Sure, Jameis Winston won the Heisman last season, and OSU QB Braxton Miller, Oregon QB Marcus Mariota, Baylor QB Bryce Petty, and UCLA QB Brett Hundley are all Heisman frontrunners. So what? That doesn’t mean they’ll ever take a snap in the NFL.
Heisman winners don’t always make the best NFL quarterbacks. That’s always been the case; the pro game and college game are vastly different (See Troy Smith, Tim Tebow, Matt Leinart, Jason White, and a host of other great college quarterbacks that couldn’t make the transition to the NFL).
Recently, Rant Sports argued that Gunner Kiel was the top NFL QB prospect in college football this year. Why? The reasons are numerous…
1) His footwork.
2) His positioning of the ball.
3) His mechanics outside the pocket.
4) The pace of his ball on shorter routes.
5) He may have the quickest release in college football.
6) His ability to place the deep ball.
The bigger names in college football, like Jameis Winston, don’t have the inside-and-outside-the-pocket mechanics that Kiel does. Winston, for instance, has a longer, slower throwing motion (think Tim Tebow’s mechanics – muscle memory is tough to change). Marcus Mariota plays like Oregon quarterbacks from past years (none of which are starting for an NFL franchise). Gunner Kiel, however, is different. His throwing motion and mechanics are tailor-made for the League.
Thus far, TommyTuberville has been silent on whether Kiel will take snaps as the starter for the Bearcats this Fall. But, the spot is his to lose after he competed so well during the Spring. Gunner will have a lot of options at the end of this season if he lives up to the hype.