Sark’s QB rep built on Carroll and Saban’s rosters?

[Steamboat Willie]

Been thinking about this for a while. I think Sark’s a great head coach and fits like a glove at UT. But he gets talked about like he’s one of the best QB developers in the country, and when you go stop by stop I’m not sure the results back it up.

At USC he worked with Palmer, Leinart and Sanchez, but that was Carroll’s program and Norm Chow deserves a lot of the credit for the early years. At Alabama he had Tua and Mac Jones, both first-rounders. But Bama kept producing QBs after he left. Bryce Young went No. 1, Milroe got drafted, and Ty Simpson just went 13th overall.

His head coaching stops are a different story. At Washington he had Jake Locker, who went in the first round mostly on physical ability and never turned into much of a passer. At Texas he’s had five-plus years, his own staff, his own recruits and total control of the offense. Ewers came in a five-star and left a seventh-round pick. Arch is still a work in progress.

Five-star QBs disappoint everywhere, I get that. Rattler at Oklahoma, Uiagalelei at Clemson, Malachi Nelson at USC. Nobody hits on all of them. But if you’re supposed to be an elite QB developer, shouldn’t you be getting more out of those guys than the average coach does?

Kirby’s an interesting comparison. Five stars: Eason, Fields, Daniels and Vandagriff all came through Georgia and transferred, and he still won two titles with Stetson Bennett. Nobody calls Kirby a QB guru, and he’s got an OC running the offense anyway. Sark calls the plays, so whatever happens at QB is on him.

Sark can coach quarterbacks, I’m not arguing that. Being a good QB coach and being the QB whisperer he gets sold as are two different things though. At Texas he’s had the time, the money and the control to build exactly what he wants, and the QB play hasn’t lived up to the reputation.

At what point do we start judging Sark’s QB development on what he’s done at Texas instead of what he did at USC and Alabama?