Hike would tell you that Gub I was waiting for a response back on Vince Huntsbeger's Heisman vote too, but that ain't happening either.
In 2023, we had a great defensive end that won the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year award by the name of Alex Gubner. He left, as tends to happen, and they brought in Pat Hayden from Monmouth and told us that he would remind us of Gub. In the three games I went to at WA-Griz in 2024, I thought my memory was slipping though. Hayden wasn't getting double teamed he wasn't putting pressure on the QB that often and it was easy to see that he just wasn't what they advertised. In fairness, those were some big shoes to fill, but still, there was a big open space over there compared to the year before.
If the comparison being made is saying Riley Wilson played better behind Alex Gubner and failed to preform behind Pat Hayden, that isn't fair either. If every player is supposed to be putting out their 1/11 share every play, Gub was damn near 2/11 by commanding a double team. Hayden was at 1/10 a lot of the time and that caused everyone around him to have to cover more space. They didn't need to go toward Wilson because the offense took advantage of that void.
There was, if I remember correctly, that game where Riley was also DQ'd for a bogus targeting foul that somehow got held up on review that cost and entire game. I think it was him, but might have been Harris.
Just saying he played better with Gubner is not accurate though. He took advantage of the opportunities and played well in 2023. The offense could avoid him in 2024 because they could be more productive going away from him.