A Sea Of Red

As the FCS quarterfinals are in full swing, and the 2015 season is slowly disappearing into the rear view mirror, I thought Id take a first look ahead at 2016 as spring football will be here before you know it. We kick things off with probably the position that will be most watched out of any on the Flames roster:

Players Lost:
Josh Woodrum 2015 Big South All Conference Second Team 242/390 2772 Yards 12 TDs 4 INT

For as much as his personality and issues with the media off the field made Flames fans (especially those on this board) pull their collective hair out, Woodrum will leave with his name etched all over the Flames record books, finishing as the all time leader in passing yards, and total offense, as well as top 3 in completion percentage and TDs. The four year starter (first in quite some time if memory serves me correctly) had some outstanding moments, but has issues he will need to address if he intends to have any sort of career in the NFL.

Players Returning:

Stephon Masha
Bo Swanson
Daneil Leonard

Masha is the only one of the three QBs remaining on the roster to have any in game experience so he probably will be #1 from this group heading into spring ball, but an interesting wrinkle to this battle came in the form of incoming freshman Rudiger Yearick. Yearick graduated this week from Metrolina Christian Academy in Indian Trail, NC, and he intends to dive headfirst into the QB competition. Flames commit Stephen "Buck" Calvert graduates next summer and will join in the fray in training camp, so expect some stout battles not only in March and April, but all the way until the Flames opener against first year head coach Justin Fuente and Virginia Tech next fall.

I love the fact that Yearick is coming in early-it shows an eagerness and an aggressiveness (I hope) to go after the starting job. On the other hand, based on the videos I've watched, Calvert would seem to have a slight edge in talent. His arm strength is good and seems to be fairly mobile. I see a healthy 3 man race with BC emerging before the VT game.

I think everyone on here believes itll come down to Masha, Calvert and Yearick for the top 3 spots with Swanson remaining the scout team QB. Leonard was a D2 who I guess walked on with the team before this past season and really wasn't going to factor into the depth chart

What are the chances that the coaches decide to offer & sign a transfer QB? With all the college coaching changes this year, especially here in state, it could be a possibility.

For it to make sense, they would need to offer and sign a QB this January. More than likely it would be a kid with one maybe two years of eligibility left. Just a thought .....

Id say there's always a chance. I mean Trevor Knight is transferring from Oklahoma, so there will be potential for FBS QBs to be looking for a new home. The question will be whether or not Coach Gill wants to go that route. That will depend on what he sees from the four QBs in spring football is my thought on it.

Dalegarz1 wrote:I love the fact that Yearick is coming in early-it shows an eagerness and an aggressiveness (I hope) to go after the starting job. On the other hand, based on the videos I've watched, Calvert would seem to have a slight edge in talent. His arm strength is good and seems to be fairly mobile. I see a healthy 3 man race with BC emerging before the VT game.

it def shows that he wants it, but hell if he graduated what else is there to do, a lot of these kids are so ready to leave HS for the College life it would surprise you. It should be a nice battle for sure once everyone is in the building.

BJWilliams wrote:Id say there's always a chance. I mean Trevor Knight is transferring from Oklahoma, so there will be potential for FBS QBs to be looking for a new home. The question will be whether or not Coach Gill wants to go that route. That will depend on what he sees from the four QBs in spring football is my thought on it.

That's almost way to late to wait until after Spring Ball to determine if you want a transfer. I think if he was going to go transfer route you would not see as much emphasis on these QBs they are after, I think it would have been only after one and the other would have been someone on the JUCO/transfer scene.

I am sure we are looking at a bunch of options right now. Coach Gill has shown an openness to FBS transfers int he past. Of course the only FBS QB in recent years who we have heard any discussion was one of his former recruits at Kansas.

I could live with a Beecher-type transfer that helps us a bridge a year until or signees are ready to play.

Sly Fox wrote:I am sure we are looking at a bunch of options right now. Coach Gill has shown an openness to FBS transfers int he past. Of course the only FBS QB in recent years who we have heard any discussion was one of his former recruits at Kansas.

Vad Lee?

Sly Fox wrote:I could live with a Beecher-type transfer that helps us a bridge a year until or signees are ready to play.

Would be a wise decision.

Vad Lee wanted to come to liberty, just sayin...

thepostman wrote:Vad Lee wanted to come to liberty, just sayin...

Bingo

and we said no. Which is what my point really was.

We are on the same page, postie. How often does that happen?

SMH, and you guys thought I was off base a lil when I said, that it was said that JW WAS NOT going go have to battle to keep his job. For anyone to say that Vad Lee wouldn't or couldn't have helped LU is absolutely insane

Sly Fox wrote:We are on the same page, postie. How often does that happen?

It must be the holiday season or something, haha.

Indeed he did...you have to wonder what was said/not said to him or what was going on in the room when they were discussing him that led to his ending up at JMU (and eventually losing to us in the playoffs)

Really I just wonder how much better we would've been with him as our QB, but there isn't much point in dwelling too much on it. It is just hard not to.

thepostman wrote:Really I just wonder how much better we would've been with him as our QB, but there isn't much point in dwelling too much on it. It is just hard not to.

Not really hard to wonder at all, our WR's were better than JMU's and IMO, he was simply a bigger Masha with better accuracy, who would not have been afraid to run/use his feet. The thing I find amazing is again IMO the thing that hurt us the most on defense (mobile QB) would be something you wouldn't want to have in your own arsenal. Especially when you had such a good one in HCTG himself.

thepostman wrote:Really I just wonder how much better we would've been with him as our QB, but there isn't much point in dwelling too much on it. It is just hard not to.

I wonder that too postie...I just wonder that knowing that we may never know just what went down in the room among the coaches that led to the decision to not offer him a scholarship and transfer here instead of JMU

forbidden wrote:SMH, and you guys thought I was off base a lil when I said, that it was said that JW WAS NOT going go have to battle to keep his job. For anyone to say that Vad Lee wouldn't or couldn't have helped LU is absolutely insane

No one is suggesting anything of the sort. We are just saying that the LU staff did not actively recruit Vad during his transfer tour of target schools. Right or wrong, the staff felt good about what we had on our roster at the time.

Sly Fox wrote:I am sure we are looking at a bunch of options right now. Coach Gill has shown an openness to FBS transfers int he past. Of course the only FBS QB in recent years who we have heard any discussion was one of his former recruits at Kansas.

I could live with a Beecher-type transfer that helps us a bridge a year until or signees are ready to play.

Chad Voytik leaving Pitt. Lost starting job this year to a Tennessee transfer and will be a graduate student looking to start somewhere, probably FCS bound.