FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacman]

Serious question for the Williams mafia....if Weiler is the next coming of Moffitt/Maimaron, why was he QB3 playing behind two QBs that could be classified as NESCAC journeymen?

Hopefully, he's the answer for a program that has won exactly 1 Little 3 title since 2010 when Whales/Dice left Williamstown for greener pastures (we don't count 2010 since Whales recruited 100% of that team and HCOF Kelton rode that team to a 8-0 record...as Whales has told me many times, NESCACMAN could have coached that team to an 8-0 record)...

With all that being said, we wish the new signal caller the best of luck. Hopefully, they can keep him upright and healthy.

[nescac1]

lumbercat / Nescacman, I don't mean to overhype Weiler.  He looked very good against an 0-4 team that surely wasn't prepared for Williams to play a spread-em-out deep-throwing style of offense.  But at the same time, I stand by saying he looks like he has the best tools as a passer since Pat Moffitt back in 2010.  That actually isn't saying all THAT much.  I don't need to belabor the Kelton years but obviously they were a total disaster in every respect.  Bobby Maimaron was an elite quarterback but not an elite passer - he was just REALLY great at every other aspect of the position (running, leadership, clutch play, IQ, misdirection) while being probably about an average NESCAC passer with an average sort of arm.  And since Maimaron, Williams has generally played alpha athletes at the position who were tough dudes and elite as runners but average at best (usually below average, frankly) as passers.  Really, other than one great three-game stretch from Johansen, Williams fans haven't seen a lot of great passing offense for the past 15 years!  Part of that is that the Ephs haven't had the sort of elite receivers that other NESCAC teams seem to have in droves, certainly nothing like the crew of guys we had back around 2010.

So that is really why Weiler popped so much to me as a passer.  He was putting the ball generally on target, with good velocity, 20-40 yards down the field, which is very impressive for a FY playing his first game, and especially striking to watch after the first three games of this season.  And clearly he has good escapability as well, and the ability to make plays on the run.  It's not shocking he didn't get an earlier look as he was behind three seniors, all of whom have started multiple games in their careers, including Johansen, who was all-league as a junior.  I'm sure he has a lot to learn about the mental aspects of the game (he did throw an interception on a pass he probably should not have thrown in the second half, and there was another that was almost picked as well).  But in terms of pure ARM talent, I do feel comfortable saying even after one game that he's (FWIW) the best-looking thrower of the ball we've had since Moffitt.  We will see just how for-real he is against a stronger team next week, and one that critically will have a chance to scout him before the game rather than prepping for a team that runs up the middle every play. 

Four of his top plays are in the highlights so folks can judge for themselves: https://youtu.be/okSQJ55L-TY?is=4c666Av1RSQ-QA5x

Edit: I just noticed, hell of a block by Bott immediately after flipping the ball to Stahelski on the reverse, great play by him.

[jumpshot]

Nescacman, you should know by now that Ephs, especially nescac1, usually win the debate ....

[SpringSt7]

Serious question for the Williams mafia....if Weiler is the next coming of Moffitt/Maimaron, why was he QB3 playing behind two QBs that could be classified as NESCAC journeymen?

Hopefully, he's the answer for a program that has won exactly 1 Little 3 title since 2010 when Whales/Dice left Williamstown for greener pastures (we don't count 2010 since Whales recruited 100% of that team and HCOF Kelton rode that team to a 8-0 record...as Whales has told me many times, NESCACMAN could have coached that team to an 8-0 record)...

With all that being said, we wish the new signal caller the best of luck. Hopefully, they can keep him upright and healthy.

I don't think it would've made a difference against Trinity but it is a tough look for the coaching staff that McHugh was somehow QB2. By all accounts he had barely touched a football over the summer and is focused almost exclusively on baseball right now. Raymond is famously ruthless when it comes to depth chart decisions, there is no emotion or feel good decision making, I have no idea how he was next man up.

[nescac1]

On another note, WR Jadon Davis seems to be evolving into a big-time weapon on offense and ST for Amherst.  Amherst is still struggling to get consistent production at TB, but they have a really nice trio of speedy receivers this year with Davis, Alexander and Moore, with Davis looking like the scariest. Watching the game highlights, those guys combined to make some big time plays.  Davis looks the scariest to me and while I know Mills isn't usually huge on playing FYs, I'm very surprised we didn't see him at all last year. 

As usual, there are a lot of impressive receivers in NESCAC this year and it will be a huge battle for the all-conference teams: in addition to those Amherst guys, Ivatts is putting up huge numbers for Hamilton, O'Brien, Newcombe, and Kelly are all playing to their first-team all league form, McCaffrey has been a deep threat for Trinity, and Kearns has also been big for Hamilton.  Jack Nye and Keller Rogers could both break out as well.