Red Towel Roundtable: Who Should Win the Starting Quarterback Job?
WKU Football enters the season with a quarterback competition that looks to be unsettled until possibly the second game of the season…
WKU Football enters the season with a quarterback competition that looks to be unsettled until possibly the second game of the season against FIU. Junior Steven Duncan, Sophomore Davis Shanley and Freshman Kevaris Thomas all return from a unit that didn’t exactly impress last season. First-year head coach Tyson Helton also has brought in Arkansas Grad Transfer Ty Storey into the competition as well. According to recent reports, no one stood out during the recent intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday. Without a clear frontrunner at this point, we are left to speculate who should win the starting job. Here’s a roundup of who our writing staff thinks should win the job in a few weeks against Central Arkansas.
Ross Shircliffe
Last season was a dumpster fire but there were some small positives that you could glean from each of the returning quarterback's play. Steven Duncan led WKU to all three victories (including last two) showed poise and gained experience. Davis Shanley showed moxie many times and Kevaris Thomas got his feet wet while still maintaining his redshirt status. Having options isn’t a bad thing and bringing a seasoned vet like Ty Storey can only enhance the competition. With all that being said I think that Steven Duncan should win the starting job.
He brings the best combination of size, skills, experience and long term viability to the position. Duncan has the arm strength and durability to make the throws we hope that Tyson Helton will call his quarterbacks to make. Shanley may have moxie but his small stature and playing style just asking for midseason injury concerns. Thomas, while having huge upside hasn’t shown that he can grasp a college offense yet and is still only a freshman. Storey may have SEC experience but didn’t show he was anything more than a game manager at the FBS level and will be gone after this season.
With all that in mind, I think Duncan can build upon his first real season of college experience. On the surface, a 1,071 yards passing(57.8 completion %) and a 9 to 7 TD to INT wasn’t that impressive but they are something to build off of. A former WKU quarterback had a similar up and down season in his first season as a starter as Brandon Doughty threw 14 Touchdowns and 14 interceptions while struggling at times in 2013. He used that first season as a starter and built upon it to become a two-time all-Conference USA quarterback his last two seasons. While I’m not saying that Duncan will become Doughty it's possible he can be a good quarterback. It’s not inconceivable that he’ll take a big step forward this season before a huge senior season in 2020.
Jared Rosdeutcher
One of the main things that hindered last year’s team was the inconsistency at the quarterback position. Losing an NFL caliber guy like Mike White obviously left big shoes to fill and Sanford played just about every QB he had on his roster trying to find someone who could consistently produce.
This year, Helton has multiple options to play the position and will hopefully have better results considering all his QBs have some playing experience and a summer full of training and learning his system. While I think whatever decision Helton makes for starting QB would work (as long as it doesn’t become another carousel-like last season), I’d love to see Kevaris Thomas get his shot.
Thomas only played a handful snaps all of last season with his shining moment being a goal-line touchdown run in an abysmal game at Charlotte. Considering his size and mobility, Sanford only really used him for some QB run plays and never gave him any time in the pocket (maybe for good reason considering he’s a freshman and the offensive line struggled).
From what I’ve seen on highlight tapes and sparingly in person he has a heck of an arm and can sling it quite some distance. And the fact that he’s pretty mobile for someone that’s 6’4” and 250 lbs makes him more of a threat than some of the other guys on the roster.
I didn’t get to see the spring football game this year but I’ve heard he’s made some strides in his development and while I believe Steven Duncan will most likely emerge as the starting quarterback week one, I’d love to see Thomas get some playing time if Duncan struggles or if the Central Arkansas game becomes a landslide (hopefully in WKU’s favor) just to see what he could bring to the table this season.
Right now, none of us know who will emerge as the guy this year but I believe is coach Helton gave Thomas a chance, he would do a solid job.
Matt McCay
This seems pretty obvious this time. We asked this question last season, and I said Drew Eckels, then Davis Shanley, then Steven Duncan, and then Kevaris Thomas as a distant fourth. This was after Eckels and Duncan showed weakness and Shanley showed signs as a viable option in Mike Sanford’s system.
This season, Eckels is gone. Steven Duncan seems like an absolute no-brainer to me. He’s more experienced and was specifically recruited by Jeff Brohm and Tyson Helton. There is a prior relationship, and in addition, a specific skill set. It’s almost a perfect marriage after a nasty separation.
After Duncan, options are (in no particular order) Kevaris Thomas, Davis Shanley, Sean McCormick, and Ty Storey. In my opinion, Ty Storey is your backup because of SEC experience. He is not incredibly accurate nor a great arm talent. But he will rarely be caught not doing his job. After Storey comes a somewhat distant Davis Shanley (wrong system) and Kevaris Thomas (too young) close behind him. Kevaris has, I think, made a pretty significant jump but still needs to learn how to be a leader and needs to work on his feet. I think at the current moment, coaches are debating between Storey and Duncan but will ultimately choose Duncan.
Ask me in Week Three for a different opinion, because at that point, I may have one. This is just off of feel of what we know from the spring and a basic projection into 2019. I readily admit I could be completely off base here.
Jake Keith
I’ve gone on the record that I’m in the tank for traditional, throw first QBs. Last year that QB was Davis Shanley. He appeared in 7 games last year. (Which speaks to the former regime’s mismanagement of the roster. Pick a horse and ride) In those games, he completed 68.1 of his passes (he attempted 141) and only threw 2 interceptions. All this with little help from the O line which allowed him to be sacked a whopping 10 times.
His passing numbers on a per-game basis were more consistent than the eventual starter that Sanford settled on (sort of, see MTSU and that Eckles debacle) except in the red zone where the Tops struggled all year. He was not a shocking athlete by any means (though he did show some jets in the game vs. Louisville) which is why he ended up playing less than the more dynamic and heartier Duncan in last year’s system. I firmly believe that his skill set is much closer to what the Helton offense is looking for. Get it, Davis.
Devin Stewart
Last season produced some of the worst memories for a Tops fan than probably the Elson era. Luckily for myself and other writers, we are just a few short weeks away from the start of the Helton era. The Sanford era produced a lot of head shaking and surfing jokes, but the best product had to be Davis Shanley. For someone who was forcibly riding the QB carousel not knowing who was going to start, It had to be very frustrating. But he rose above it. If it wasn’t for the Charlotte game, he would have not thrown a single interception. But he threw two against Charlotte and stayed perfect the rest of the season.
Davis Shanley may only be a Sophomore but he is a leader. He makes smart plays. He has a better completion percentage than any of the other quarterbacks. Considering one of the younger quarterbacks has a 0% completion percentage. Shanley still has a better passing completion against MTSU last year (100%) than any of the other quarterbacks. Before y’all start commenting yes 1 for 1 is 100%. He led WKU to almost beating Louisville (Curse you Malik) and almost led WKU to victory against Ball State. He is such a nice guy he “faked” an injury to allow Steven Duncan to finish the game. Who wouldn’t want this guy leading the offense? It doesn’t hurt he is extremely intelligent, and for someone getting a new coach and new system. Davis Shanley is the man for the job.