Who will play quarterback?
It seems a little strange blogging about UC football in the middle of February, but the basketball team is in the midst of a week off between games and well, frankly, UC football has become a big deal.
So here's the question: With Ben Mauk now out of the picture, who will be UC's quarterback next season? Will Dustin Grutza, the good soldier who never complained last year after Mauk took away his starting job, return to lead the Bearcats offense. Will ND transfer Demetrius Jones ride his athletic ability to the starting job? Will Tony Pike finally blossom into a big-time player?
My guess is that Brian Kelly will give Jones every chance to be the starter. He knows what Grutza can do and likes having a player with his experience and talent as a backup, but I don't think he wants him to be the starter. Spring practice should be interesting. There's nothing like a good quarterback battle to keep things lively.
posted by bill koch at 11:27 AM
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Post a Comment*Yeah, time to talk about football. Basketball is nothing but a filler between football season and baseball season around here. Of course, I don't think anyone really has the slightest idea who the quarterback will be yet. I am sure Coach Kelly will give Pike and Jones both a good shot. Grutza is a good back-up and great for an emergency start, doesn't seem to have the throwing skill to lead a Kelly team.
Grutza is more than just a back up. You have to remember he was groomed by Dantonio to be a mistake free player instead of a make big plays player. I am confident he has learned the system and will show great improvement, just like he did every chance he got last year. Watching Mauk was the first time in his college career he had an opportunity to learn from another player, and I'll bet he's greatly improved since his last start.
Grutza is a solid pick, and Kelly says that at this point it is his to lose.
Just to remind folks about Grutza. He really should not be written off. He was a 4.0 student in high school, so he's a smart kid.
The report on him said:
Mason County High School: Three-year starting quarterback for head coach David Buchanan... amassed career totals of 8,004 passing yards--the eighth-highest total in Kentucky prep history-- and 82 touchdowns, and also rushed for 1,302 yards and 38 scores... completed 63 percent of his passes... recorded a 35-6 mark as a starting QB... recorded 4,014 yards total offense and 52 touchdowns as a senior...
It's really looks like whoever the starter is at QB, we won't be stuck with a bad one. I'm very optimistic that FB will continue on the rise and that will include all positions, not only QB. Players, like fans, are naturally drawn to a winner. It's up to the players to not allow the success of last year to be a distraction. Last year was truly a pivotal year in UC FB, but this year can be the start of a long positive trend!
My pick is Jones. He hasnt earned anything yet because of the shoulder injury that needed surgery to fix, but he will be ready to go by spring practice. He is the best fit for Kellys offense. Kelly has already said he didnt install the entire offense this past season. Jones will allow him to do so.
Wow! So your pick is Jones. Maybe that'll be right, but there's a lot of practice prior to game one and he's still an unproven transfer that Fat Charlie wasn't sold on. We'll see. Of course, we saw how well Fat Charlie's choice, "Superbaby" Claussen fared last season at Notre Shame.
It's hard to toss the ball down the field though when your primary view is the sky or the safety of the sideline...LOL
Kelly pretty much said during summer practice that Grutza doesn't get the job done in this offense. He said he wants a QB who can drop back and read the field, not so much a guy that has to get out of the pocket to make a play.
Jones will be the starter. I think it will be between him and Anderson (who I've heard nothing but good things about).
I think if you watched a team like Oregon play last year with Dennis Dixon at full-strength, you have to hope Demetrius Jones wins the job. He has that same kind of athletic ability, to beat you with both his arm and his legs. He could make this offense even more dynamic and explosive as it was last year. He's obviously young and unproven, but he's arguable the best quarterback prospect (4-star recruit out of high school) we've had in recent memory.
D Jones had 3 pins inserted in his throwing shoulder this past fall, so he is just getting back to throwing the ball. Time will tell if he can generate velocity. Grutza is underated and he almost beat out Mauk. Mauk is a heck of a gamer but Grutza has coaches that understand the QB posotion.
Grutza is very good athlete to boot. He runs hard and doesn't fumble as much as Mauk. Mauk's fumbles vs. Ville and WVU were game killers.
I wish Mauk all the best he is a fine young man. Go Bearcats.
Jones will get every chance to win the job -- same as they did for Mauk last August.
