Bennie Coney’s addition to the 2012 class is huge on so many levels. I’ll get to his actual skills and how they apply to Cincinnati in a minute but I can’t talk about this commitment without speaking about his extra value. The importance of landing a marquee player in a recruiting class is big. Landing a quarterback is even better. Landing a marquee quarterback from the recruiting hotbed of Florida is just incredible. Coney was ranked among the best quarterbacks in the country for this class. When he verballed to Cincinnati it made a splash in the recruiting world showing that this coaching staff is able to compete with the more established football programs. This should open up more doors to access more highly touted prospects down the road. Back to Coney, he’s had some off field issues but those look to be behind him and I think he is a much more focused, mature person because of it.
Overview
Coney has the ideal size for the Butch Jones offense. You can read more about the perfect CBJ quarterback here but Coney has all the intangibles to run his offense well. He’s 6’2″, 210 lbs a solid height and weight for a dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school. He is tall enough to see the entire field over his offensive line but at the same time small enough to slip through tackles when he breaks off and runs. Coney has very good passing mechanics and seems just as accurate on the run as he is standing in the pocket. He is a gunslinger with a cannon of an arm which will translate well into Cincinnati’s offense but he needs to improve his decision making. That will come with time. As a dual threat quarterback, Coney is also a solid runner with only average top end speed but is very strong and elusive to power through tackles as well as evade them.
Outlook
The quarterback situation in 2012 is going to be basically up for grabs. Zach Collaros will be gone and the job is going to go to Munchie Legaux or Jordan Luallen primarily because they are fighting for the QB-2 spot in 2011 and will see the majority of backup reps in practice. Coney will throw himself into the mix immediately, especially considering he will enroll in December of 2011 and participate in offseason workouts quickly. Therefore I think he could be named the starter for 2012 or Legaux/Luallen’s backup. The bottom line is that I think it’ll be unlikely that he takes a redshirt. I also fully expect Skyline Chili to come out with the ‘Bennie coney’ sometime next year. At least they should.
You must log in to post a comment.