Stuck in the nexus

I would actually think Wilhelm was right up there with DA when it came to toughness.  The D knew nearly every play was a pass and he got hit nearly every play in some games. That was back in the day when you could throw the ball and practically be standing flat footed and get nailed almost a second later without a roughing call. We got called for roughing while QBs arms were completing the throwing motion and the ball had just barely left a few times the last couple years.

Like DA, he played a big chunk of one season on a bum ankle and people called him soft. The next fall practice there was some kind of "challenge night" and there was an O-line freshman that had placed first or second in the heavyweight division California wrestling championship (pretty sure it was top 2... long time ago) the previous winter and Wilhelm challenged him to a wrestling match and pinned him. The GT or the Barometer did a write up on it. Apparently Wilhelm was a pretty decent wrestler in high school, and decided to take the bull by the horns, sort of a situation where the fans could think whatever they're gonna think but he wanted his teammates to not think of him as soft.

Atown, I wish I could up vote this 100 times.  Said it much better than I ever could have!

Playing QB in college doesn't necessitate that the player will be a QB in the pros. Because of that, I think DJU might get drafted. I might use him as a running back with a surprise throw every now and again to keep the defense honest.

The NFL dresses the QBs up in pink tutus anymore so toughness really doesn't matter much. So that won't keep him from being a QB. But he simply isn't a good quarterback. And we've seen better QBs who haven't really made it in the NFL.

The bolded part above is my primary point.  DA could have been a much better quarterback, and it was galling that he did not put the time in to be better than he turned out.  I agree 100% with you.  Let's focus on that agreement.

Now, having agreed on my original primary point, I will discuss the rest of your post:

You are saying that DJU is not trying on the field.  I think I saw him trying to force square pegs in round holes too often. 

I honestly think that Smitty's passing offense is very mediocre.  There is the old adage that I like:

If someone is mean to you, it is probably because they are a jerk.  However, if everyone is mean to you, it is probably because you are a jerk.  Between Smitty and the quarterbacks over the last four years, I tend to think that Smitty was the jerk.  I.e. the quarterbacks did not fail Smitty; Smitty failed the quarterbacks.

After we had a host of good quarterbacks blow through Corvallis and all appear underwhelming, I have come to conclusion that something is fundamentally wrong with Smitty's passing game.  The routes were wrong or the players were just not coached up.  (Or the routes were randomly rolled out, regardless of how stupid it would be to run those routes given the down, distance, game situation, and field position.)  I watched that 2023 game against Wazzu and was very confused about play-calling.  I watched that 2021 game against Wazzu and was very confused about play-calling.  And I watched that 2020 game against Wazzu and was very confused about play-calling.

I do not personally think that DJU failed Oregon State.  I think that Smitty failed Oregon State.  And that, unfortunately, DJU was caught in the crossfire.

I personally do not believe that any quarterback's best will ever be seen in Smitty's offense.  And that, therefore, it is premature IMHO to judge DJU based on what we saw last year, because there are far better offensive minds out there than Smitty.

And in the end, it is my personal opinion that, if DJU tries, he can still be better than DA.  However, whether he will or not remains to be seen.

Same here. I don't think that the QBs under Smith were significantly better or worse than what Riley had. And yet, even with a powerful running offense, the passing game under Smith was always frustrating. I felt Smith never let a QB find his rhythm. I mean the pass plays were called without giving thought to using high percentage plays to help him settle into the game. It was frustrating because you'd see all the other teams call these short easy completion plays, and we wouldn't. 

When Smith started using his tight ends, yeah, he did some of it, but you gotta use your receivers for those, too. You gotta build the trust between the QB and the receivers. At least that's my thinking. 

I think Chiles will be looking for a new school next December.

I'm not so sure he'd have a shot at RB. His 40 time is listed at 4.87, pretty slow for a RB.   On his running ability,  to me he didn't look fast at all, but he seemed to have very good vision when it came to knowing where to go when he needed extra yardage... good skill for a QB to have. 

I think there will be GMs enamored with his arm strength.  That alone will buy him a few years. If a coach can figure out how best to use him, he could have a decently long career ahead of him, even if as a backup.

Yes. 

Case in point. we had a WR drafted in the 5th round that we could only muster 44 receptions and 718 yards from. A 4.39 at the combine fast WR that averaged less than 4 catches and 60 yards per game. 

That is a massive failure of using your talent. 

We had a second WR that profiles fairly similar, with similar speed and ability and had similar stats, 54 catches for 748 yards. 

All I know is if Riley was the coach with this offense. One of these two WRs was a 1400 yard guy, the other one was a 900 yard guy. They would of been used. 

The most successful QB Smith ever had was the guy he inherited.

With all that said. DJU missed a lot of open guys. DJU didn't pull the trigger on a lot of tight passes either.