re: Interesting statement JD’s footwork

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Yeah I mean he hasn’t perfected it yet but he’s made lots of progress and he’s worked with the receivers a lot this summer because rapport is everything.

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The scrimmages are going to tell the tale on how far Daniels has come fixing technical issues, same as Nuss.

Fixing and overhauling fundamental techniques in anything requiring repetitive motions can be a long and difficult process. It requires a lot of thought, discipline and repetition to the point that the new way of doing things becomes enough of a habit that the player starts defaulting to it over what they’ve done before.

It’s easier for anyone to stick with those changes in a controlled practice where they know what to expect and have time to think about it. The coaches will see how well changes they have made have taken hold once Daniels is in a scrimmage where things get more unpredictable like a game setting. That’s when players don’t have time to think as much as process instinctually based on the work they’ve done. Will he slide back into older habits or be inconsistent, or will the new way be the norm?

And this is no knock on Daniels specifically. Asking any player to make significant changes over an off-season is a challenge. It takes a lot of players across various sports (think basketball shooting motion or a golf swing) longer than that if they aren’t pros. Even some pros never fix a negative bit here and there.

The same thing goes for checks at the line and going through progressions. Kelly and Denbrock have both mentioned these as being a requirement for their starting QB. It does look like Daniels and Nuss are the top two, so whoever of them has the best mastery of all of the above after this week’s two scrimmages will likely be the game one starter. And it won’t be about perfection. Neither of them will have fixed everything. Who’s the best total package and made the most progression.

I still think many of you are getting worked up over what is really only a starting point. I doubt we only have one starting QB this season, whoever takes the first snap vs FSU.