Replacing quarterback Garrett Gilbert will be no easy task for the SMU Mustangs, but sophomore Neal Burcham will be tapped as his successor under center to start the season.
A five-star recruit out of high school, Gilbert was never able to live up to the lofty expectations set for him during his time with the Texas Longhorns, but he finally found success at SMU in June Jones’ run-and-shoot offense. Gilbert was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing 2013 season for the Mustangs, accumulating 3,528 passing yards and 21 touchdowns despite missing two games during his senior campaign.
Burcham filled in for the injured Gilbert at the end of the season, throwing two touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 58.7 percent of his passes on the year. While these stats aren’t exactly impressive, he did perform well in SMU’s near upset of UCF, completing 24 of his 34 pass attempts for 222 yards and a touchdown.
Despite getting competition in camp from Texas A&M transfer Matt Davis, Jones officially announced Thursday that Burcham will be the team’s starter heading into the season.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeYgB_kCTeE]Burcham is a pro-style quarterback that fits well into Jones’ offensive scheme, and the coach noted that his experience running the offense was a key contributor to winning the starting spot. Though there may be some growing pains for Burcham throughout the course of the season, he is lucky enough to have a very talented receiving corps to help him ease into the transition from backup to permanent starter.
The Mustangs did lose a pair of 1,000-yard receivers, Jeremy Johnson and Keenan Holman, the group as a whole still will be solid. Darius Joseph returns after a breakout sophomore season where he caught 103 passes for 808 yards and five touchdowns. Der’rikk Thompson, Stephen Nelson and Jeremiah Gaines will likely be starters alongside Joseph, but redshirt freshman Cedric Lancaster has had a fantastic spring and true freshman Jordan Ingram may be too talented to keep out of the lineup for long.
Though Burcham is far from a sure thing at this point, and Adams could be called on at any point in the season if things don’t pan out, there’s still reason to be optimistic.
As a high school senior, Burcham was named co-MVP of the Elite 11 Showcase, sharing the award with last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Jameis Winston. While no one is expecting him to be Winston, Burcham certainly has potential and showed flashes of it during his limited playing time as a freshman.
Only time will tell if he’s able to develop into the successful quarterback that Jones and the Mustangs think he can be.
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