2nd string QB?

BiscuitEater

Redshirt
Aug 29, 2009
4,178
0
36
Bob C's tweet stated Mullen is contemplating redshirting KT. Who will be #2 then?

No one really knows 'what' this means. We have been hearing that KT has been doing well, especially for a true FR. Heard he was picking up everything and benefitted from an early enrollment.

Then Dan says he 'may' redshirt him. This is the first I have heard that they were even considering that possibility. Most were saying they hoped KT got a lot of snaps in the first game so he is 'semi-ready' to take over if needed.

Two choices come to mind ..

1) Others (one or more of Rip Kirk, Mitch Hood and Logan Burnett) have emerged so that KT can take his time and really learn the system for a year. (Fitz proved at the beginning of the last year that it does take some time to run effectively)

2) Dan want's to keep KT from getting too comfortable as the #2 spot and wants him to push during these last two weeks knowing he will/may be needed during the '17 season.
 
Last edited:
Aug 15, 2006
1,937
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I agree, especially your point #2.
Just did some research on the other QBs. Rip seems to have the most experience of the three. Mitch is a solid pocket passer, no wheels though.

No one really knows 'what' this means. We have been hearing that KT has been doing well, especially for a true FR. Heard he was picking up everything and benefitted from an early enrollment.

Then Dan says he 'may' redshirt him. This is the first I have heard that they were even considering that possibility. Most were saying they hoped KT got a lot of snaps in the first game so he is 'semi-ready' to take over if needed.

Two choices come to mind ..

1) Others (one or more of Rip Kirk, Mitch Hood and Logan Burnett) have emerged so that KT can take his time and really learn the system for a year. (Fitz proved at the beginning of the last year that it does take some time to run effectively)

2) Dan want's to keep KT from getting too comfortable as the #2 spot and wants him to push during these last two weeks knowing he will/may be needed during the '17 season.
 

BiscuitEater

Redshirt
Aug 29, 2009
4,178
0
36
Can't you redshirt and play in 4 games starting this year?

I know that was a 'proposed' NCAA CFB rule, along with another on-field assistant, but I don't know if it was approved and, if it passed, 'when' it would go into effect.

Think CFB adds on-field assistant after this year.
 

MSUDC11

Redshirt
Aug 23, 2012
7,316
0
0
I think we would start Gabe Myles at QB and run the wildcat before we started a walk-on.
 

ronpolk

All-American
May 6, 2009
9,455
5,480
113
I think what dan is considering is not playing KT unless he's forced to (Fitzgerald gets hurt). I would love to see this approach. I don't see the point in playing KT in a blowout vs charleston southern and UMass. I would only play him if we see fitz is going to miss a game or multiple games.
 

BlueRidgeMtns

All-Conference
Nov 29, 2016
5,604
3,509
113
From my sources, when Kirk was brought in he was told by Mullen that they wanted one of the walk ons to play well enough to be #2 because they wanted a RS year for Key.

While I'd love a RS for Key, if Fitz goes down he's the guy.
 

MSUDC11

Redshirt
Aug 23, 2012
7,316
0
0
Yes, but do you really want to leave Fitz in if you're up 45-7 on Charleston Southern? It's certainly a dilemma.

Personally, I'm ok with playing KT. Assuming Fitz is back next year, we should be able to redshirt Mayden. That gives you two more years of Fitz, two years with KT as the starter, and then two years with Mayden starting.
 

BertleTheTurtle

Freshman
Nov 4, 2013
317
56
28
There are so many key situations in which we need our most talented backup ready to take the field and not under the impression of "I'm only going to play if Fitz goes down with an injury." Unless they've found a helmet for Fitz that will stay on, there could easily be a scenario where we're late in the game against a ranked opponent and Fitz's helmet pops off with no timeouts. Say it's 3rd and 3. We need a viable QB. I'd be pissed if anyone other than KT took the field in that scenario. But it sounds like mentally, KT wouldn't be prepared for a situation like that because Mullen sounds like he's saying KT will be a presumed redshirt unless Fitz get's hurt. Dan's gonna Dan though. He does something like this every single year. Toying around with kickers and allowing various positional battles to linger on well into the season. At some point it has to be nut cutting time, and you need to name your guys and let them know where they fall in the pecking order so that they can mentally prepare themselves for their roles on the team. Cut out the whole "you're going to redshirt unless you don't end up redshirting" crap.
 

