GeauxTo
08-03-2006, 06:01 PM
SEC searches for marquee quarterbacks.
By CARL DUBOIS (cdubois@theadvocate.com)
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Aug 3, 2006
Among the conversation pieces keeping us busy this college football offseason is the status of quarterback play in the Southeastern Conference.
There are no locks for SEC immortality. Not yet.
So what?
Coaches, God bless ’em, politely answer questions about the absence of a Peyton Manning or an Eli Manning or Pat Sullivan or Joe Namath or Fran Tarkenton.
Then they go back to work to try to coach up the quarterbacks they have, talented players whom the coaches hope to prepare to be winners within the parameters of the offense they run.
If they turn out to be marquee performers, household names outside SEC country, great. But you can bet coaches aren’t losing sleep over whether or not the league has lost some of its star power under center.
Often, it’s unnecessary.
Sometimes, it gets in the way.
The SEC and its fans like to call the league the best in America. The best way to back up that boast is to win national championships. Regularly.
The SEC has four in the last 14 seasons. Three came without the aid of a marquee quarterback.
Alabama won the 1992 national title with Jay Barker in his first full season as starting quarterback. Do you know anybody who considered Barker a marquee quarterback before the 1992 season?
Do you know anybody who considers Barker a marquee QB some 14 years later?
Tennessee won the 1998 national title with Tee Martin in his first full season as the starter — the year after Peyton Manning left for the NFL without winning a Heisman Trophy or a national championship.
Tee Martin and the word “marquee” don’t often share space in the same sentence.
LSU won the 2003 national title with Matt Mauck in his first full season as starter. Had Mauck come back for his senior season, he would not have been a Heisman candidate. Nobody would have referred to him as a marquee QB.
Florida won the 1996 national title with Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel running Steve Spurrier’s Fun ‘n’ Gun offense like clockwork. As efficient a passer as he was, he lacked the athleticism and polish many require before bestowing a label of “marquee” on a quarterback.
Some would argue Wuerffel doesn’t fit the definition. He didn’t light up the NFL. He was, in many ways, a product of the system at Florida.
Still, he won the Heisman. That — plus the Florida offensive records he set, records Chris Leak is chasing — qualifies him as a top-line act on a national championship SEC team.
Barker, Martin and Mauck were what coaches feel blessed to have: steady, functional leaders who run the offense and rarely beat themselves.
Lacking a difference-maker, an No. 1 NFL pick, that’s what coaches look for in a quarterback. Someone who wins.
Style points mean nothing. Not to coaches whose employment is based upon wins and losses.
Nobody asked coaches last week at SEC Media Days where are the Jay Barkers, Tee Martins and Matt Maucks.
Everybody wants to know where the Mannings have gone, where the poster boys are.
Meanwhile, coaches are trying to build teams. Their fans and athletic directors want them to install championship banners — not a marquee — at the stadium.
Auburn won the SEC in 2004, won all 13 games it played and staked a claim for national championship consideration with Jason Campbell at quarterback.
Jason Campbell?
Matt Leinart and Vince Young, the last two national championship quarterbacks, are marquee names. The current crop of SEC starters doesn’t have a QB with that kind of star power.
So what?
Chris Weinke, Josh Heupel, Ken Dorsey and Craig Krenzel won national titles from 1999 to 2002. How would you label them?
Are they far superior to Chris Leak, JaMarcus Russell, Brandon Cox and Erik Ainge? Put those four in national-championship-caliber offenses — on teams with championship-caliber defenses — and let’s find out.
A series of “marquee” quarterbacks tried to go through the LSU Tigers in 2003, on their way to their goal of a national championship and/or Heisman Trophy glory.
Ask David Greene, Eli Manning and Jason White how that turned out for them.
By CARL DUBOIS (cdubois@theadvocate.com)
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Aug 3, 2006
Among the conversation pieces keeping us busy this college football offseason is the status of quarterback play in the Southeastern Conference.
There are no locks for SEC immortality. Not yet.
So what?
Coaches, God bless ’em, politely answer questions about the absence of a Peyton Manning or an Eli Manning or Pat Sullivan or Joe Namath or Fran Tarkenton.
Then they go back to work to try to coach up the quarterbacks they have, talented players whom the coaches hope to prepare to be winners within the parameters of the offense they run.
If they turn out to be marquee performers, household names outside SEC country, great. But you can bet coaches aren’t losing sleep over whether or not the league has lost some of its star power under center.
Often, it’s unnecessary.
Sometimes, it gets in the way.
The SEC and its fans like to call the league the best in America. The best way to back up that boast is to win national championships. Regularly.
The SEC has four in the last 14 seasons. Three came without the aid of a marquee quarterback.
Alabama won the 1992 national title with Jay Barker in his first full season as starting quarterback. Do you know anybody who considered Barker a marquee quarterback before the 1992 season?
Do you know anybody who considers Barker a marquee QB some 14 years later?
Tennessee won the 1998 national title with Tee Martin in his first full season as the starter — the year after Peyton Manning left for the NFL without winning a Heisman Trophy or a national championship.
Tee Martin and the word “marquee” don’t often share space in the same sentence.
LSU won the 2003 national title with Matt Mauck in his first full season as starter. Had Mauck come back for his senior season, he would not have been a Heisman candidate. Nobody would have referred to him as a marquee QB.
Florida won the 1996 national title with Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel running Steve Spurrier’s Fun ‘n’ Gun offense like clockwork. As efficient a passer as he was, he lacked the athleticism and polish many require before bestowing a label of “marquee” on a quarterback.
Some would argue Wuerffel doesn’t fit the definition. He didn’t light up the NFL. He was, in many ways, a product of the system at Florida.
Still, he won the Heisman. That — plus the Florida offensive records he set, records Chris Leak is chasing — qualifies him as a top-line act on a national championship SEC team.
Barker, Martin and Mauck were what coaches feel blessed to have: steady, functional leaders who run the offense and rarely beat themselves.
Lacking a difference-maker, an No. 1 NFL pick, that’s what coaches look for in a quarterback. Someone who wins.
Style points mean nothing. Not to coaches whose employment is based upon wins and losses.
Nobody asked coaches last week at SEC Media Days where are the Jay Barkers, Tee Martins and Matt Maucks.
Everybody wants to know where the Mannings have gone, where the poster boys are.
Meanwhile, coaches are trying to build teams. Their fans and athletic directors want them to install championship banners — not a marquee — at the stadium.
Auburn won the SEC in 2004, won all 13 games it played and staked a claim for national championship consideration with Jason Campbell at quarterback.
Jason Campbell?
Matt Leinart and Vince Young, the last two national championship quarterbacks, are marquee names. The current crop of SEC starters doesn’t have a QB with that kind of star power.
So what?
Chris Weinke, Josh Heupel, Ken Dorsey and Craig Krenzel won national titles from 1999 to 2002. How would you label them?
Are they far superior to Chris Leak, JaMarcus Russell, Brandon Cox and Erik Ainge? Put those four in national-championship-caliber offenses — on teams with championship-caliber defenses — and let’s find out.
A series of “marquee” quarterbacks tried to go through the LSU Tigers in 2003, on their way to their goal of a national championship and/or Heisman Trophy glory.
Ask David Greene, Eli Manning and Jason White how that turned out for them.