Post by elp525 on Aug 5, 2010 4:46:41 GMT -5
August 4, 2010
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - The most experienced starting quarterback in the Big East this season will be a kid who is still barely a year removed from high school. Rutgers sophomore Tom Savage started 11 games as a true freshman in 2009.
Pitt goes into the season depending upon a sophomore, Tino Sunseri, who has played in five games and thrown 17 passes. Cincinnati and South Florida have quarterbacks with starting experience in Zach Collaros (four starts) and B.J. Daniels (10), respectively, but only because they were thrown into the fire because of injuries last season.
Syracuse will go with Ryan Nassib, who might have had a year's experience by now except that he couldn't beat out a point guard, Greg Paulus, who hadn't played football in four years. Louisville will decide between a pair of seniors, Adam Froman and Justin Burke, who have a combined 10 starts, or will go with a newcomer. And at Connecticut, Zach Frazer has one more career start (nine) than his backup, Cody Endres.
The point? Well, as far as West Virginia is concerned, it's simple: Relax. So what if the Mountaineers are grooming their third starting quarterback in three years and have only one on the roster who has ever taken a college snap? Join the crowd. The three teams at the top of the Big East's preseason media poll - No. 1 Pitt and co-Nos. 2 WVU and Cincinnati - will have quarterbacks with a combined four starts.
True, West Virginia sophomore Geno Smith joins Sunseri and Nassib as the only Big East quarterbacks without any starting experience. But Smith has been under fire, taking 110 snaps last season as Jarrett Brown's backup and playing most of the Marshall game and the entire second half of the Gator Bowl.
"In the 11 years I've been in this conference I've never seen [so much youth at the position],'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. "Look at us. We're in the third year of our offense and we have our third starting quarterback. But look at the bright side. Right now we're young, but whoever our quarterback is, he's going to be around for at least the next three years.''
Indeed, while West Virginia faces the same lack of experience issues as most of the other Big East schools at the position, the Mountaineers are probably as well positioned for the future as any team. With Smith joined at the position now by freshman recruits Barry Brunetti and Jeremy Johnson - and with sophomore Coley White somewhat in the mix after a strong spring - WVU has as much potential over the long term at the position as anyone in the conference.
Getting through the growing pains early, though, is the trick. The Mountaineers begin practice Saturday and one of the most interesting things to watch will be how Smith handles the job as the presumed starter and what happens behind him with Brunetti, Johnson and White.
Stewart is naturally uneasy about having so little experience at the position, but he's just as obviously excited about the potential.
"You go as your quarterback goes,'' Stewart said. "And we'll go as our quarterback goes.''
While there is certainly no upside to having a starting quarterback without extensive experience, in West Virginia's case - as in the case of Pitt and Cincinnati - those relative kids are going to be helped by those surrounding them on offense. At Pitt, Sunseri can hand the ball off to Dion Lewis and throw to Jonathan Baldwin. Collaros has perhaps the deepest corps of wide receivers in all of college football.
And Smith has mini-mites Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and Tavon Austin around him, along with quality tight ends, depth in the backfield and a now-experienced offensive line. Stewart has preached the subject time and again, but it makes perfect sense - the Mountaineers need to use all of those weapons, not only to take the pressure off of a young quarterback, but also to diversify the offense.
"We need to spread the wealth. We need to make defensive coordinators say, 'Uh oh, look over here,' and make them not be able to gang up on us,'' Stewart said. "Because I'm going to tell you what, if you spend all day trying to confuse that young quarterback and we get that ball out on the flank, you'd better be able to tackle. If you're going to blitz and come after us [because of a young quarterback], you'd better get him. Because [out on those flanks] that's man coverage against some of the fastest kids in the league.''
BRIEFLY: Stewart said Wednesday that with only a few exceptions he expects his entire freshman recruiting class to report on Friday and begin practice Saturday, and he is still hopeful about getting nearly everyone.
Offensive linemen Quinton Spain and Marquis Wallace are still waiting for the results of test scores and could still join the team. Running back Trey Johnson apparently has his test score and will report and be eligible to practice, but he has not yet been approved by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Center (formerly the NCAA Clearinghouse). Chances are a handful of others could also face further NCAA scrutiny, but can still practice while awaiting rulings.
The only player from the current recruiting class who is definitely out for this season is defensive back Avery Williams, who did not get an adequate test score. Stewart said he expects Williams to enroll in January, at which time he would count as a member of the 2011 recruiting class.
Stewart said Devine recovered quickly from whatever it was he ate on Monday night that made him sick and caused him to miss Tuesday's Big East media day activities in Newport, R.I.
"He's down [in the weight room] right now lifting weights,'' Stewart said Wednesday afternoon. "He got over it fast.''
