Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Quarterback Speculation

After the news broke about Max Smith's commitment to UK last night, many people are asking a lot of questions about the QB position. While I don't have the answers, I'll give you my speculation on the future of the QB situation.

The Cats will enter the fall with following QB's on scholarship; Mike Hartline (Sr.), Morgan Newton (So.), Ryan Mossakowski (R-Fr) and Tyler Brause (Fr.). Some reports have suggested Newton may redshirt if Hartline is indeed the starting QB. I highly doubt that as he has game experience over the other QB's.

After the season the depth chart changes again. UK will have Newton (Jr.), Mossakowski (R-So.), Brause (R-Fr.) and Max Smith (Fr.). If both Newton and Mossakowski stay around, then Smith is likely candidate for a redshirt his first year on campus. I'm still not convinced both Newton and Mossakowski will finish their career's at UK. I hope I'm wrong, but that's my opinion. Brause is the "wild card" in my opinion. Most figure he will start out at QB, but won't finish his career at QB.

The commitment of Smith takes some pressure off the staff for the 2011 class. Smith's commitment will count towards the 2010 class (grayshirt) even though he won't enroll until next January. Hopefully, Smith has inked with the Cats (not confirmed) so no other school can jump in last minute and offer him a shot this summer.

Either way, I believe Joker wants to sign a QB in the 2011 class. However, the staff can be picky now. We know the staff has extended offers to a handful of QB's in the 2011 class and will continue to evaluate players this spring. Don't be surprised if the Cats ink a QB in the 2011 class.

IF (that's a BIG IF) either Newton or Mossakowski were to transfer and Brause doesn't end up a QB, the position could get thin quickly. Again, I really hope neither Newton or Mossakowski transfer, but it could be a possibility.

2 comments:

  1. Very nice commentary and info on the situation, thanks. I think one big advantage to this is it might enable a very good athlete in Brause to get on the field instead of being on the bench as a backup at QB. Although I did see the stats from one game where he completed all his passes, 13 I think, and had a couple of TDs, so we will have to wait and see what happens there.

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  2. None of quarterbacks are good enough to go pro early. I do not understand all the talk about who goes or who stays. May the coaches just pick the best one we have. It would be amazing how good our running game would be with any sort of passing attack. We ran the ball last year with the box overloaded against us most of the time. I hope they sign all the QB they can. Maybe, they will finally find a real good one.
    Our passing attack has been not much for the last 2 years. Any improvement will be good, no matter who the QB is.

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