The person on the other end of the line laughed. “That’s a problem?” he said. This man is an offensive coordinator at a Power Five school. I had just asked him how he would handle his decision if he had to choose a starting quarterback from a group that included a two-time Big Ten offensive player of the year, a sophomore who went 11-1 as a starter as a redshirt freshman and a junior who is 3-0 as a starter with wins in the Big Ten championship, the Sugar Bowl and the national title game. Most coaches outside Columbus, Ohio, wish they had this problem. Ohio State’s coaching staff actually does, and as pleasant a dilemma as it may be, a choice must still be made and two quarterbacks won’t win the job. I asked several coaches who work with quarterbacks how they would handle such a situation. I granted them anonymity because some of them are managing quarterback competitions of their own, and they might have been less than frank if asked to assess someone else’s competition publicly. Their answers provided a fascinating window into the choice Urban Meyer and co-offensive coordinators Tim Beck and Ed Warinner must make and the machinations that might help them arrive at an answer. We’re operating on the assumption that Braxton Miller will start camp as a quarterback. While Miller seemed open to the idea of a position switch in an interview with The Columbus Dispatch earlier this month, he also said this: “The first thing in mind is being a quarterback.” So, unless something has changed that hasn’t been revealed, we’ll surmise that the player who carried Meyer’s offense through 24 wins in 2012 and ’13 will get a shot to play quarterback and won’t be moved to another position before camp begins (though there is no doubt Miller can help the Buckeyes’ offense even if he doesn’t win the quarterback job). So how do the Buckeyes manage Miller, J.T. …
Continue Reading: How to handle Ohio State’s three-way quarterback battle; Punt, Pass & Pork