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - The most experienced starting quarterback in the Big East this season will be a kid who is still barely a year removed from high school. Rutgers sophomore Tom Savage started 11 games as a true freshman in 2009.
Pitt goes into the season depending upon a sophomore, Tino Sunseri, who has played in five games and thrown 17 passes. Cincinnati and South Florida have quarterbacks with starting experience in Zach Collaros (four starts) and B.J. Daniels (10), respectively, but only because they were thrown into the fire because of injuries last season.
Syracuse will go with Ryan Nassib, who might have had a year's experience by now except that he couldn't beat out a point guard, Greg Paulus, who hadn't played football in four years. Louisville will decide between a pair of seniors, Adam Froman and Justin Burke, who have a combined 10 starts, or will go with a newcomer. And at Connecticut, Zach Frazer has one more career start (nine) than his backup, Cody Endres.
The point? Well, as far as West Virginia is concerned, it's simple: Relax. So what if the Mountaineers are grooming their third starting quarterback in three years and have only one on the roster who has ever taken a college snap? Join the crowd. The three teams at the top of the Big East's preseason media poll - No. 1 Pitt and co-Nos. 2 WVU and Cincinnati - will have quarterbacks with a combined four starts.
True, West Virginia sophomore Geno Smith joins Sunseri and Nassib as the only Big East quarterbacks without any starting experience. But Smith has been under fire, taking 110 snaps last season as Jarrett Brown's backup and playing most of the Marshall game and the entire second half of the Gator Bowl.
"In the 11 years I've been in this conference I've never seen [so much youth at the position],'' West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. "Look at us. We're in the third year of our offense and we have our third starting quarterback. But look at the bright side. Right now we're young, but whoever our quarterback is, he's going to be around for at least the next three years.''
Indeed, while West Virginia faces the same lack of experience issues as most of the other Big East schools at the position, the Mountaineers are probably as well positioned for the future as any team. With Smith joined at the position now by freshman recruits Barry Brunetti and Jeremy Johnson - and with sophomore Coley White somewhat in the mix after a strong spring - WVU has as much potential over the long term at the position as anyone in the conference.
Getting through the growing pains early, though, is the trick. The Mountaineers begin practice Saturday and one of the most interesting things to watch will be how Smith handles the job as the presumed starter and what happens behind him with Brunetti, Johnson and White.
Stewart is naturally uneasy about having so little experience at the position, but he's just as obviously excited about the potential.
"You go as your quarterback goes,'' Stewart said. "And we'll go as our quarterback goes.''
While there is certainly no upside to having a starting quarterback without extensive experience, in West Virginia's case - as in the case of Pitt and Cincinnati - those relative kids are going to be helped by those surrounding them on offense. At Pitt, Sunseri can hand the ball off to Dion Lewis and throw to Jonathan Baldwin. Collaros has perhaps the deepest corps of wide receivers in all of college football.
And Smith has mini-mites Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and Tavon Austin around him, along with quality tight ends, depth in the backfield and a now-experienced offensive line. Stewart has preached the subject time and again, but it makes perfect sense - the Mountaineers need to use all of those weapons, not only to take the pressure off of a young quarterback, but also to diversify the offense.
"We need to spread the wealth. We need to make defensive coordinators say, 'Uh oh, look over here,' and make them not be able to gang up on us,'' Stewart said. "Because I'm going to tell you what, if you spend all day trying to confuse that young quarterback and we get that ball out on the flank, you'd better be able to tackle. If you're going to blitz and come after us [because of a young quarterback], you'd better get him. Because [out on those flanks] that's man coverage against some of the fastest kids in the league.''
BRIEFLY: Stewart said Wednesday that with only a few exceptions he expects his entire freshman recruiting class to report on Friday and begin practice Saturday, and he is still hopeful about getting nearly everyone.
Offensive linemen Quinton Spain and Marquis Wallace are still waiting for the results of test scores and could still join the team. Running back Trey Johnson apparently has his test score and will report and be eligible to practice, but he has not yet been approved by the NCAA Initial Eligibility Center (formerly the NCAA Clearinghouse). Chances are a handful of others could also face further NCAA scrutiny, but can still practice while awaiting rulings.
The only player from the current recruiting class who is definitely out for this season is defensive back Avery Williams, who did not get an adequate test score. Stewart said he expects Williams to enroll in January, at which time he would count as a member of the 2011 recruiting class.
Stewart said Devine recovered quickly from whatever it was he ate on Monday night that made him sick and caused him to miss Tuesday's Big East media day activities in Newport, R.I.
"He's down [in the weight room] right now lifting weights,'' Stewart said Wednesday afternoon. "He got over it fast.''
