Aug. 12, 2009
Throughout the 2009 preseason, www.isubengals.com will take a look at each position as the Bengals ready for the season opener on September 5 against Arizona State down in Tempe, Arizona. Today, we look at the quarterback position.
Quarterback is the glamour position on any football team, and in the realm of the Big Sky Conference, it isn't really any different. Just look around the league and all you see is talent, talent, talent at the signal caller slot. Currently the league has a pair of conference MVPs playing quarterback in 2008 MVP Cameron Higgins from Weber State, and 2007 MVP Matt Nichols at Eastern Washington. Add to that is the history of the position within the Big Sky Conference, as five times a league QB has won the Payton Award (1989, John Friesz, Idaho; 1991, Jamie Martin, Weber State; 1993, Doug Nussmeier, Idaho; 1995 Dave Dickenson, Montana; and 2005, Erik Meyer, Eastern Washington) and it's pretty easy to see that the position holds some clout. And that leads us to Idaho State.
When you look around the league, most folks have a signal caller with potentially more accolades than Idaho State starter Kyle Blum (Eastern Washington and Weber State come to mind); more hype due to where they played at first (Montana's Justin Roper transferred from Oregon, Northern Arizona's Michael Herrick transferred from Mississippi; Northern Colorado's Bryan Waggoner transferred from Florida; and Sacramento State's McLeod Bethel-Thompson came from UCLA). Heck, even Portland State's Drew Hubel owns the FSC record with nine touchdown passes in one game.
Yet, for all the other accolades, big names, schools, and records, Idaho State coaches are more than happy with Kyle Blum, who sparked ISU to their lone win last year in the season finale, and played extremely well in his only other start.
You have to hand it to Blum, who played OK in relief of Russel Hill in the second half of the Weber State game. Although he went just 8-for-23 for 88 yards in that game, he ran the ball five times for 25 yards, and led ISU to 17 points, and just made plays. That game marked the first time in a while during the season that there was some spark to the offense, and perhaps it was just the newness of having a new quarterback barking the signals, but the team looked different.
That game earned Blum his first career ISU start, and it only came in the most harrowing of Big Sky circumstances...at Montana in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Blum withstood the Griz onslaught, and had ISU up 7-2 late in the half. Blum was 16-for-34 for 246 yards in that game, and although he was picked three times, he showed that his ability to stretch the field with the long ball could open up the run game, and that more than anything else is what shown through against Sacramento State a week later. Many people noticed that Blum also seemed to kick start the defense a little bit, as that unit held Montana to just 20 points in the contest, their lowest offensive output until their title game loss.
Blum threw for 342 yards in the Sacramento State game, and most folks remember it for Kenyon Blue's performance, rushing for 111 yards, and totaling over 270 all-purpose yards, but don't forget Blum's last ditch two-minute drive to tie the game. With just 38 seconds left and sitting on second-and-20, Kyle drove ISU from their own 33 to the Hornet 25 with completions of 23, 15 and 4 yards, all with no timeouts, to get ISU a field goal. Most folks forget that drive, but that's sort of how Blum operates...he got the job done, and he's OK with deflecting credit to others.
With Blum, ISU seems to have a strong-armed risk-reward type of player who can open things up for the Bengals, and the bonus is that he is now a junior, meaning he can play this year and build on it. He's got a cannon for an arm, and he loves to play football, as the stories of him smiling and winking in the huddle during games attest to. While Blum's record as a starter is 1-1 and he has started just two games, it feels like he has been around for a while, and it feels in camp like he has been the starter forever, although we know that's not the case, because the guy he supplanted at the end of last year, Russel Hill, has been the starter for the last two years.
In Hill, the Bengals have a commodity that no one in the Big Sky had, and really, possibly no in America. ISU's number two quarterback has a career completion percentage of 60.5%, averages 235.6 yards per game passing, a 124.0 passer rating, 28 career touchdowns, and 428 career completions...in just two years. If that's your backup, aren't you feeling good about life? Well Idaho State should be. Say every starting quarterback in the league went down...isn't Idaho State better off than any team in the Big Sky? And lest you think that doesn't happen, Idaho State hasn't had a signal caller start every game since the 2004 season when Mark Hetherington started all 12 games, and even he gave way quite a bit to Matt Hagler that season. Even last year seven of the nine Big Sky teams started at least two different quarterbacks.
That puts ISU is solid standing with a pair of guys like Blum and Hill, and the reality is Evan Mozzochi has continued his progress from the spring to this year's fall camp, and looks like he is ready to put his hat into the ring as well, giving ISU a third viable option at quarterback.
The one thing ISU has with those top three guys is they all like each other, and not only do they all get along, but they all prepare well for not only their roles, but the other roles if they are needed. Think about the fact that many Big Sky schools have FCS transfer quarterbacks...but why? Why did they leave? Generally speaking, they wanted a chance to play and dropped down to do it. Russel Hill lost his starting position...but here he is, preparing to step in at a moment's notice, always throwing after practice with Mozzochi, studying his playbook as intently as ever, Mozzochi watching film over and over, Blum going over route with receivers. All three guys complement each other perfectly, and are just great teammates. Some guys talk the talk but don't walk the walk...but not these three. Better teammates would be hard to find.
But, Idaho State enters this year not with three quarterbacks as they had last year, but they have added Kyle Morris and Jake Lammers as well. Morris and Lammers have both gotten plenty of reps early in camp to show what they can do. Neither have the typical drop-back quarterback posture and throw, as both have a sort of unorthodox delivery, but Morris' release is ultra-fast, and Lammers has shown plenty of zip on his throws as well. More often than not in the first few days of camp, when there is an offensive breakdown, it tends to be with Morris or Lammers at the helm, but it's not due to a lack of ability, just a lack of Division I collegiate experience. Both have shown flashes that they can both be special quarterbacks down the line, and on more than one occasion, they remind folks of the tandem of Blum and Hill, and that's not a bad tandem to emulate.
Overall, Idaho State's quarterback situation has improved from 2008. The Bengals have not lost anyone there, and added a pair of freshmen, but the improvements of Blum, Hill and Mozzochi, plus another year of experience for all three can only add to the improvements they have all shown already.
NOTES: The team will practice at 4 pm every day for the rest of the week, culminating in Saturday's first fall scrimmage. The team will also practice on Thursday morning at 9 am and have a Saturday walk-through at 10:00 am.
