Northwestern football Coach Pat Fitzgerald discussed a multitude of topics at NU Media day, including his approval of QB1 Clayton Thorson.
The returning starter became the first freshman QB in Northwestern history to win 10 games in his first season at the helm in 2015.
Fitzgerald discussed both the positives and negatives of Thorson’s performance last season.
“There are very few quarterbacks that have had the kind of success in college football that he was able to have as a redshirt freshman,” Fitzgerald said.
“I’m not talking about yards and touchdowns and passer rating, I’m talking about success, I’m talking about winning. Ultimately, that is how a quarterback should be judged.”
“Do we win football games because of him, sometimes it has to be in spite of him. We saw both of those a year ago from our quarterback position.”
There was definitely nothing special about Thorson’s numbers last season.
Last year, Northwestern football averaged 136.5 passing YPG, which ranked 120th out of the 128 teams in Division I college football. They were the only team in the Big 10 last year that did not have a single player with at least 400 yards receiving. They also averaged just 19.5 PPG, which ranked 114 in college football.
The success that Thorson did have came despite the Wildcats offense being known as a one trick pony that lacked the ability to make explosive plays. Fitzgerald was blunt in addressing the lack of a legitimate passing game.
“Say what you want about last year and it’s over, but everybody in the country including my 7-year-old son knew we were running the ball, and we still ran,” Fitzgerald said.
“I don’t think our offense and offensive line gets enough credit for that.”
Junior WR Solomon Vault also admitted that the passing game was indeed a weakness last year and that he knows improvements must be made, “We need to find ways to get better, whether it be physically, with our conditioning, strength and our explosiveness,” Vault said.
It’s a very special time for Northwestern football, as Fitzgerald articulated at B1G Media Day. They have elite, state of the art practice facilities under construction. They just opened a new practice field with some of the most scenic vistas in the country.
Our new practice home is incredible. See for yourself.
GALLERY: https://t.co/KYEc88E2Y4#CatsCamp16 | #B1GCats pic.twitter.com/cJGCqWCvnW
— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) August 11, 2016
Now it’s time to build an offense with style points to match their improving infrastructure. Tailback Justin Jackson developed two nicknames “bread and butter,” and “the ball-carrier” because of his extremely high workload. NU just didn’t have many other options on offense last season
“It’s painfully obvious, four yards and a cloud of dust were generous,” Fitzgerald said and then laughed.
Understanding the need to improve is one thing, getting there is another.
Thorson is confident that now having a year of experience under his belt will help him make the improvements that the Wildcats need.
“Going through the offseason, I knew I had to get a little bigger, I got to have quick decisions,” Thorson said.
“I feel a lot more relaxed now because I know the offense now, I’m not going out there thinking oh shoot what if I screw up on this play.
“I’m taking chances and learning from them and that’s part of the confidence that has really kicked in for me and for our offense as we started in the spring and I really think it’s going to kick in come this fall.”
Josh Sklare is a contributor for The Sports Bank and Radio DePaul Sports and host of 2 time award winning show Deep Dish Hoops Talk, Thursdays from 7-9 PM.
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Paul M. Banks owner of The Sports Bank.net, contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.