Extrapolate that over an entire season and those are the stats we're used to seeing from an ISU QB. In other words, mediocre. Don't be mislead by the big, flashy arm and overlook the rest of the package. The best thing about Noland is he can only get better.

 

[Aclone]

The best thing about Noland is he can only get better.

I think that what people are counting on is that Noland will get better. I assmume they’d like to get his growing pains out of the way as soon as possible.

Speaking of supporting casts, the only wideouts I know of to have decent NFL careers were Ike Harris and Luther Blue. Both before my time. Who threw the ball to them? Besides probably George Amundson?

*Side note: I see that Luther Blue is from Valdosta, Ga. interestingly, so is freshman wideout Tayvonn Kyle—whom Matt Campbell has already spoken highly of. Now, there’s a coincidence.

Rob, I think there may be a story waiting for you out there, somewhere down the road.

 

[ca4cy]

Good-Jones was a little off target with his snaps early last year (first 4 games I think), and he has experience playing tackle so it makes sense if Foster isn't going to start that Good-Jones starts at LT. It's a little disappointing thinking Foster would be good enough to secure that spot, but the coaches know that they are doing. I like seeing Mueller running with the 1s though. I think he is gonna be pretty solid.

I'm interested to see how we use the true freshmen now that they can play 4 games and still redshirt. I could see Downing get some reps on the o-line and special teams and get a decent amount of PT in 4 games. Same with Mitchell playing a little QB and maybe lining up in the slot and as a running back. I could see Scates or Shaw playing the entire season, but I think most of the freshmen will play in 4 or less games.

Maybe we should have a separate thread to discuss the freshmen and PT?

JGJ's bad snaps weren't limited to early in the season. The kid is a great lineman but he had at least a couple poor snaps in every game I watched last season. I thought a high snap threw things off and was the cause of Montgomery's "fumble" in the Libery Bowl. Whether it's JGJ, Newell or someone else at center, I hope snaps are less of an issue this season.

 

[LincolnWay187]

Kempt completed 66 percent of his passes last year, setting a school record for completion percentage, and threw 15 TDs with 3 picks. Extrapolate those over an entire season and those are the stats of a high-end Big 12 QB. Granted it's a smaller sample size, but meanwhile, Noland completed 54 percent of his passes with 2 TDs and 1 INT. Extrapolate that over an entire season and those are the stats we're used to seeing from an ISU QB. In other words, mediocre. Don't be mislead by the big, flashy arm and overlook the rest of the package. The best thing about Noland is he can only get better.

I hope you are right. I also hope we can get away with doing all the short passes which is a big reason Kempts completion rate is so high. If our run game plays well this year I think we have a more dynamic offense if we have a QB that can also go deeper/run. Granted kempt was hurt that okie state game but I really like how Zeb played that game against the same defense kempt was playing against and struggling. Again, I hope you're right and we don't have to see any backuos this year. Kempt ia great too, Just win!

 

[FinalFourCy]

In general it wasn’t our defense last year that had us precariously close to not even 7 wins (sans the embarrassment that was the Iowa game). It certainly wasn’t the RB or WR spots either. Hopefully OL and QB play improves and we have the breakthrough year that last season almost was.

 

[Bipolarcy]

I hope you are right. I also hope we can get away with doing all the short passes which is a big reason Kempts completion rate is so high. If our run game plays well this year I think we have a more dynamic offense if we have a QB that can also go deeper/run. Granted kempt was hurt that okie state game but I really like how Zeb played that game against the same defense kempt was playing against and struggling. Again, I hope you're right and we don't have to see any backuos this year. Kempt ia great too, Just win!

We had those same short passes with Sam Richardson, Austin Arnaud, Grant Rohach, Jacob Park and Noland, but nobody completed 66 percent of his passes except Kempt. I'd take accuracy above arm strength in my QB any day.

 

[Cycsk]

Kyle Kempt is the goat..sorry but he is. Dude is one cool cat. I mean how many ISU QB’s during their first 2 starts uhm ever beat two top 5 teams? LMAO..uhm..ZIPPO. Just KK.

This non sense about arm strength is a bunch of crap spun up by media members to have at least one negative thing to talk about in regards to KK.

Go back and watch Tom Brady at U of M...His “Arm Strength” wasnt good...i guess. He still doesnt have the greatest arm strength..but he wins and he’s calm and cool under pressure and doesnt make mistakes. Sounds like someone we have. No I’m not comparing him to one of greatest QB’s of all time. I’ll take KK accuracy and decision making all day and every Saturday.

I think the adjustments made by the coaching staff to give Kempt throws he could make helped a lot. We didn't need Kempt to try all the tough throws that Park thought he could make. "Trust the Process" isn't just about practice, it is about game-planning and play-calling. The coaches really set Kempt up for success (or better, lack of failure) and the defense kept the big games close.

 

[enisthemenace]

Butler is a beast. If the OL is improved in the run game, that will open up so much more through the air, where Butler and Co will take advantage. All we need is a QB who can get the ball there accurately, then let the WR make the play after that. Kempt does that.

