Freeman Wasn’t Accurate In High School Either
April 27th, 2009
Bucs bust-in-waiting Josh Freeman never completed 60 percent of his passes in high school.
There has been much made of bust-in-waiting Josh Freeman’s inability to complete 60 percent of his passes in his final year of college, which is a damning statistic for first round quarterbacks.
Joe isn’t much of a stat geek and is not inclined to pour over numbers for hours. But Joe wonders about the success rate of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round who never completed 60 percent of passes in high school?
Well, that’s what Freeman’s numbers were in high school.
Joe was e-mailed a link from Rivals.com that was a synopsis of Freeman’s high school days. Freeman was a four-star rated quarterback but he never completed more than 55 percent of his passes.
Though Freeman played for a high school in the Kansas City area, Joe finds it odd that none of the major Midwest college powerhouses went after him, given the list of schools who recruited Freeman documented on the Rivals.com link.
There’s no mention of Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio State or Michigan. Freeman, again per the link, was recruited by Kansas State (where he did go to school), Nebraska (which was a shadow of its former self by that time), Texas A&M, Wisconsin and Colorado were listed as suitors for Freeman.
Not exactly BCS juggernauts.
The fact Freeman didn’t connect on 60 percent of his passes in high school is alarming to Joe. When Joe graduated from college, he got a job as a beat writer for the Kansas City Royals for a Kansas City-area paper. But on Friday nights, Joe was required to cover high school football (it was not a large metro daily).
Though there was some good talent in that area, Kansas City will never be confused for Miami, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Columbus, Houston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago or even Tallahassee for that matter when it comes to high school football.
Of course, Joe is convinced a certain editor of a local online publication will quickly dismiss these numbers and blame the low completion percentage on Freeman’s high school teammates and coaches.
If a guy wasn’t that accurate in high school, and he wasn’t that accurate against garbage defenses in the Big XII, Joe doesn’t understand how the same quarterback will all of a sudden be accurate in the NFL?
April 27th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Who cares what the guy did in high school? Or that he wasn’t recruited by every major college? Look what he did with the opportunities he did have;
As a sophomore, Freeman earned All-Big Twelve Conference honorable mention from league coaches. The strong-armed quarterback started all 12 games, set five school passing records — most completions in a game and season, most attempts in a season, most passing yards in a season and most 300-yard passing games in a season.
Freeman totaled 3,353 yards on 316-of-499 passing, completing 63.33% of those attempts while adding 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He completed at least 20 passes in 11-of-12 games, scoring four times of 53 carries. His 276.08-yard per-game average in total offense ranked 26th in the nation and he led a passing attack that ranked 19th in the major college ranks in 2007, averaging 269.58 yards per game.
In 2008, Freeman ranked 17th in the nation in total offense (279.08 yards per game) and 11th in points responsible for (17.17 per game). While his passing yards were down from the previous season (2,945), he did complete 58.64% of his attempts (224-of-382), a career-high 20 touchdowns and a career-low eight interceptions. He exploded for 14 scores and 404 yards on the ground. Only Colin Kaepernick of Nevada (17) ran for more touchdowns among major college quarterbacks in 2008.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
MY GOD THE SKY IS FALLING! Is there anyway you can track down where Freeman is moving to, Joe? I’m thinking it’s time you organized a good ol’ fashioned lynching! Why not sell out further— You could get a gift certificate for Courtside Grille to the first people who bring the torches!
Maybe, we could even waterboard Raheem Morris AND Dominik! Gosh that’d be swell. I mean, they haven’t earned the right to even have a CHANCE! Mostly because the situation before was so promising. Shucks.
I was just as disappointed with the pick as everyone else, but come on, he hasn’t even lined up under guard yet (please see: Dilfer, Trent)… Until then, if Joe wants to keep up Joe’s page views and readership and advertising revenue, think of some new/different constructive criticism for the kid/regime. Mercilessly ripping them BEFORE they have even played a game is a bit unreasonable.
Stomping Joe’s feet isn’t entertaining. There aren’t many worthwhile Bucs blogs out there, so Joe gets the nod by default… which is unfortunate.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Joe here,
Alex, thanks for visiting JoeBucsFan.com. Good stuff. You made Joe laugh, despite your criticism.
Joe hates the pick. And that’s where the feelings are today – foot stomping disbelief. Freeman would have been a good third round pick, but not here. Joe sincerely hopes Freeman is a superstar who can maximize his physical gifts. …Nothing better than winning Bucs football.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Alex,
Stomping on Joes feet seems like it’s fun! I think that Joe better go with a search party to the Skyway bridge and look for the Pessimist floating underneath – plenty of jumpers Saturday night.
I have to agree with Joe – I was hoping that the Bucs would take a pick at #19 that would have an IMMEDIATE impact for the 2009 season – unfortunately it ain’t gonna happen.
So where do we go from here?
I think it will be a LONG season for the Bucs. I hope that Josh Freeman ISN’T thrown into the mix (pre-season excluded) and he’s allowed time to mature. Having said that I would like to see the Bucs letting Freeman into some 4th quarter games when the Bucs are down 35-7 with only 10 minutes to go. It will be fun to see how far Josh can heave the ball downfield with the opposing TE & LB’s gunning for him.
But seriously there is no Pizzaz or FLASH with this pick and yeah it’s disappointing. I mean drafting Josh Freeman with your #19 pick is like getting Hanes Underware for Christmas.
Drafting Josh Freeman has the same impact as when you were a kid and placed a baby tooth under your pillow and when you woke up the next morning expecting to find $1 you found a toothbrush instead.
I mean getting Josh Freeman for the #19 spot has the same feeling as when you planned your senior prom down to the last detail and you get a room at the local Comfort Inn and you date actually suggested it but when you get there she tells you that her period started last night, she’s bloated, has a headache and the food you both had was contaminated with Salmonella.
These are life-long memorable events just not how you really invisioned them right?