Saturday, April 3, 2010

Charlie Goro most productive Vandy quarterback on Saturday ... but does he really have a chance to play?


The not-worst-in-the-nation-but-almost Vandy offense ran 11 drives today, according to the official Commodore Web site. Of course, the site's not going to disclose information that would contradict Bobby Johnson's assertion that all four quarterbacks are locked in a competition that's just too close to call.

That's why we're here... to read between the lines.

The winner of the quarterback race, at least on this day, was Charlie Goro, who apparently led three drives, ending in a punt, a field goal and a touchdown.

Jared Funk also led a touchdown drive, but also had an interception and another drive that ended in a punt.

Returning starter Larry Smith had two drives end in a punt and another that ended with an interception on the goal line.

As for Jordan Rodgers, it appears that he led two drives, both of which ended with punts.

What does this mean? Who knows? The past two years, Bobby Johnson has talked about how he had no idea who he was naming his starting quarterback and then at the last minute he picked the guy who was supposed to start from the beginning. So everybody thinks Larry Smith will get the nod.

Everybody's also excited about Jordan Rodgers' bloodlines, but Charlie Goro is making a run here. Goro's a winner, he's a leader and he can run the spread. Larry Smith's been talking about how he's 90 percent healthy from his hamstring tear and how he'll never be 100 percent again. For a guy whose main selling point was his physical attributes, that's not good. And now he's throwing goal line interceptions in spring practice.

Maybe Larry will be our starter for the next two seasons and maybe he'll be great. He certainly didn't get any help last season. But maybe Goro will emerge as our best bet at quarterback.

Even if that happens, there's no guarantee that Bobby gives him the nod. Remember in 2008 when we start 5-0 and then Nickson and Adams both self-destruct — physically, psychologically and every which a way? It took both of those guys getting injured in the Wake Forest game before Bobby would play Larry, who he clearly thought was the future of the team. After all, he needed just one out of seven victories to become bowl eligible, and he barely got it.

So what if Bobby now thinks Goro is the future of the team? But he needs x number of victories to convince the administration that the program is progressing? Would he play Goro?

Bobby Johnson has started only one redshirt freshman quarterback, and that was Jay Cutler in Johnson's first season, when he had plenty of time to rebuild.

He's got some time now, but not as much time as he had then.

So would he play Goro early or even start the season with him?

We'll see.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go Goro

Anonymous said...

Is that you Goro?