I agree that a lot of it is likely pre-snap reads - identifying the coverage, knowing where to look, and knowing what to look for post-snap.

Once the ball is snapped, everything happens in a split second. I think people generally overestimate how much college QBs can do at that point. The elite ones can process information incredibly fast, but that’s why they’re elite.

One good example is the play against FSU where Bech got wide open on a broken coverage in the first half. FSU was in man and both the LB and DB went to the running back, leaving Bech uncovered. But immediately after the snap, the LB was running right at Bech. Jayden moved on to the other side of the field (which was all covered) and wound up running for 11 yards.

Literally milliseconds after Daniels looked away from Bech, the LB overran him because he was running to the RB. If Daniels had held the ball longer he would have had Bech for a big gain. But during the <0.5 seconds he had to make the read he saw A) man coverage and B) a linebacker that was in position to cover Bech’s route.

This is a good example, I think, of why busted coverages in particular don’t always get picked up by the QB. In order to get through the progression faster, the QB has to look for specific pieces of information based on the play call and the defensive look. They very often don’t get all of the information that you get watching it back in slow motion.

And the larger point is that the QB has to know what he’s looking for before the ball is snapped.

Because of that, there are going to be times that a guy gets open and the QB doesn’t see it even when he does make the right reads. Maybe Kayshon shouldn’t be open based on the coverage but he just beats someone on his route. Maybe a DB trips. I suspect if someone took the time to go break down film from good college QBs playing on other teams, you would see that this isn’t all that uncommon.

The key is eliminating the other cases, where the QB doesn’t see something pre-snap and therefore doesn’t make the right read to begin with. We’ve seen a few of those, but the good news is that pre-snap reads are a much easier thing to improve in-season as Daniels continues to get more familiar with the offense.

/essay