Can we lay off Hunter Dekkers.

[Cy4All]

With the All Big XII teams announced Dekkers got an honorable mention at the QB position. Can people please look objectively and see what he was asked to do and with what pieces he had to work with.

Statistically he was great and with little to no protection. I get he was prone to bone headed turn overs, and I always hated watching the pocket collapse and he would just stand in there and take the sack. However they were always playing from behind and couldn't run the ball for most of the season. Everyone knew they would be passing which makes it alot easier on the opposing defense to sell out on the run and watch for the interception or other opportunities.

The conference saw him for what he is not for the bad plays he made. Fact is he is talented and should be a key piece moving forward.

What I found most interesting was after all the talk of Texa$$' QB room being so great they didn't get one on an All Big XII team or an honorable mention.

 

[CycloneSpinning]

With the All Big XII teams announced Dekkers got an honorable mention at the QB position. Can people please look objectively and see what he was asked to do and with what pieces he had to work with.

Statistically he was great and with little to no protection. I get he was prone to bone headed turn overs, and I always hated watching the pocket collapse and he would just stand in there and take the sack. However they were always playing from behind and couldn't run the ball for most of the season. Everyone knew they would be passing which makes it alot easier on the opposing defense to sell out on the run and watch for the interception or other opportunities.

The conference saw him for what he is not for the bad plays he made. Fact is he is talented and should be a key piece moving forward.

What I found most interesting was after all the talk of Texa$$' QB room being so great they didn't get one on an All Big XII team or an honorable mention.

Compared to many of our quarterbacks historically, he was probably better than average, but he wasn’t that close to being as good as Brock Purdy in any of Brock’s seasons. To me that says two things:

1. We should continue to appreciate Brock for what he was (quite possibly the best QB in ISU history).

2. There should be an open competition for the QB job going into next season. If Hunter gets after it in the off-season, great! I’m kind of hoping JJ Kohl steps in and is the guy right away, but I ultimately want whatever is best for the team.

 

[UNIclonefan]

My issue is with Tom Manning and Jeff Myers. It’s hard for Dekkers to do anything when he’s fighting for his life b/c the line stinks. Then Tom calls yet another shallow cross on a 3rd down long.

 

[Stormin]

Dekkers has talent. IMO when things broke down he would panic and try to make a play. Very inconsistent when it comes to accuracy. Inconsistent line play makes it difficult.

 

[RonBurgundy]

I am not against Dekkers. But I judge a QB by his ability to lead the team to victory in the 4th Q of a close game. Don't hold me to accuracy, but other than Baylor, OU and TCU, I believe ISU had the ball with a chance to win or tie in the 4th Q in five different games, and we lost them all under Dekkers (KU, KSU, UT, OSU, TTU). All of them. That is horrible. Not a single comeback win.

And Brock holds a ton of records, but in my memory, he was also terrible under late game pressure.

Dekkers can improve from experience, but I am frankly tired of ISU QB's choking under pressure. I am fine if someone can beat him out.

 

[cyclone87]

I am not against Dekkers. But I judge a QB by his ability to lead the team to victory in the 4th Q of a close game. Don't hold me to accuracy, but other than Baylor, OU and TCU, I believe ISU had the ball with a chance to win or tie in the 4th Q in five different games, and we lost them all under Dekkers (KU, KSU, UT, OSU, TTU). All of them. That is horrible. Not a single comeback win.

And Brock holds a ton of records, but in my memory, he was also terrible under late game pressure.

Dekkers can improve from experience, but I am frankly tired of ISU QB's choking under pressure. I am fine if someone can beat him out.

We won quite a few close games with Purdy. Sure when he was asked for some late game heroics it didn’t always work I’ll give you that. He basically didn’t lose at home to big 12 teams in his time here though.

 

[cayin]

I am not against Dekkers. But I judge a QB by his ability to lead the team to victory in the 4th Q of a close game. Don't hold me to accuracy, but other than Baylor, OU and TCU, I believe ISU had the ball with a chance to win or tie in the 4th Q in five different games, and we lost them all under Dekkers (KU, KSU, UT, OSU, TTU). All of them. That is horrible. Not a single comeback win.

And Brock holds a ton of records, but in my memory, he was also terrible under late game pressure.