johnson86-1

All-American
Aug 22, 2012
15,271
5,805
113
There are so many key situations in which we need our most talented backup ready to take the field and not under the impression of "I'm only going to play if Fitz goes down with an injury." Unless they've found a helmet for Fitz that will stay on, there could easily be a scenario where we're late in the game against a ranked opponent and Fitz's helmet pops off with no timeouts. Say it's 3rd and 3. We need a viable QB. I'd be pissed if anyone other than KT took the field in that scenario. But it sounds like mentally, KT wouldn't be prepared for a situation like that because Mullen sounds like he's saying KT will be a presumed redshirt unless Fitz get's hurt. Dan's gonna Dan though. He does something like this every single year. Toying around with kickers and allowing various positional battles to linger on well into the season. At some point it has to be nut cutting time, and you need to name your guys and let them know where they fall in the pecking order so that they can mentally prepare themselves for their roles on the team. Cut out the whole "you're going to redshirt unless you don't end up redshirting" crap.

Nobody can fault Dan for not looking long term with his players. We probably would have been better int eh short term letting Martinas Rankin take his lumps rather than RS. WE'd be hurting this year.

I would be all about redshirting KT, but I think Dan has enough of a reputation that we are no longer going to have a problem keeping good QBs in the pipeline, so 'wasting' a year of KT's eligibility doesn't sound so bad.
 

ronpolk

All-American
May 6, 2009
9,455
5,480
113
Yes, but do you really want to leave Fitz in if you're up 45-7 on Charleston Southern? It's certainly a dilemma.

Personally, I'm ok with playing KT. Assuming Fitz is back next year, we should be able to redshirt Mayden. That gives you two more years of Fitz, two years with KT as the starter, and then two years with Mayden starting.

If we are up 45-7 against anyone then I'm fine with a walk on going to take snaps. Hell I'd be ok with you going to hand the ball off to the RB. If we lost a game that we were up 45-7 in we got problems that don't involve a QB.
 

Son_of_34

Junior
Sep 30, 2012
690
378
63
Yes, but do you really want to leave Fitz in if you're up 45-7 on Charleston Southern? It's certainly a dilemma.

Personally, I'm ok with playing KT. Assuming Fitz is back next year, we should be able to redshirt Mayden. That gives you two more years of Fitz, two years with KT as the starter, and then two years with Mayden starting.

Up 45-7 let's just LUS it and kneel four times every drive
 

BertleTheTurtle

Freshman
Nov 4, 2013
317
56
28
I agree to an extent, but we're talking about the most important position on the field. In 2015, there supposedly wasn't much difference between Rankin and Senior/Malone/Jenkins/Warren. That's more justifiable then having your star QB go down and questioning whether to insert your highly touted true freshman QB or your walk-on QB. We had other scholarship guys to play in Rankin's position. We don't at QB. I think the point I'm trying to get across relates to the scenario of Fitz going down with an injury and we still have say 5+ games left in the season. Now you're at the point where, you've been inserting a walk-on QB in live game action (mop up duty) and KT has just been sitting, with no snaps outside of practice. Is Dan just going to toss in the towel on the season and keep KT redshirted or is he going to play him? If the answer is play him, then in my opinion, you can't redshirt him. You have to let him get live game snaps and be prepared if/when that time comes. It sucks because that time may never come and we wasted a year of eligibility, but that's the problem Dan is faced with when 3 of his QBs transfered out in a calendar year.

The opposite of this is, say the walk-on gets to play for the remaining 5+ games of the season. Then we're looking at a QB battle going into the 2018 season. And yes, you bet your *** Dan would make it a competition and "make a decision after warm-ups" the day of our 1st game in 2018.
 
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