Braxton Miller is the main reason Ohio State is 9-0 right now mostly by using his legs. Here are his stats on the year:
Rushing 166-1093 yds, 12 TDS, 6.6 ypc
Passing 112-198, 12 TDs 6 Int’s, 135.3 rating
He’s being considered for the Heisman and most likely will be in attendence but lose out to someone on a team eligible to play in a bowl.
After watching last night’s game I began to wonder if there were times where we were using him incorrectly and getting the most from this offense. A case in point is almost the entirety of the first half. Braxton made continual bad reads on the option and it seemed like he determined before the play what he was going to do. This was made worse by his continued struggles in the passing game. He missed open receivers, didn’t go through his progressions and stayed in the pocket until it was too late to escape the pass rush.
These issues are all common for a true sophomore quarterback and it is scary to think how good he could be by his senior year. This season however we have the following situation:
Running: One of the top 5 in the country
Passing: Needs at least another year plus film study
Decision Making: Making the wrong call around half the time because the game is still moving too fast
Pocket Presence: Poor
Receiving: Unknown
Looking at that you might think I’m not a fan of Braxton and I want to reiterate that this is a situation where he’s just young. It does make me wonder if there is another option. One that utilzes Braxton’s main talent of running the ball and hides his deficiencies in passing and decision making.
The inclusion of receiving on the list above gives away my ‘crazy solution’. Move him into Corey Brown’s spot and Kenny Guiton to quarterback.
Not on every play as it would be crazy but I’d love to see this for a few series/plays a game. Corey Brown has the surest hands on the team and we don’t want to lose him. Saying that, I’d love to see how the offense works with Kenny making the decisions/passes with Braxton in the slot. Every play he’d go in motion behind the line with Devin Smith releasing downfield. Based on keys Guiton could 1)hand off to Braxton if they bunch up the middle, 2) hand off to Hyde if the middle is open, or 3) pass it to Devin Smith or a releasing tight end if there’s a favorable matchup. There are many variation off of the play and I know it sounds crazy but it wouldn’t shock me to see something like this at Michigan.
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