09-11-2018, 07:07 PM
Had you looked at Stanford in the first few weeks after Luck's graduation you might have come to the conclusion (and some people prematurely did) that Shaw was lucky to have Luck and that Shaw can't run his offense without a once in a generation QB. Four games out of the first eight with under 300 total yards was concerning, and it wasn't like we didn't have highly recruited QB's on the roster at the time.
Considering that Helton is playing a true freshman who graduated high school a year early, and it was the kids' first college road game, against a top-25 team no less, I think it is fair to wait to see if Daniels develops before we declare him a bust or say that Helton can't coach. I mean, I hope the kid's a bust (nothing against him, but he is a Trojan QB now), and there may be other signs Helton can't coach, but it seems a bit premature to me.
That being said, Kessler was a third round draft pick; Hogan a fifth round pick. It seems the NFL* thought Kessler was the better player, and yet Hogan's senior year we went to the Rose Bowl and had one of the best offenses in the country, while Kessler's senior year SC was 8-6 and lost to Hogan and Stanford twice. I think you can reasonably conclude that Shaw did more with his very good but not elite QB than Helton did with his slightly better but still not elite QB, and though Stanford had McCaffrey, SC had a stable of other blue chip players, and consistently pulled in higher rated recruits.
Long way of saying that although it is still early, I could see how an SC fan might start openly wondering if the contract extension was a good call.
BC
* In full disclosure, Kessler was drafted by the Browns, who are notoriously bad judges of QB talent, though I do think he was regarded as the better NFL prospect.
Considering that Helton is playing a true freshman who graduated high school a year early, and it was the kids' first college road game, against a top-25 team no less, I think it is fair to wait to see if Daniels develops before we declare him a bust or say that Helton can't coach. I mean, I hope the kid's a bust (nothing against him, but he is a Trojan QB now), and there may be other signs Helton can't coach, but it seems a bit premature to me.
That being said, Kessler was a third round draft pick; Hogan a fifth round pick. It seems the NFL* thought Kessler was the better player, and yet Hogan's senior year we went to the Rose Bowl and had one of the best offenses in the country, while Kessler's senior year SC was 8-6 and lost to Hogan and Stanford twice. I think you can reasonably conclude that Shaw did more with his very good but not elite QB than Helton did with his slightly better but still not elite QB, and though Stanford had McCaffrey, SC had a stable of other blue chip players, and consistently pulled in higher rated recruits.
Long way of saying that although it is still early, I could see how an SC fan might start openly wondering if the contract extension was a good call.
BC
* In full disclosure, Kessler was drafted by the Browns, who are notoriously bad judges of QB talent, though I do think he was regarded as the better NFL prospect.