Bryson Beaver has the one thing Mike Leach says a coach can't teach

PAC-12 legend and irascible storyteller Mike Leach knew a thing or two about quarterback play.

His old Washington State Air Raid offenses used to throw for 4700 yards a season, often taking unheralded quarterbacks like Luke Falk and Connor Halliday and giving opponents fits chucking the football on nearly every down.

Leach and his scrappy QBs put a hurt on the Ducks a few times. In fact, the Cougs beat the Ducks four times in a row from 2015-2018, dominating them despite a discrepancy in talent and resources.

Leach was outspoken on the subject of evaluating and recruiting quarterbacks. He could deliver a monologue or a rant on most subjects, but this is one of his most passionate:

In a 2016 article, Doug Samuels of Football Scoop transcribed Leach's remarks:

Samuels wrote, "The thing that's amazing to me, is that after all of high school he's not accurate, and now all of a sudden you're special and you're going to make him accurate? And then after college he's not accurate, and you're special and you're going to make him accurate?"

"I just haven't seen that happen. I've seen guys improve, but they don't all of a sudden become accurate."

The panapoly of websites covering Oregon football has been busy in the last two days writing glowing reviews of Bryson Beaver, the Ducks new quarterback commit. He's a three-star on Rivals but due for a ratings bump after a stellar outing at the Elite 11 quarterback competition.

How far Beaver goes as a college football prospect depends heavily on his work ethic and persistence, but at the outset he has two things offensive coordinator Will Stein values but can't teach. He's accurate throwing the football and he's intelligent, a 3.8 student as Autzen Zoo has noted before.

At the 7-on-7 portion of Elite 11 the 6-3, 195 senior from Vista Murrieta in Murrieta, California connected on 18 of 26 throws for 235 yards and five touchdowns, one of the best performances of any of the passers in the field. He went on to place third overall in a group of 20 highly-touted QBs, shocking a few with big reputations.

His high school stats reflect the same improvement. Beaver connected on 56.6 percent of his passes as a sophomore, an impressive 66.4 percent as a junior.

He's worked on his game. He's soaked in some excellent tutoring from private quarterback coaches Akili Smith Sr. and Jose Mohler, the director of West Coast Athletix.

Interviewed by Ryan Wright of the website Recruiting News Guru, Beaver said, "My accuracy is one of my biggest strengths. I can make the throws I need to. My accuracy separates me from other quarterbacks.”

Three-star or four-star, the young man has a lot of developing to do to become a starting quarterback at a top ten program in college football. He has to fill out and mature. Will Stein can teach him to read coverages and go through progressions, but already Beaver has two essential traits that made Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Marcus Mariota great college QBs.

The rest Stein can teach him, provided Beaver continues to apply himself as he has.

In the highlight tape hits a deep out and delivers the ball with good velocity. He connects on a rail shot up the right sideline from his own end zone, hit just as he throws. That takes tremendous concentration and confidence.

He stands in the pocket and rifles a ball to a receiver over the middle. He throws a sideline route in stride 25 yards down the field from the left hash to the right sideline. These are elite throws.

He's on time and the ball gets out quickly. He's not Bo Nix-fast but he's athletic and can scramble for yardage, He drops a long throw into the bucket for 40 yards, capable and accurate taking shots downfield. He does a nice job of leading receivers and throwing into windows.

Based on this sample he has the talent and skills to compete with Austin Novosad, Luke Moga and Akili Smith Jr. as Oregon's next starting quarterback. Whether he succeeds in that elite competition depends on his health, his growth as a leader and his mental toughness.

The star ratings expire on the first day of practice. After that it's all about work, focus, and the ability to learn from the adversity of reaching an entirely new level of football.

The fact that he wasn't intimidated by the Elite 11 atmosphere, cameras everywhere, coaches and counselors scrambling all over the field, a cluster of hotshots with big reputations swaggering on national TV, that shows he's tougher mentally than some folks would assume.

It will be interesting to track how he approaches his final year of high school football, whether the accuracy bumps up another notch.

Read More: