Okay, so after hearing all these comparisons between Mangino's latest attempt at saving his job and Michael Vick, Brett Favre, and Doug Flutie, I decided I needed to check this Reesing guy out for myself. So last night I bit the bullet and watched the local replay of the second half of the ku/Colorado game.
First off, I want to note that both of these teams are bad. Going on the road is tough, but we really should beat at least one of them. CU can play some defense, but ku scored 20 points on them in about 15 minutes, so there are things we can do if we plan well. Hawkins makes some questionable decisions, so it would be good if we can make those work for us.
Now, about Reesing. There's no doubt the guy made a few plays and was the reason that ku won that game. That being said, there are definitely some holes in his game.
First of all, the touch on his passes is inconsistent. He seems to have a tendency to throw too hard on short-to-medium passes over the middle, which can result in interceptions, as it did on his second pass attempt on Saturday. Swing passes also don't seem to be his forte...thrown hard and at the receiver's feet. On the other hand, he showed a nice touch on a fade he threw for a short touchdown. He also had a nice throw to a wide open Jake Sharp about 20 yards down the field. His inconsistency, though, may lead to some turnovers as well as games where, when his accuracy isn't there, he goes about 5 for 20. He may also have a tendency to hang balls up that he throws downfield on the run.
Secondly, he can definitely run. Broke a long one for somewhere around 50 yards, I think, down to the seven yard line. However, on the next play he again ran and fumbled the ball to a Colorado defender who took it back for 6. He has a tendency to over-scramble and not head up field as soon as he could...seems to look for the big play rather than minimizing losses. Thus, the important thing to do when tracking him down is to corral him...looks like he'd probably take some big losses as long as you don't let him get around you. He also doesn't always find the right lane right away, and at one point ran into his own D lineman.
So, to summarize...the kid's got some playmaking ability. It was obvious that Colorado wasn't prepared to defend a mobile quarterback after preparing all week for Barmann, and it will be interesting to see how Reesing plays against defenses who have prepared for him. If I were ku, I would use him with a lot of options and stretch the field like Snyder did with his mobile quarterbacks.
