Will the Spread Put Too Much Pressure on Michigan's Quarterbacks?

I was recently watching coverage of the Big Ten's media days, and I heard a remark by one of the analyst's that puzzled me a bit. The statement was made by Chris Martin who is an analyst for the ESPNU, a Big Ten Network studio analyst and a former Northwestern Wildcats and Chicago Bears Defensive Back.

What he said was that Michigan would likely struggle to get to a bowl game this season because they have freshmen Quarterbacks working in a system that demands a lot out of them. Not to discredit Martin by any means, but this is a statement that can frequently be heard from the folks in the media.

One argument used to support these types of statements is the fact that Coach Rodriguez' particular system doesn't mesh well with pocket passers, thus the perception that it requires something special or more complex out of the Quarterback position. The question is, does this type of spread indeed put extra pressure on young quarterbacks, or is that just a perception?

If we look at the statistics at hand from some recent freshmen with similar attributes to Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson, and of course guys operating a similar system, we see some startling evidence to the contrary. Let's examine a couple of players who operated in a similar system as freshmen, and contrast those players with players who operated more of a pro-style attack and just see who had the most responsibility.

First and foremost take a look at what Ohio State did in 2008 with True Freshman Terrelle Pryor. Ohio State ran a primarily shotgun offense, with a single back or three wide receiver sets. In 2008's system Pryor played in 13 games making 10 starts and making a relatively large contribution in every game he played.

His total passing attempts was 165, out of which he completed 100. In a 13 game span he averaged approximately 12.7 passing attempts per game. Also, Pryor rushed for 631 yards on 139 carries. In 13 games thats an average of 10.7 rushing attempts per game. A grand total of 23.4 pass/rush attempts combined per game.

Pryor was efficient and effective due to the coaches not putting too much pressure on him to make plays or do too much in terms of down-field passing. They didn't put him in situation where he had too many reads or decisions, situations where it would be tempting to throw into coverage.

Another example comes in the form of a former Rodriguez player. Of course I'm speaking of Pat White in 2005. Just a Freshman (RS), White only attempted 114 passes, the most being 16 in one game. He threw 12 or less passes in every other game. If you look at a 13 game schedule in which he took the vast majority of the reps, White only attempted 8.8 passes per game on average.

His 131 rushing attempts were an average of 10.1 a game. With a couple of exceptions later in the season White only carried the ball 11 times or less in virtually every game. Altogether Pat White had a combination of 18.9 run/ pass attempts per game. Much like Pryor we see a trend of his duties being mostly handing the ball off, throwing high percentage/ low risk passes and being a decoy.

Compared to Chad Henne's 444 touches in 2004 (12 game starter), and Matthew Stafford's 303 touches in 2006 we see that both players were expected to throw the ball anywhere from 20 plus times a game for Stafford to 30 plus times a game for Henne!

This doesn't necessarily mean that Michigan will succeed in 2009, nor that they won't expect their Quarterbacks to "do too much." However, the above information shows that freshmen dual-threat quarterbacks operating out of a Shotgun Spread often are asked to do less than Pro-Style kids, and aren't put under nearly as demanding circumstances as is often perceived by the media etc.

In conclusion, there is a stigma that is out there about what will be expected in Spread Offenses versus Pro-Style. Spread Quarterbacks can simply be 'game-managers' as freshmen. The difference is more often than not just a mirage, a perception Michigan hopes to change in 2009. With all the hard work they are putting in I believe they just might.