As spring is just around the corner, so is another quarterback position battle at UConn. This seems like an annual ritual in recent years for the Huskies.
Heading into the team’s first practice this weekend, there are three quarterbacks fighting for the starting spot come opening day. Bob Diaco has said that he wants a leader to form out of the group and hopes to have a 1-2-3 order of his quarterbacks going into the first game.
Tim Boyle, the most tenured Husky of the group, is back for his junior year and has the slightest edge of returning as the starter. Boyle only threw one touchdown pass last year while throwing three interceptions.
Freshman Tyler Davis enrolled early and has been on campus for a semester as he gets a head start in the weight room with his team.
The other quarterback that isn’t getting involved in the chatter is transfer quarterback Bryant Shirreffs. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Shirreffs sat out the entire 2014 season.
He may have been absent in games, but Shirreffs played a big role on the scout team, often playing as the dual-threat type of quarterbacks UConn matched up with during last year. The former NC State backup now has a chance to stand out during spring practice and add a whole new dynamic to the Husky offense.
So what separates Shirreffs from the rest?
Diaco spoke via teleconference Wednesday and compared the abilities of Boyle and Shirreffs.
“Bryant is a quicker and faster player, in terms of core strength and overall body strength. He’s a stronger overall player bodywise than the other two,” Diaco said. “I’d say Tim has a stronger arm in terms of velocity, rotation, down the field length, so there’s a strength trait in Tim’s corner. Tim’s a little taller from a vision standpoint. I’m excited to see what decisions they both make.
We’ve seen Tim in action. We haven’t seen Bryant in action. We see Bryant in the scout team work, which isn’t comparable. We’ll see from a decision-making standpoint, leadership qualities, I don’t have an edge that way yet.”
Boyle has a slight height (6-foot-3) and arm velocity advantage while Bryant has a more athletic build and has a sense to escape the pocket under pressure.
Shirreff’s time at NC State was limited, but he still threw the team’s first touchdown pass of the 2013 season. There isn’t a lot of tape on him at the D1 level, but a look at his mobility in high school shows that he has good awareness, even in designed QB keeper plays.
UConn’s offensive line may not be built for QB option packages, but Shirreff had success in the redzone as a dual-threat with deceptive cut backs and even diving head first over the goal line.
Sure, it’s high school football, but the transfer quarterback could be an option the Huskies go to in goal line situations to mix things up on the offense. The ground-and-pound mindset that UConn could resort to would benefit Shirreffs in a run-heavy offense as he gets adjusted back under center.
It could also be destiny, too.
As a freshman at NC State, Shirreffs recorded what seems to be an about me video for a business class. In the nearly five minute video, Shirreffs recalls having a dream while in the first grade that he would play college football. Later in school, his teacher would go on and tell him that he should temper his high expectations.
He hasn’t quit since.
The story continues as Shirreffs can live out the dream with a strong spring. Even if he isn’t dubbed the starting quarterback, the backup has been the one to take over during the season for the Huskies in the past three seasons.
It would be surprising not to see Shirreffs in game action this year, let alone earn some starts along the way.
It will be a busy transition into the first practices of the year, and much like how football fans can’t wait for the season to begin, Connecticut fans are growing anxious to the end of this wet winter and to finding out who their next starting quarterback is.
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