Meta: Pledge Week is going to be the series in which we meet the recruits for Signing Day. Position groups will be done in order of stability to avoid Signing Day fuss.
Writing this segment is going pretty easy most years because unless we're gonna party like it's 2007 and take Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles, MSU is only going to take one quarterback most years. This year MSU took one quarterback, Michael "Tyler" O' Connor.
O'Connor, a QB from Lima Catholic Central(OH), committed to MSU on 6/6/2011. He chose MSU over offers from Northwestern, Boston College and West Virginia. O'Connor checks in as 5.7 3-star recruit from Rivals ranked as the 18th pro-style quarterback, a 3-star recruit from Scout and a 4-star recruit ranked 13th nationally by 247 Sports.
Not long after committing to Michigan State, O'Connor was invited to and attended the Elite 11 Quarterback camp. Calling it the Elite 11 is becoming a bit of a misnomer, they've regularly invited twelve to this camp for a while now, invited thirteen last year and then this year they opened it up to twenty-four. Then an elite 11 are selected. This isn't a knock on O'Connor, but it explains how he went to the Elite 11 and didn't finish in the Elite 11. He DID however, get a chance to work with Kirk Cousins, which is always encouraging to read. So anyway, the QB rankings of 13-23 are probably about accurate for him.
A Predictor of Future Success Is YouTube
These are O'Connor's junior highlights. There are some things to love, he throws an excellent deep ball and is very mobile in the pocket. I really, really loved some of his throws into coverage, great throws into windows between 2-3 defenders. He really does a nice job throwing the ball in traffic. He reminds me a bit of every Northwestern QB you've ever hated. If he doesn't get the read he wants, he can and will take off which helps keep the pass coverages a little more friendly for him. He runs the zone read option pretty well and I suspect you'll see him run it occasionally as a gimmick play when he sees the field at MSU.
There are some things I'm a little tepid about in the above film he has a few throws where he puts some zip on them, but not many. To me this begs the question of whether he has to take zip off his throws so his guys can catch them. Further, while I love his mobility, I think at this point looking at fifteen month old film he's a little too "hoppy" in the pocket. This is a much more "fixable" issue than not putting enough zip on the ball.
All of O'Connor's Senior Highlights are behind the pay wall, so a junior to senior year comparison isn't happening.
Prognostication for 2012 and Beyond: O'Connor barring disaster will not see the field in 2012. He and class of 2011 Quarterback Connor Cook will compete for the starting QB job in 2014. While I like his mobility I suspect it will not be encouraged at MSU like it would at Northwestern. I look forward to seeing his Spring Ball in 2013 to see how he handles short throws(the highlight tape above had lots of deep balls, deep outs and over-the middle but very little in the way of quick slants, quick outs and drag routes). All in all, another solid quarterback pickup and I look forward to seeing him and Cook push each other behind Maxwell the next couple of years.
2013 Need: 1
Writing this segment is going pretty easy most years because unless we're gonna party like it's 2007 and take Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles, MSU is only going to take one quarterback most years. This year MSU took one quarterback, Michael "Tyler" O' Connor.
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| Courtesy of MSU Scout |
Not long after committing to Michigan State, O'Connor was invited to and attended the Elite 11 Quarterback camp. Calling it the Elite 11 is becoming a bit of a misnomer, they've regularly invited twelve to this camp for a while now, invited thirteen last year and then this year they opened it up to twenty-four. Then an elite 11 are selected. This isn't a knock on O'Connor, but it explains how he went to the Elite 11 and didn't finish in the Elite 11. He DID however, get a chance to work with Kirk Cousins, which is always encouraging to read. So anyway, the QB rankings of 13-23 are probably about accurate for him.
A Predictor of Future Success Is YouTube
These are O'Connor's junior highlights. There are some things to love, he throws an excellent deep ball and is very mobile in the pocket. I really, really loved some of his throws into coverage, great throws into windows between 2-3 defenders. He really does a nice job throwing the ball in traffic. He reminds me a bit of every Northwestern QB you've ever hated. If he doesn't get the read he wants, he can and will take off which helps keep the pass coverages a little more friendly for him. He runs the zone read option pretty well and I suspect you'll see him run it occasionally as a gimmick play when he sees the field at MSU.
There are some things I'm a little tepid about in the above film he has a few throws where he puts some zip on them, but not many. To me this begs the question of whether he has to take zip off his throws so his guys can catch them. Further, while I love his mobility, I think at this point looking at fifteen month old film he's a little too "hoppy" in the pocket. This is a much more "fixable" issue than not putting enough zip on the ball.
All of O'Connor's Senior Highlights are behind the pay wall, so a junior to senior year comparison isn't happening.
Prognostication for 2012 and Beyond: O'Connor barring disaster will not see the field in 2012. He and class of 2011 Quarterback Connor Cook will compete for the starting QB job in 2014. While I like his mobility I suspect it will not be encouraged at MSU like it would at Northwestern. I look forward to seeing his Spring Ball in 2013 to see how he handles short throws(the highlight tape above had lots of deep balls, deep outs and over-the middle but very little in the way of quick slants, quick outs and drag routes). All in all, another solid quarterback pickup and I look forward to seeing him and Cook push each other behind Maxwell the next couple of years.
2013 Need: 1
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