Tuesday, April 28, 2009

QB carousel

Way back in the spring of 2007, Steven Threet and Robert Marve were two of the most sought-after high school passers in the country. They were overshadowed a bit by the two superstars in their class -- Jimmy Clausen and Ryan Mallett -- but they were good (according to Rivals, anyway):

It's been a long two years, hasn't it? There are two noteworthy things about that once-formidable top 10:
  1. That, my friends, is a bust-eriffic list. Brantley will have his opportunity once The Tebow Child finally departs, and Clausen appears to be developing into a good (if overrated) starter ... but the rest? Yikes.
  2. A whopping FIVE of those 10 quarterbacks have transferred from their original school, including two (Threet and Marve) who are making news once again this week as de facto free agents.
Threet announced in February that he'd had enough of the Rich Rodriguez offense -- he wouldn't have been starting in 2009 anyway -- and the search was on for his third stop in three years. An FCS school seemed logical since he had already redshirted, but let's face it: Who can resist the co-eds at Arizona State? (Answer: not Threet.)

Threet didn't have a lot of luck with coaching stability at his first two stops (he originally committed to Georgia Tech just before Paul Johnson took over), but barring a complete disaster this season, he should be safe at ASU under Dennis Erickson.

While he wasn't exactly a smashing success at Michigan in an ugly 3-9 season, Threet's play wasn't the reason for the poor record. His accuracy was lacking, but he has an impressive arm and showed good decision-making for a redshirt freshman. Considering the lack of quality QB options at ASU -- senior Danny Sullivan is atop the depth chart, with sophomore Samson Szakacsy and freshman Brock Osweiler in the wings -- Threet will have a legitimate shot at the starting job.

The only problem: That shot won't come until 2011. As a transfer who has already used a redshirt year, Threet will be forced to burn a season (his redshirt sophomore year) and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Marve was also looking at Arizona State after leaving Miami under less-than-friendly circumstances, but with Threet already on his way to Tempe, it now appears likely that he'll end up at Purdue.

According to ESPN, Marve has developed a "close relationship" (I don't want details) with Boilermakers coach and Joe Tiller look-alike Danny Hope and has already worked out an academic plan to ensure his admission.

Purdue certainly needs quarterbacks -- with Curtis Painter off to the NFL and Justin Siller off the team due to a lack of effort in the classroom, fifth-year senior Joey Elliott and redshirt freshman Caleb TerBush are all that's left. In other words, expect Marve to be starting in 2011 and 2012 if the transfer goes according to plan.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nobody can resist the co-eds at Arizona State