Chris, I have to completely disagree about Tiller winning QB spot

[JY07]

No, Tiller hasn't been great so far in his Iowa State career. But competition sometimes sparks guys and up until now, this has always been Austen's team.

That's not true. In one of the interviews from last week CPR admitted the QB position was wide open last year, but Arnaud won it out.

If he didn't make a massive improvement during the competition last year, why would it this year?

[Yes13]

Tiller has made big plays before. Last year Nebraska, last year Baylor, this year Colorado. Thats not that many, but its still more than Jantz. He just needs to get more consistant. It's possible to do that in an offseason. I am by no means a Tiller supporter, but he is getting way to much hate in this thread. He can become a decent QB, I think he can be better than Arnaud. He just needs to put in the work.

For what its worth I'm on the Capello bandwagon. In warmups before games he was always throwing the ball perfectly (better than Tiller or Arnaud), and from what Rhoads said it sounds like he has 'it'. The swagger that a QB needs.

[cycloneG]

No, but given a choice i'm going to pick the all-conference player over the middle-of-the-pack player. The most important thing is wins. If Tiller can produce that better than Jantz, I want him starting

I agree. It doesn't matter who starts as long as they produce.

[bosco]

I see bad things in the future if we don't have a QB on the roster who can beat out Tiller. Also, no coaches are perfect.. They don't always start the best players. There's a story about someone getting hurt and his backup being great every year.

I agree here and will take it a step above this. If Tiller wins the starting QB job we better install the triple option offense real quick or we are in big trouble.

If Tiller is our starter then we better install a whole new offense, because he can't throw worth a **** from what i've seen.

We dont know that. Right now we dont know how good Jantz is. So at this moment in time, imagining Tiller as the starter would more than likely mean that Jantz isnt as good as we are hoping, rather than that Tiller has made that much improvement.

Alot of people here want Steele to be the QB over JT because that means he is good. However if Tiller wins the job we'll suck because that means Steele isn't very good. That's Cyclone logic.

[Stormin]

Tiller could end up being our QB. But IMO, Tiller has a ceiling on his potential based on what I have seen so far.

Jantz looks like a stud. And seems to have a higher ceiling. His injuries and storyline are an intriguing scenario as to why he ended up at ISU. Jantz also had a pretty good learning curve in the last couple of years to go from a complete nobody to a Juco All American. I don't see any of our other roster QB's performing at that level. That is why I think that Jantz will end up winning the job. I think that if Tiller does lose the job he might possibly move to WR. But I don't see that happening unless Capello and him are neck and neck for #2 or Capello beats him out. I look for Steele Jantz to win the QB job.

[cycloneworld]

Some of you act like any backup QB should come in and light things up...but there is a reason the backup QB is in that position. So I don't put a ton of stock into Tiller's fill-in work. There is a chance that given a full spring and fall practice schedule at #1, that he develops into the QB the staff hopes.

On the flip side, with even slightly above average QB last year, we easily make a bowl and likely could have won 7 games or more. So if Tiller really doesn't progress past what AA gave us last year, we are in for a shaky season.

Either way, I trust the staff to put the best guy out there to win games.

[Cyclonestate78]

Alot of people here want Steele to be the QB over JT because that means he is good. However if Tiller wins the job we'll suck because that means Steele isn't very good. That's Cyclone logic.

It isn't a question of people wanting Steele to be the man. Right now Steele is the unknown... Nobody knows how good he is actually going to be. Right now he is the classic Manning vs. Leaf QB (obviously at a different level). What I mean is that both Leaf and Manning were excellent college QB's, they won games, put up great numbers, etc.... similar to what Steele did at the JUCO level. Manning and Leaf were on the same level until they stepped up to the NFL and we all know what happened. Will Steele take the Manning route or the Leaf route? Nobody can say for sure.

What we can say for sure is after multiple years in the ISU system we have seen Tiller play. While he hasn't played much he has shown us what he has and it has been less then mediocre. The true fear factor IMO is that if Steele doesn't win the job over Tiller it could signal big trouble for the program. It would be hard to imagine one of the younger guys beating out Tiller if they couldn't do it by now. I take that to mean that in the coaches opinion the younger guys aren't as good as Tiller which is very troubling based on JT's body of work so far.

I guess if I had to really express my feelings on the QB situation for this coming fall into one statement it would be this.....

"Steele Jantz or Bust"

[Cydkar]

No matter who starts we won't know anything until we see them play. I won't sweat no matter who is named starter. Tiller didn't impress last year but that doesn't define him for this year.

[FootballinTexas]

Tiller could end up being our QB. But IMO, Tiller has a ceiling on his potential based on what I have seen so far.

Jantz looks like a stud. And seems to have a higher ceiling. His injuries and storyline are an intriguing scenario as to why he ended up at ISU. Jantz also had a pretty good learning curve in the last couple of years to go from a complete nobody to a Juco All American. I don't see any of our other roster QB's performing at that level. That is why I think that Jantz will end up winning the job. I think that if Tiller does lose the job he might possibly move to WR. But I don't see that happening unless Capello and him are neck and neck for #2 or Capello beats him out. I look for Steele Jantz to win the QB job.

