Rookie Of The Year

Logan Marchi’s senior highlight film.

Right now, it appears Temple will have the Rookie of the Year one way or another, whether it is Geoff Collins as a head coach or one of the five quarterback candidates.

Collins made a salient point the other day when he said it was “great that so many people were interested in who the starting quarterback at Temple will be” but it will be a decision that he will let play out over the next month or few months.

That’s a terrific read on the situation because there is absolutely no reason to name a starter until a week or two before the Notre Dame game.

temperor

Heavy is the head who wears the crown.

One thing is certain: The bar for Collins or the new quarterback is not very high. Few expect Temple to walk into Notre Dame and come away with a win on opening day, so the pressure should be self-imposed.

The real pressure comes the following week against Villanova. Whoever Collins picks for the Notre Dame game will be absolutely, positively, expected to orchestrate a beatdown of a hated local rival. Lose the first week against Notre Dame and no one bats an eye. Lose the second and there are a lot of eyes batted and questions raised.

 

In the Temple News on Monday, it was clear that this was a job that everyone wants but just as clear that only one will get.

Matt Rhule probably stunted the growth of the returning eligible Temple quarterbacks by not playing Logan Marchi or Frank Nutile extensively. P.J. Walker won a lot of games at Temple and the ones he won by 49-14 and 31-10 should have been ones where Rhule was allowing Marchi or Nutile to throw the ball all over the lot. Instead, his being a “nice guy” hurt Temple in the long run because in the limited time Marchi or Nutile had they mostly handed off.

Game speed is something that cannot be simulated and it will be something one of these guys will have to learn under fire.

For now, though, Temple and Collins have all the time in the world.

Friday: Filling Out The Digits

Advertisement

6 thoughts on “Rookie Of The Year

  1. Can’t agree with you more on how the decision not to play the other QB’s in those comfortable wins stunted their development last year. It seems like most coaches at all levels pass on those opportunities. QB is the most important position and yet that position has the most inexperienced backup when the starter goes down. I can understand why contract incentives keep the starting Pro QB on the field during a blowout win. But don’t understand it at the college or even HS level especially when the starter will be graduating.

  2. Well, it is what it is with QBs having little exoerience. But with the recievers (and this new recievers coach) we have and the choices for QB; also having quality running backs and a decent O-line, hopefully the O can do the job and give ND a run for their money (again). Yes I’m trying hard to be hopeful, but a blowout loss to ND will not be a good sign considering the quality of the players we have.

    • If TU gets blown out by ND it would not be good because they are breaking in a new QB as well and like TU have had to replace some very good players. Difference is that they’re replacements are 4-5 star and ours 2-3.

  3. Marchi will get the nod.., same type of kid and game as McSorley

    • You might be right given Kirkwood’s comment that they’re running a spread. Barkley at PSU shows that a running back can succeed in that offense with a skilled running and passing QB.

      • I think Anthony Russo gets the nod, but it will be close between him and Logan. The numbers those two were able to put up in high school were literally off the charts compared to Nutile and the other guys. Would be shocked out of my mind if it were Todd or Frank or the kid who was 5-5 in New Jersey (Wyatt) as a high school senior.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s