Jones will be more of a threat to run than Mauk, too, so he won't need to be quite up to Mauk's level in making tough throws. You'll see Jones out of the spread opting more to take a sure 4-5 yards on first down running, where Mauk would look to try and wait for the pass to develop on the same play.
Bill, UC football commentary, in Feb., is fine with me. For years nobody in Cincy covered UC football so it is great if you can continue to call BK and inquire about the team, players, schedule etc. UC has 8 road games next year,
hopefully we will never see that again. Keep the football stuff front and center. The spring game is coming up in a couple of months, looking forward to that.
Grutza is a very GOOD qb who took a lot of heat as a freshmen and sophmore. i think he's improved and is ready to be a team leader which is evidenced by his maturity last season. the question is will jones turn out to be the GREAT qb he was recruited as out of high school. if so then he will win the job. either way, i feel very comfortable with brian kelly's options.
Personally, I think that the Bearcat team slightly overachieved last year and has the potential for a repeat performance, and even improvement over last year if everyone is, and stays, healthy. I like the wide open competition that BK has brought to the table, although at one position I believe he wavered from that last season. It's great to now look forward to UC football rather than looking past it asap. This is exciting times for the football program!
On a slightly different note, is anyone else greatly disliking the comment moderation?
Bill,
It appears as though a very small, but VERY vocal minority has propelled this blog into moderation. The QB position is a topic that generally would prompt many more than 13 comments in approximately 4-1/2 hours. There are probably many more of us who desire no interference on commenting and just haven't been crying to you or others about it. That said, the lack of comments in general today is a clear indicator that there now exists , at least at the minimum, too much moderation.
I do not think Grutza will win the battle unless his field vision improves dramatically. He has always struggled finding secondary receivers and holding the ball too long. If Jone's arm strength is OK, he is probably the leader. The dark horse is Collaros. From the comments I have read, he was impressive in the fall.
Collaros is a stud, and the players know it.
If Bill is now moderating, then fine with me. Some of the previous comments were worse than childish, and I don't know any respectable blog that allows racist, violent, profane, or trollish posts.
If he's not doing it, then I recommend that he does.
Wow,, is this blog reborn,,? all real comments!!
What a great position to be in to have so many options going in to spring practice. It is truly a sign of the times that uc football has turned the corner. I can't wait for the first spring practice!!
Thank god,,moderation at last. You know we wouldn't need the moderation sippy cup if some of the posters would act their age.
Regarding football, from what I have heard from my big time Notre Dame buddies, we are in for a treat with Jones. Absolute stud plus a real leader.
if calloros gets the reps in spring and summer i beleive he can and will compete for #1 spot, take a look at his high school stats.
its grutza's job to lose. with that said he has some VERY stiff competition and will have to continue improving to hang on. i trust brian kelly to make the best decision (unlike dumbtonio)
If you recall the jobs was Grutza's in 2007 before Mauk came in and beat him out of the position by practice performance.
The Job is Grutza's again but his to lose if D Jones comes in and performs in practice as expected.
3:59 --
I was reading through all the comments and I kept thinking how suprising it was that Collaros wasn't getting even mentioned. He could really make some noise and come out of nowhere. Regardless, it is quite remarkable that we have a stable full of high quality potential at QB!
By the way -- football talk in the off season is outstanding! I don't think that I could tire of reading about Bearcat football!!
I'd rather have a senior QB than a new transfer QB to start the season. Jones will have to learn the system and players - I say start Grutza to begin with, and work Jones in until he is comfortable.
Thank you for fixing this blog.
As a frequent poster to both C. Trent's and Josh's blog, this was my first source for UC news. Unfortunately the last couple of months it had become unreadable.
Just checking back in after a couple of weeks to find an improvement. And now on to UC matters.....
Collaros will definitely compete for the job this season. After attending several practices last year, Zach appeared to have the strongest arm in camp.
Collaros may have had the strongest arm at the end of last season but D Jones arrived from ND with hurt shoulder and had surgery. So we will learn in practices before the season starts if D Jones is healed and has the strongest arm as advertised.
There are an awful lot of people excited about Demetrius Jones when they haven't even seen him play a down yet. I, too, am excited about his bio and seeming athletic ability. However, for my money, I'll take the 2007 Week 3 Big East Player of the Week. At least for now...It's Grutza...Period!
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