Mention the term “open competition” as it pertains to quarterbacks, and eyeballs start to roll.
However, according to offensive coordinator Todd Monken, that's exactly what the Bulldogs have on their hands.
“Right now, it’s an open competition,” Monken said. “We’re looking at all the players because they all have talent. We’re excited about getting to scrimmage this Saturday and seeing where we’re at.”
By now, the names are familiar. Although most expect the race for the starter to come down between Wake Forest grad transfer Jamie Newman and Southern Cal transfer JT Daniels, freshman Carson Beck, along with returnees D’Wan Mathis, and Stetson Bennett, apparently are also opening Monken’s eyes.
“I really like our guys. We have a good number of players at that position. It's been fun to be in the room, because they all vary. They're different in terms of their personalities,” Monken said. “They all want to be really, really good players. They all want to work at it.
“There's never an issue in terms of them understanding what they're trying to get accomplished, offensively. Obviously the difficulty of not having spring ball, and not going through some of those practices—there are only so many things you can do in meetings without actually getting out there, and things they can do on their own.”
Monken said both Newman and Daniels both have already been impressive.
“The one thing I'd say about Jamie (Newman) is that (while) everybody talks about his athleticism, he's a better thrower than people think. I think JT (Daniels) is a better athlete than people think,” Monken said. “Obviously, there's film on both of those guys. Obviously, JT is a young player at USC throwing the football. There's film of Jamie, obviously running Wake Forest's offense, very efficiently. Like I said, I think from the first five days that JT is a better athlete than we'd have thought, and Jamie's a much better thrower."
Whoever winds up as the starter will feature three specific traits: accuracy, mental toughness, and athleticism.
“Because quarterbacks are as closely aligned with winning and losing as coaches, those guys have to handle the ups and downs of the position,” Monken said. “The next part is athleticism, the ability to move and extend plays. The game has become so much more [about] your athleticism. It’s hard to be a statue anymore and be consistently explosive and able to move the football.”
Monken will learn more about them all in the days ahead.
Now that the team is in full pads, the Bulldogs will have their first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday at Sanford Stadium.
That's when Monken will start to get a true idea of exactly what he has on his hands.
“Right now, it's hard, because it's only basically been five days that, as coaches, we've been on the field with them throwing a football,” Monken said. “I know it's hard to envision, when you really think about it, that (the coaches) have not been on the field with our players, throwing a football, until we started camp without having spring ball. Everything else is on your own when you have a football on the field, so that made it a little bit difficult.”
Monken said there's also a lot to like about Beck and Mathis.
“I’ve been impressed with both. Both are incredibly talented young players. Obviously, D'Wan last year missed part of the season, but with Carson coming in the spring, and being here (and) obviously was here for the bowl game, you can see a lot of things that that you like from Carson's end of it, from his throwing and his athleticism; D’Wan, (with) his athleticism and his arm talent, as he continues to develop. They've been rotating like the other guys in terms of giving them an opportunity to compete for the job. So their future is really bright.”
