How good is 4-star Auburn QB target K.J. Lacey when it counts?

Auburn quarterback target K.J. Lacey has a fun highlight tape to watch. What does he look like during the pressure of a game, though? Auburn Live took a deep dive into a full half of play from Lacey. Saraland ran away with the game (35-0) in the first half, but we were able to learn a lot about Lacey in those snaps.

**You can follow along with our play-by-play analysis with grading and clips here..

Good moments

— Lacey was never under any significant pressure as his team jumped to a quick lead. Early in the game, before the big lead, Lacey was on target. He was able to put the ball on the body of the receivers three different times. One of those throws was a 20+ yard throw up the seam.

— Lacey’s operation on the RPO’s stands out above all else in my opinion. He sets his feet in a hurry, he points his off shoulder to his target, and leads receivers on the throws.

— Also, with the RPO’s, he seemed to be making the right reads over and over again. He probably could have handed the ball off a few times, but the corners were giving cushion and giving him the throwing options on bubbles, hitches, and slants all day. He took full advantage of those.

— Lacey has a good understanding of putting the ball in the open space. Some of his long throws were a touch underthrown, but, they were put into the open space and allowed the receiver to body off the defender. He was nearly perfect on doing that.

— A few times, Lacey sidearmed throws. He had to adjust his arm angle to fit the ball into windows at times. I like that abilty and how it translates to the quickness of some of the RPO throws.

K.J. Lacey (Mickey Welsh / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Things to work on

— Lacey was often unbalanced when he made the deeper throws. He seemed to put far too much air under the ball to compensate for not shifting his weight into the throws correctly. It’s more of a mechanical issue than an arm talent/natural talent issue. Lacey has a cannon, he just hasn’t learned how to support different trajectories on deep throws.

— Lacey throws heaters. He needs to reel back the heat on some of the shorter throws. There are times when the throw calls for more force and times when he needs to dial back a bit on the throws.

— On one mesh read, Lacey did not operate it correctly. It’s a coachable thing, but he handed off when he probably should have pulled and kept. He did not ride the mesh or make a clean read.

How good is Lacey when it counts?

**In these write-ups, we are referring to games as the big moments. Camps, practices, events, 7-on-7’s–they’re all important, but nothing matters more than game tape.

Lacey operated at a high level. His urgency in the task at hand on every play is impressive. His intermediate throws are good. His deep throws need some polishing, but he hit his targets more times than not.

Lacey, in this game, put everything into motion. His receivers are good, but the offense was in his hands. He made the decisions on the RPO’s and did so with ease and comfort. I was impressed with this. It’s a direct translation to what he’d do if he were in Auburn’s offense. He put together a strong performance in this game and proved to be good when it counts.

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