CFL QB Timmy Chang thread

[mrazntre]

Originally Posted by pablohoney

Hey, there's already an APIA QB in the NFL, Marques Tuiasosopo (1/2 Samoan). Now if only he'd get a chance to play. I think he's still got a shot to be a good player in the league but he might end up being another Rich Gannon, a guy who didn't get a chance to start until halfway through his career.

Didn't he get a chance to start last season? If that's the same guy, it seemed like they gave him mediocre reviews.

[pablohoney]

Originally Posted by mrazntre

Didn't he get a chance to start last season? If that's the same guy, it seemed like they gave him mediocre reviews.

No, that was two years ago. Gannon got hurt that year while the Raiders were trailing KC and Tuiasosopo came in and almost rallied the team to a win. He got the first start of his career the next week against Detroit, where he promptly blew out his knee in the 2nd quarter and missed the rest of the season. Kerry Collins was then signed in the off-season and promoted to the No. 2 QB behind Gannon last year. After Gannon hurt his neck, Collins got the starting job and Tui barely moved from the bench.

I'm probably biased because he played for my alma mater, but I think Tuiasosopo can be a very good player in the league. He was practically a one-man team in college, making big plays even though he was stuck with a mediocre set of recievers and backs. At the least I think he could be another Jeff Garcia.

[lethal]

I don't think Chang is very good at reading defenses. He has all the physical tools, but there's a reason he's the NCAA career leader in passes intercepted.

[yoMAMA]

does he have NFL level arm strength?

I heard that in hawaii they operate out of shotgun on every play.

[mrazntre]

Originally Posted by yoMAMA

does he have NFL level arm strength?

I heard that in hawaii they operate out of shotgun on every play.

What does that mean?

(btw, i'm not being patronizing or sarcastic, I don't know what it means, really... )

[pablohoney]

The shotgun is when the QB is standing a few yards behind the center and the ball is snapped to him through the air (rather than him being directly under center and taking a handoff). Like so:



Hawaii runs an exotic, pass-dominated offense (the run-n-shoot), which nobody runs in the pros (Houston did for a few years in the 90s, though). It doesn't help that quarterbacks who played in that kind of offense in college haven't had much success in the pros, even the ones who were drafted highly and had good physical skills (David Klinger and Andre Ware from U of Houston, for example).

[doe-sun]

yeah, Hawaii loved that shotgun style, but it was more necessity than anything else. Their offensive line was always outsized, and usually crumbled right after the snap.

But you'd think that a QB who's used to being chased (due to weak offensive-line protection) would do well on a professional team with an o-line of comparable size to other teams.

[mrazntre]

Originally Posted by pablohoney

The shotgun is when the QB is standing a few yards behind the center and the ball is snapped to him through the air (rather than him being directly under center and taking a handoff). Like so:



Hawaii runs an exotic, pass-dominated offense (the run-n-shoot), which nobody runs in the pros (Houston did for a few years in the 90s, though). It doesn't help that quarterbacks who played in that kind of offense in college haven't had much success in the pros, even the ones who were drafted highly and had good physical skills (David Klinger and Andre Ware from U of Houston, for example).

oh, okay thanks for the explanation, i was thinking the right thing. we used to always call the shotgun when we played ball in school.

I was more confused on the statement above

"does he have NFL level arm strength?"

what's that have to do with running the shotgun ?

[yoMAMA]

Originally Posted by mrazntre

I was more confused on the statement above

"does he have NFL level arm strength?"

what's that have to do with running the shotgun ?

well usually a quarterback with a big arm don't operate out of shotgun on every play.

other than, say, Daunte Culpepper when he was at UCF (he's got a rocket arm, can throw it 75 to 80 yards).

[mrazntre]

so they're going for the quickness angle on the play ?

[pablohoney]

I think concerns about Chang's arm strength are more a result of him running the run-n-shoot, because they call a lot of short pass plays in that system and don't require the quarterback to throw much downfield. I believe the concern with him playing predominantly out of a shotgun is that his footwork and timing are not developed enough to play in a pro-style offense. But if a quarterback has a below-average NFL arm, he's going to have a hard time making it, because strength & accurary are the top two things pro scouts are looking for. It's the equivalent of height for an NBA center.

[mrazntre]

Originally Posted by pablohoney

I think concerns about Chang's arm strength are more a result of him running the run-n-shoot, because they call a lot of short pass plays in that system and don't require the quarterback to throw much downfield. I believe the concern with him playing predominantly out of a shotgun is that his footwork and timing are not developed enough to play in a pro-style offense. But if a quarterback has a below-average NFL arm, he's going to have a hard time making it, because strength & accurary are the top two things pro scouts are looking for. It's the equivalent of height for an NBA center.

ok, that sheds a lot of light on things.

i wonder if he does have a below-average arm. regardless of the offense he was running in Hawaii, the scouts had a good luck at him in practice and training camp. I wonder what they rate him.

[mrazntre]

I was just trying to find some more recent info on TC and found the following SI article pre-draft:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ang/index.html

i found it interesting, dunno if anyone still cares.

[doe-sun]

Dudes, he had an awesome arm! I watched him for two years, cuz UHawaii games were broadcast in California.
I can say with absolutely certainty how TC got those record-breaking 4000+ yards: lots and lots of medium and long-range passes.

[pablohoney]

Originally Posted by mrazntre

I was just trying to find some more recent info on TC and found the following SI article pre-draft:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ang/index.html

i found it interesting, dunno if anyone still cares.

That was a pretty good article. I think there is a lot of subconscious racial profiling in sports. Practically every good white basketball player for the past 20 years has been compared to Larry Bird, regardless whether their style bore any resemblance to his. And why did it take so long for black quarterbacks to become accepted in the pros? Somewhere along the line people must've thought they just didn't "fit" as quarterbacks, even while they overtook almost every other position on the field.

But getting back to Chang, I'm not really too familiar with him but I have seen a lot of great college QBs not make it in the pros. Ty Detmer, IMO, is the best college QB I've ever seen, but every time he got a chance to play in the pros he looked overwhelmed. Unfortunately Chang didn't even make a final roster, but there's always the Arena, World League, and Canadian football. It's still a long shot, but there have been guys who've proven themselves in those leagues and then come back to have success in the NFL.