Dekkers can improve from experience, but I am frankly tired of ISU QB's choking under pressure. I am fine if someone can beat him out.

my issues are with the offensive coaching, the delay of games, blocking schemes, inability to coach and instill the fundamentals, false starts, disorganization, burning time outs etc..sometimes it was a Sh#t show. Dekkers had to make it work with of all of that against him, and that is a tough deal for him. With that said, he had receivers drop balls on last potentially game winning or tying drives. X dropped a probably TD against Texas and Noel dropped one against Okie State that would have been a td. X dropped a first down catch against KU on that last drive. My only criticism of Hunter is he is a very tentative and hesitant runner. Couldn't make anyone miss in the open field and didn't have the instincts or vision to know when to plant and get up field to take advantage of a seem.

 

[CyNews]

*seam

 

[CycloneWanderer]

This is a question for employment lawyers. I don't think we can lay off Dekkers unless he is a formal employee. If we did, he'd be eligible for unemployment insurance.

 

[Nycclone]

Sounds like a question for Brent Blum or whoever handles his nil deals.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Any deficiencies that he does have (not attributable to other factors) are a product of inexperience. This year gave him a lot of that, and the film should help him learn a lot in the offseason.

 

[FerShizzle]

Both of these things can be true.

1. Dekkers stats were mostly good and tell the story of a player who should have had much more success than he actually had. (The same could be said for the offense and team as a whole)
2. Dekkers failed the eyeball test consistently. He lacks intangibles and QB instincts, and I am not sure that coaching can fix that.

 

[Aduhbolu15]

If you think dekkers is the problem then your football knowledge lacks.

 

[iowa_wildcat]

The All Big 12 team is a joke at quarterback. Dekkers and Martinez get an Honorable Mention. Will Howard gets nothing but silence.

 

[exCYtable]

I'd like to see what he can do with a new OC. My biggest concern is his decision making and throwing critical INTs at critical times. On the flip side, I recall 2-3 home run TD throws that were dropped late in games that could have flipped our record to 7-5 and we wouldn't be nearly as critical right now. Those weren't his fault.

 

[Malty Flannel]

Dekkers got dealt a real crappy hand this year. Bad OC, bad line, no running game, WR’s dropped several TD’s. If he can make a natural mental progression this off-season I’m excited to see what next year looks like for him

 

[BringBackJohnny]

There needs to be more play calls that get dekkers sliding or booting out of the pocket. We also had almost no good pre snap movement and had deckers staying in one spot. Was just too easy for the defense and didn’t give Dekkers a chance to be an athlete often. He’ll be solid next year but the staff has to help him.

 

[Tailg8er]

I am not against Dekkers. But I judge a QB by his ability to lead the team to victory in the 4th Q of a close game. Don't hold me to accuracy, but other than Baylor, OU and TCU, I believe ISU had the ball with a chance to win or tie in the 4th Q in five different games, and we lost them all under Dekkers (KU, KSU, UT, OSU, TTU). All of them. That is horrible. Not a single comeback win.

And Brock holds a ton of records, but in my memory, he was also terrible under late game pressure.

Dekkers can improve from experience, but I am frankly tired of ISU QB's choking under pressure. I am fine if someone can beat him out.

Do you remember how we lost a few of those? Dekkers did what he had to do to put us in position to win...

I remember a minimum of 3 HUGE dropped passes that were put right on the money (not talking fingertip high balls, there was a sideline X drop, deep X drop, and deep Noel drop). Those 3 alone would have had us in position to win late in those games.

Then there were the missed field goals. Dekkers had us in position to win late against Kansas, Tech, and Texas, but we missed field goals in each (make able, not talking 50+ yarders)...

There are things to be rightfully critical of him (turnovers, namely), I just don't see not winning close games as one of them. Even with poor line play and play calling (goal line against Tech!), he had us in position late to win those close ones. Unless you expect him to catch his own passes and kick FGs, too??

 

[dosry5]

This is a question for employment lawyers. I don't think we can lay off Dekkers unless he is a formal employee. If we did, he'd be eligible for unemployment insurance.

If he’s truly an independent contractor then the he would need to have the tools and skills to ply his trade without significant daily direction, he’d only need a contract with a specified end result for which he was responsible to reach. I think there is an employer/employee relationship here. Employee misclassification is serious issue in this country.

 

[JM4CY]

Compared to many of our quarterbacks historically, he was probably better than average, but he wasn’t that close to being as good as Brock Purdy in any of Brock’s seasons. To me that says two things:

1. We should continue to appreciate Brock for what he was (quite possibly the best QB in ISU history).

2. There should be an open competition for the QB job going into next season. If Hunter gets after it in the off-season, great! I’m kind of hoping JJ Kohl steps in and is the guy right away, but I ultimately want whatever is best for the team.

Comparing him to Brock was never fair. But the message from the program was that there would be little to no drop off so it made that difficult.