Every draft cycle, in the final weeks there is a quarterback or two who starts to rise. It's a rather familiar formula. The "pro-style" signal-caller, who remains under the radar, but gets picked much earlier than people expect. This year, it was Iowa's C.J. Beathard, who came off the board at the end of the third round after being selected by the San Francisco 49ers. Following the pick, some of the usual buzzwords were bandied about: Beathard read the field well, displayed good processing speed, came from a pro-style offense, and even had an NFL lineage, with his grandfather Bobby having spent years in the NFL as a general manager. What if I told you there is a player in the upcoming class who fits that mold? Who comes from an NFL coaching line, who runs a pro-style offense, who is well under the radar right now as people turn to the 2018 crop of QBs? Because there is one.
Meet Matt Linehan, from the University of Idaho.
In doing my work to get ready for the next draft season, I was watching a few games of Linehan, and at some point during my viewing of Idaho's victory over Colorado State it struck me: "They're running New England's offense." So I stopped the tape and started to read. First, back through my notes, with a copy of the Patriots 2003 and 2004 playbooks at my side. Sure enough, many of the passing concepts were staring back at me in Xs and Os formats. Then, I did some biographical work, and it made sense. Idaho's offensive coordinator, Kirk Cinovich, was both a teammate of and later a coach under Bobby Petrino. When Petrino was in the NFL with Jaguars, Jacksonville was using an Erhardt-Perkins-based scheme. Idaho's head coach? Petrino's younger brother, Paul. Oh, and Matt's father? Dallas Cowboy's offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. Scott's offensive philosophy was molded under Dennis Erickson, the creator of the one-back spread, and the Cowboys currently run a more Air Coryell scheme. But when watching Matt in Idaho's offense, you can see the Erhardt-Perkins elements at work.
Now, we are light years away from the 2018 NFL Draft. As we know, development is not linear, and what we expect in June may not materialize for next November. But, that being said, Linehan and the Vandals have both steadily improved over the past few seasons, and the rising senior has shown great progress as a quarterback. Idaho is set to play their final season in the FBS this season before moving back down to FCS (a move Linehan has expressed some displeasure with). But signs point to one last solid year for the quarterback and his team, and the signs also point to Linehan being in line for that late-draft buzz before the first team is officially on the clock next May. He has the lineage, and as we have seen, he actually runs a pro-style offense. There are certainly aspects to his game that will need to improve, such as better play speed, less hesitation in the pocket, and getting through his reads quicker, but right now, I'm intrigued for sure. Linehan is definitely worth keeping an eye on this upcoming draft season.
http://insidethepylon.com/pylon-u/teams-ncaa/division-ia-fbs/sun-belt/idaho-vandals/2017/05/10/matt-linehan-next-c-j-beathard/
Key Games for 2017->
Sat, Sep 16
@
Western MI
Sat, Oct 21
@
Missouri
Thu, Nov 2nd
vs
Troy
