I asked Kirk Herbstreit today about C.J. Stroud's running ability and on if a lack of scrambling has hurt his national perception at all. I found his answer fascinating:
“I don’t think it affects him at all or how he’s viewed nationally. I go back to Dwayne Haskins. I remember talking to Ryan and Urban about him the year he played. One of the areas late in the year they said, ‘We’re trying to get him to realize, even though he’s a pocket guy, that occasionally, we need you to use your feet just to kind of keep plays alive. When you scramble for five yards on a 3rd-and-4 or you are keeping a play alive, finding a receiver and you make a throw, we need you to keep in mind that you are allowed to use your feet.’ Think that year, Maryland and some others late, you started to see more of that starting to surface.
He is a great basketball player, he is a talented athlete. But I think he’s a little bit more like Dwayne rather than Justin, who is almost like a legitimate dual-threat guy. I think there’s some plays to be had with his feet in extending plays, potentially scrambles on third down, but this guy is making a name for himself as a Heisman frontrunner because of the way he’s distributing the football. That’s who he is. That’s why he’s being recognized and heralded as a Heisman frontrunner late in the year.
But he’s a first-year starter. The moments of kind of scrambling to buy time will become more natural to him and right now, I think he’s so focused on ‘Who am I going to throw to’ that he hasn’t necessarily needed to use his legs in his mind. I think even in the NFL, you watch an Aaron Rodgers, watch any of these guys: They are pocket quarterbacks, but they uqsetheir feet. They use their feet to either get that first down or… extend. I think that will naturally happen to him with the more games that he plays and the more reps that he gets. I don’t think it is hurting him from a perception standpoint at all."
“I don’t think it affects him at all or how he’s viewed nationally. I go back to Dwayne Haskins. I remember talking to Ryan and Urban about him the year he played. One of the areas late in the year they said, ‘We’re trying to get him to realize, even though he’s a pocket guy, that occasionally, we need you to use your feet just to kind of keep plays alive. When you scramble for five yards on a 3rd-and-4 or you are keeping a play alive, finding a receiver and you make a throw, we need you to keep in mind that you are allowed to use your feet.’ Think that year, Maryland and some others late, you started to see more of that starting to surface.
He is a great basketball player, he is a talented athlete. But I think he’s a little bit more like Dwayne rather than Justin, who is almost like a legitimate dual-threat guy. I think there’s some plays to be had with his feet in extending plays, potentially scrambles on third down, but this guy is making a name for himself as a Heisman frontrunner because of the way he’s distributing the football. That’s who he is. That’s why he’s being recognized and heralded as a Heisman frontrunner late in the year.
But he’s a first-year starter. The moments of kind of scrambling to buy time will become more natural to him and right now, I think he’s so focused on ‘Who am I going to throw to’ that he hasn’t necessarily needed to use his legs in his mind. I think even in the NFL, you watch an Aaron Rodgers, watch any of these guys: They are pocket quarterbacks, but they uqsetheir feet. They use their feet to either get that first down or… extend. I think that will naturally happen to him with the more games that he plays and the more reps that he gets. I don’t think it is hurting him from a perception standpoint at all."
