WSU in rare situation regarding quarterbacks

PULLMAN – Barring unforeseen attrition, Washington State will begin next football season with a junior quarterback, a sophomore quarterback, a redshirt freshman and, if Justus Rogers develops as the coaches hope he will, a true freshman who can redshirt.

Each one of those players signed with the Cougars when they were high school seniors and each was recruited to WSU by Mike Leach’s coaching staff. It’s almost a perfect situation. It’s also an increasingly rare one.

Because at most schools only one healthy quarterback will get significant, meaningful playing time and because one player can hold a starting spot for a number of years, quarterback recruits are known to consider the depth chart when making their college choices.

“They’re a very jealous group, there’s no question about that,” Leach said. “And they’re smart, aware people so they keep an eye on stuff.”

And when a school is only offering a scholarship to one quarterback per recruiting class, it had better be good at scouting passers. Even if the coaches identify future studs, landing them is another matter, particularly if those jealous throwers do not see an easy path to playing time.

Consider the case at Oregon, where it was apparent when Marcus Mariota was a sophomore that the fleet Hawaiian held the keys to the Ducks’ future. That part worked out nicely: Mariota led the Ducks on the most successful three-year stretch in the program’s history and won a Heisman to cap his junior season. Then he went pro.

Elite high school prospects were not eager to wait for Mariota to graduate and Bryan Bennett, the talented player Mariota beat out for the starting job, transferred to FCS Southeastern Louisiana, where he set records and led the Lions to their first two playoff berths.

Rather than a senior Mariota, the Ducks were left with career backup Jeff Lockie and Vernon Adams, who they pilfered from Eastern Washington.

Oh, right. That’s another thing that can happen – your senior quarterback, having graduated, can decide he’s better off somewhere else and leave a program in the lurch.

Even if a program recruits effectively year-after-year, there’s no guarantee that the presence of so much talent won’t come back to bite that team in the long run. Just look at Texas A&M.

The Aggies recruited top-tier quarterbacks Kyler Murray and Kyle Allen in consecutive recruiting cycles. Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin tried to play them both in 2015; both transferred this past offseason.

The Cougars themselves had a circuitous route to depth-chart nirvana with both Austin Apodaca and Tyler Bruggman transferring since Leach recruited them to Pullman.

For a player like Apodaca, who spent multiple years putting roots in Pullman and still maintains friendships on the team, to transfer shows just how loud the call of playing time is to quarterbacks. They can easily see their four years of eligibility spent sitting behind an older, entrenched starter, only to have a young phenom pass them by when it’s their turn.

“Obviously, going into college I didn’t want to be the kid who transferred,” said Apodaca, who landed at New Mexico and scored a touchdown in the New Mexico Bowl.

“I wanted to be at one place,” he continued. “No one goes to college wanting to leave and go to multiple schools.”

Despite the potential hang-ups in building solid QB depth, the Cougars will not stray from their one-per-year strategy. Well, they won’t stray much.

On signing day, Leach described Rogers as a QB-athlete, and it’s possible he could wind up at another position. The Cougars continued to recruit quarterbacks after Rogers committed to WSU, and three players announced their intentions of signing with the Cougars only to later recant those commitments.

The Cougars are willing to roll with who they have on the roster, maybe strike gold with a walk-on like they did with Falk, and if worst comes to worst, the absence of a freshman quarterback may entice a stud in the future.

“We’re not going to sign a guy just to sign a quarterback,” said Dave Emerick, Leach’s chief of staff who handles many of the administrative and organizational aspects of recruiting for the Cougars.

“You’re not ever going to bring in a guy you don’t think is going to play at some point,” Emerick continued. “If you can’t find that guy, you bring in some walk-ons and see if they can play and next year try to land a big-time guy.”