 

[LincolnWay187]

I think the adjustments made by the coaching staff to give Kempt throws he could make helped a lot. We didn't need Kempt to try all the tough throws that Park thought he could make. "Trust the Process" isn't just about practice, it is about game-planning and play-calling. The coaches really set Kempt up for success (or better, lack of failure) and the defense kept the big games close.

I completely agree. I think a lot of Kempts success can br attributed to Campbell and the coaches. Maybe it's just my Iowa State nut cup speaking but I am just a little worried that after 9 months of film wemighthave lost the element of surprise there too. Maybe Campbell plays them both to shake things up? I don't even care if we play Purdy..if the offense plays well this year wr are going to win some games and have a great season overall. I have a ton of faith in the D.

 

[Cycsk]

I completely agree. I think a lot of Kempts success can br attributed to Campbell and the coaches. Maybe it's just my Iowa State nut cup speaking but I am just a little worried that after 9 months of film wemighthave lost the element of surprise there too. Maybe Campbell plays them both to shake things up? I don't even care if we play Purdy..if the offense plays well this year wr are going to win some games and have a great season overall. I have a ton of faith in the D.

I'm not as worried because it wasn't that they did anything tricky. They just did stuff that they could control. And the defense kept them in games and gave them field position which helped. I also liked what I heard during a summer interview with Kempt (maybe it was Jay Jordan about Kempt) in which he talked about working off-season on his downfield throwing. If he becomes a true downfield threat (more than just long throws that Lazard jumps for or comes back for), it will send the opposing coaches back to the drawing board.

 

[CyFy]

I love kk decision making and think he can win us plenty of games. That is why he was successful. However the reason I will not say he is the best QB is the video evidence as well as the WRs. The amount of 50/50 balls he threw last year was kind of crazy. At times he made them more 50/50 than they should have been. He did a great job of making sure our WR had a shot at it even when one over the top would have been a TD rather than a 30 yard gain. That was something park struggled with (see texas 3 fade routes in a row that he threw out of bounds).

This leads to the second reason being the WRs. We have the best receiving vote I can ever remember. In the past we tended to have 1 good WR at a time. The best example might be Epps. He played a lot as a freshman or #freshman. Now as a senior he is likely near the bottom of all the WR we have on the team talent wise.

 

[Brandon]

If this line can run block better kempt's gonna break some records

 

[CTTB78]

Objectively, Seneca and Sage were better QBs.

Would agree on Seneca. His scrambling strength is the main piece missing from KK's game. But Kyle should be the starter, and hopefully many Ws keeps him there all year.

 

[FinalFourCy]

If the OL is improved in the run game, that will open up so much more through the air, where Butler and Co will take advantage. All we need is a QB who can get the ball there accurately, then let the WR make the play after that. Kempt does that.

We definitely need improvement in run blocking, but it’s not all on the OL. If we can stretch the field, that will help open up so much more space on the ground. Our compressed field didn’t exactly help the run game. Neither did KK’s limitations in regards to keeping the ball on reads.

Our offense struggled for much of the second half of the year, even with good WRs, RBs and in general good pass blocking. The limitations of the OL and QB positions resulted in systemic issues and our offense being easy to defend.

 

[heitclone]

Seneca had underrated WR's, not physically as imposing as the guys Kempt gets to throw to but Whitver, Danielson, Montgomery and Young were a really good group. Not to mention solid RB's as well. I think Kempt has more talent around him but the biggest asset he has is a better coaching staff. Seneca was handed the ball and expected to go win the game, the current staff does an amazing job setting KK up for success.

 

[BCClone]

Seneca had underrated WR's, not physically as imposing as the guys Kempt gets to throw to but Whitver, Danielson, Montgomery and Young were a really good group. Not to mention solid RB's as well. I think Kempt has more talent around him but the biggest asset he has is a better coaching staff. Seneca was handed the ball and expected to go win the game, the current staff does an amazing job setting KK up for success.

Major difference now is the coaching staff. To me, this is a level of coaching we haven’t seen for generations.

 

[Doc]

While I agree with others that Seneca and Sage are the best we’ve had in the last 25 seasons or so, Kempt seems to be discounted just because of the arm strength.

I did the math in another thread, but basically if you extrapolate his average passing yards per game from last year over a full season* he ends up in 2nd place for single season passing yards all time just behind Wallace who set the record in a 14 game season.

*includes games Park started, Kempt missed for injury and the Kansas game where we basically just rammed the ball down their throats.

I don’t think he’s an all time ISU qb, but he’s a hell of a lot better than he gets credit for.

I think he’s great, but I’ve also never saw Iowa State receivers get this wide open. I’ve really only been watching ISU since the cyclones years and most years it’s been a struggle to compete a 7 yarder. I think a real test for Kempt would be if Butler ever had to miss some time.

 

[WIB]

A lot of Sean Fosters issue is between the ears. Not sure he fully trusts the process.

 

[madguy30]

Butler is a beast. If the OL is improved in the run game, that will open up so much more through the air, where Butler and Co will take advantage. All we need is a QB who can get the ball there accurately, then let the WR make the play after that. Kempt does that.

I'm hoping they figure out how to get Jones the ball again. Just wasn't his year last year.

They need more than Butler but at least Butler is a legit threat at all times. Some years at ISU the receivers would have a bunch of hype but didn't really seem to dictate the game, or at least weren't put in a position to do so.