[DC 86]

Perhaps Harballs beats SC and it’s roses instead of gators.

Perhaps Harbaugh takes a cheap shot his sophomore year in the USC game (as Paye did) and ends up throwing as hard as Randy Jones. The hit damaged Paye's shoulder and afterwords he seemed to have an elongated throwing motion; he was still a good quarterback but we'll never know if he would have fulfilled his potential absent the shoulder damage.

Purely speculation what would have happened if both had been at Stanford. Harbaugh didn't play his true freshman year. In 1983 (Harbaugh's redshirt freshman year, Paye's true freshman year) Harbaugh was third string behind Steve Smith and David Hall on a 9-3 team, Paye started most of the year on a 1-10 team. 1984: Harbaugh only played half a season because of a broken arm and finished with 3 TD and 5 int on a 6-6 team, Paye only played half a season because of the shoulder injury and finished with 4 TD and 3 int on a 5-6 team. From that point on Harbaugh played very well (18 TD / 6 int in 1985 and third place in the H-Man in 1986 although he only threw for 10 TD / 11 int), while Paye played hurt and threw for 24 TD / 24 int over those two seasons.

I suppose the most likely scenario is that Paye would have started ahead of Harbaugh, then Harbaugh would have taken over after Paye's injury and kept the job, but we'll never know.

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Phogge, I always appreciate your take.  But I fail to see how Harbaugh as a QB was more competitive than say Montana.  Or Elway.  Or Favre.  Or…..

There's also a 44-year old guy playing in Tampa who seems to be pretty competitive.

[DC 86]

Perhaps Harballs beats SC and it’s roses instead of gators.

Perhaps Harbaugh takes a cheap shot his sophomore year in the USC game (as Paye did) and ends up throwing as hard as Randy Jones. The hit damaged Paye's shoulder and afterwords he seemed to have an elongated throwing motion; he was still a good quarterback but we'll never know if he would have fulfilled his potential absent the shoulder damage.

Purely speculation what would have happened if both had been at Stanford. Harbaugh didn't play his true freshman year. In 1983 (Harbaugh's redshirt freshman year, Paye's true freshman year) Harbaugh was third string behind Steve Smith and David Hall on a 9-3 team, Paye started most of the year on a 1-10 team. 1984: Harbaugh only played half a season because of a broken arm and finished with 3 TD and 5 int on a 6-6 team, Paye only played half a season because of the shoulder injury and finished with 4 TD and 3 int on a 5-6 team. From that point on Harbaugh played very well (18 TD / 6 int in 1985 and third place in the H-Man in 1986 although he only threw for 10 TD / 11 int), while Paye played hurt and threw for 24 TD / 24 int over those two seasons.

I suppose the most likely scenario is that Paye would have started ahead of Harbaugh, then Harbaugh would have taken over after Paye's injury and kept the job, but we'll never know.

---

Phogge, I always appreciate your take.  But I fail to see how Harbaugh as a QB was more competitive than say Montana.  Or Elway.  Or Favre.  Or…..

There's also a 44-year old guy playing in Tampa who seems to be pretty competitive.