to unseat Drones. He had a nice game in 2024 against a bad UVA defense (#79 FBS defense per F+) but was otherwise inconsistent and showed weaknesses with turnovers (both interceptions and fumbling) and dealing with pressure. Some of that is to be expected for a younger player who was a backup but the fact that Montgomery didn’t turn to Watson when he took over as interim HC and was coaching for future opportunities was a pretty strong indicator that he felt Drones gave the team the best chance to win. I think Watson would be best suited to compete for a starting role at a lower-tier G5 school or a solid FCS school where I think he could have some success. In any case, here are a few notes on his stats at VT: • Inconsistency: In the three games as a r-FR where he attempted 10+ passes, he had one game with an over 80 QBR grade (against UVA) but then had one under 60 (against Duke) and another one under 20 (against Minnesota in the bowl game). • Turnovers: One of his bigger issues was with turnovers, particularly with fumbling. For his career, he fumbled 5 times in just 38 rushing attempts (1 for every 7.6 attempts). For comparison, Drones who wasn’t known for his ball security fumbled 22 times in 388 rushing attempts (1 for every 17.6 attempts). So, Watson fumbled the ball at just over a 2x rate of Drones. With interceptions, Watson has the same career turnover worthy play % (4.1) as Drones but Watson had a higher interception percent (3.2% or one every 31.5 attempts) than Drones (2.2% or one every 44.7 attempts). • Pressure: One other struggle Watson had was with dealing with pressure. For his career, he had a 37.0% pressure to sack % whereas Kyron Drones had a pretty respectable 16.1% pressure to sack %. So essentially, Watson was twice as bad as Drones in terms of taking sacks when facing pressure. To put Watson’s P2S% into further perspective, 37.0% in an individual year would basically rank worst amongst all P4 QB’s the last 3 years.

if one qb got one start and threw 2 passes, one for td and one for int, is he a bad qb compared to one with 30+ starts? the same applies for fumbles, sacks, etc ** Edited by Windows NT at 12/29/2025, 1:53:29 PM ** Edited by Windows NT at 12/29/2025, 1:59:21 PM

Pop is heading for the FCS where he can get on the field and will no doubt be successful. Good kid and I wish him well.

About 99.9% sure he already knows which 2-3 QBs will be his top 3 and we don’t know those names for sure yet

Coach Franklin is/has been efficiently productive and is a micro-manager until he trusts your process/discipline. So my guess is that he has plan A (B,C & D). Even better, he and Vt have something to prove.

There's a new sheriff in town with an eye for what he needs. There are some on the roster but not Pop.