Exactly, because the other three were D-1 recruits straight out of high school. What makes any one think that a JUCO QB with exactly 1 year of experience is so heads and shoulders above guys that came in as D-1 recruits? Not saying he isnt but he hasnt proven it yet. Outside of Tiller, the other two guys have not had an opportunity to really prove themselves. Who knows, they could be better than Tiller and Jantz given the opportunity. I'm afraid though that this staff is going to "truly" create competition only with the Tiller and Jantz because they feel Jantz is probably better than Tiller. Then Jantz will win the job. Barnett and Capello can sit another year. Tiller can switch position. That's probably why Jantz started the spring at #2 instead of #4 where he should have been because he is the new guy and has not proven anything worthy of the #2 spot to start spring. That should have been Capello.

As far as competition last year. I don't believe there was truly a competition because QB play was bad and Capello should have been #2. He is a pure spread guy and neither AA or JT is/was in my opinion.

[ChrisMWilliams]

Pretty solid conversation here everybody. I'm going to wrap up my take here and as they say in the talk radio world, "hang up and listen."

Just want to make a few clarifications.

1 - In that radio interview, I never said that I thought Jerome Tiller would win the job. Just wanted to make that clear. I summed up the comments earlier in this thread. Feel free to go back and read them if you would like.

2 - Please do not paint me as some sort of a "pro-Tiller" guy. I'm not pro-Tiller, pro-Jantz or pro-whatever. I'm pro-WINNING. Get it? When half of the fan base and many in the media were calling for him last year, I was arguably Tiller's biggest critic.

3 - While many are disagreeing in this thread, I think that the concept to all of our arguments is the same. That is that right now, we really have no idea how good Steele Jantz is. Time will tell and let's give credit to the coaches for recognizing that Tiller might not be the guy and bringing in a JUCO to up the ante for everybody.

[Frak]

You don't have to believe me, but you should when I say that my opinion is based off of WAY more than what Austen thinks.

I'm sure it is, but when all we have is incomplete information, it's pretty easy to be swayed a little when speaking with someone who not only knows D1 quarterbacking and the ISU system, but also knows Tiller personally (along with his strengths and weaknesses).

I don't have any input from Arnaud. All I have is what I've seen watching Tiller in what amounts to 5 or so games of playing time. In each one of those games, the offense looked like it was playing in quicksand where every single first down seemed like a monumental task. So my opinion is either Tiller is hella-improved or someone else is starting. Because if we see only a slightly improved Tiller starting this fall, things are gonna get ugly.

[ChrisMWilliams]

Exactly, because the other three were D-1 recruits straight out of high school. What makes any one think that a JUCO QB with exactly 1 year of experience is so heads and shoulders above guys that came in as D-1 recruits? Not saying he isnt but he hasnt proven it yet. Outside of Tiller, the other two guys have not had an opportunity to really prove themselves. Who knows, they could be better than Tiller and Jantz given the opportunity. I'm afraid though that this staff is going to "truly" create competition only with the Tiller and Jantz because they feel Jantz is probably better than Tiller. Then Jantz will win the job. Barnett and Capello can sit another year. Tiller can switch position. That's probably why Jantz started the spring at #2 instead of #4 where he should have been because he is the new guy and has not proven anything worthy of the #2 spot to start spring. That should have been Capello.

As far as competition last year. I don't believe there was truly a competition because QB play was bad and Capello should have been #2. He is a pure spread guy and neither AA or JT is/was in my opinion.

I agree with everything written here.

[ChrisMWilliams]

I'm sure it is, but when all we have is incomplete information, it's pretty easy to be swayed a little when speaking with someone who not only knows D1 quarterbacking and the ISU system, but also knows Tiller personally (along with his strengths and weaknesses).

I don't have any input from Arnaud. All I have is what I've seen watching Tiller in what amounts to 5 or so games of playing time. In each one of those games, the offense looked like it was playing in quicksand where every single first down seemed like a monumental task. So my opinion is either Tiller is hella-improved or someone else is starting. Because if we see only a slightly improved Tiller starting this fall, things are gonna get ugly.

Everything that you just wrote echoed my original post in this thread. I think that we actually agree on this topic.

[FootballinTexas]

It isn't a question of people wanting Steele to be the man. Right now Steele is the unknown... Nobody knows how good he is actually going to be. Right now he is the classic Manning vs. Leaf QB (obviously at a different level). What I mean is that both Leaf and Manning were excellent college QB's, they won games, put up great numbers, etc.... similar to what Steele did at the JUCO level. Manning and Leaf were on the same level until they stepped up to the NFL and we all know what happened. Will Steele take the Manning route or the Leaf route? Nobody can say for sure.

What we can say for sure is after multiple years in the ISU system we have seen Tiller play. While he hasn't played much he has shown us what he has and it has been less then mediocre. The true fear factor IMO is that if Steele doesn't win the job over Tiller it could signal big trouble for the program. It would be hard to imagine one of the younger guys beating out Tiller if they couldn't do it by now.[/B][/B][/I] I take that to mean that
in the coaches opinion the younger guys aren't as good as Tiller which is very troubling based on JT's body of work so far.

I guess if I had to really express my feelings on the QB situation for this coming fall into one statement it would be this.....

"Steele Jantz or Bust"

When has either one of the younger guys had a real chance to beat out Tiller? It's been the Tiller vs Jantz show since the middle if December. The younger guys have not had to a chance to beat either one out. What's sad for ISU football is neither one will get a real chance this spring either. So we won't truly know the real potential of all of our QB's. This competition is "in the books boys."

[Bipolarcy]

This thread is assuming that a QB peaks during his sophomore year. What if Tiller improves from sophomore to junior year and is better than the QB that we all expect Jantz to be? I think I just blew some minds.

The improvement would have to be astronomical, IMO, for him become even an average QB.