When you think of the prototypical quarterback images of guys like Peyton Manning, John Elway, and Dan Marino likely come to mind. Guys that stand at 6 foot 5 inches or so with laser rocket arms and the ability to diagnose whatever a defense throws at you, even though they may not be the most mobile.
While gushing about the unique skill set of Trace McSorley, who has set a ton of records as the quarterback at Penn State while standing at about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, at Big Ten Media Day earlier today, James Franklin shared an interesting thought.
"The prototype quarterback really doesn't exist anymore," Franklin shared.
Franklin went on to say that the advent of schemes that take advantage of first level reads (like power read and zone read / midline) along with the explosion of RPOs means that successful quarterbacks today have a very different skill set that the tools that were once valued. Look at McSorley, as well as guys like top NFL Draft pick Baker Mayfield as prime examples.
Sure, the game will always have schemes that value the "prototypical quarterback," but it's easy to see where Franklin is coming from.