The Great Quarterback Debate and Open Thread

The running backs will be fine, the offensive line will be trending upwards, but Saturday proved there's still a (very big) lingering quarterback question for 2014. Here's (one of) my last pleas for Boykin.

From my post in February:

The most dangerous answer for the looming Quarterback battle in 2014 is to put stock in a kid without ever having seen him play.

I don't doubt the potential of the other likely candidates - Tyler Matthews or Foster Sawyer - but there's a lot of danger in electing a quarterback simply because he's "Not Boykin".

For Tyler Matthews, we probably saw him throw all of three or four times the entire season. The offensive line was bad, but Patterson's also not an idiot. If there were a battle to be won, Matthews would've been in the mix for it. With a redshirt burned and plenty of time to get work in during practice, if Matthews was as good as everyone wants him to be, he would've played over Boykin.

Speaking of counting chickens before they hatch, how about Foster Sawyer. The kid who draws a lot of Andy Dalton comparisons, both on and off the field, may very well be the most promising candidate in the mix, but why throw a 19 year old kid into the fire when you probably don't have to.

If the season started today, the risks of starting Sawyer would outweigh the positives. It's not on Sawyer either. Like I said, Sawyer is already being hailed as the next great TCU quarterback. He knows it. We know it. These expectations are already a heavy load on Sawyer's shoulders, and for a kid who's not even at school yet, it's not good for anyone. It echoes Ryan Perriloux and we all know what happened, or better yet didn't happen with him.

Sawyer doesn't come in following Casey Pachall, like Pachall came in following Andy Dalton and was expected to continue the greatness, Sawyer is expected to completely rebuild the greatness. I don't care if you're Jameis Winston, pressure like that should never fall on an 18/19 year old kid. Winston, even though he was a freshman, also had the advantage of playing baseball in the spring, so he already had some sense of athletic maturity.

But as we are being proactive in reestablishing the offensive identity, it's still going to take some time. The line will be improved, but it won't be perfect.

But it might be for Boykin.

The Primary Candidates

• Trevone Boykin, Junior
• Tyler Matthews, Sophomore
• Foster Sawyer, Freshman

So who do want? Vote and Discuss.