The two quarterback conundrum
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There is an adage in football that if you have two quarterbacks you don't have one.
That belief is not always tried and true but there have been plenty of college football teams so far this season that have juggled two quarterbacks or more, oftentimes clumsily, and it can lead to more problems than solutions.
Former Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer, a college football commentator at ESPN, knows the pitfalls that can come from sharing quarterback duties.
Under then-coach Steve Spurrier, unapologetically famous for utilizing multiple QBs during his successful career, Palmer shared time with Doug Johnson and later Rex Grossman.
Although some coaches, including Spurrier, who won multiple conference titles during seasons in which he flip-flopped quarterbacks, defend the practice, it doesn't seem ideal for many players at the position.
Quarterbacks say they need rhythm and timing and to develop confidence. Getting yanked every series or every quarter or after every errant throw doesn't help.
And for multiple college teams this season - including top-ranked Ohio State, No. 12 Alabama and even Spurrier's South Carolina program- it has been a detriment to a productive offense.
"It's getting to that critical juncture of the season where a lot of coaching staffs are going to have to make a decision for continuity purposes on offense and to ensure the highest level of performance by whoever is lining up under center," said Palmer, who was making the media rounds this week on behalf of the 2015 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.
"It's such a hard position to play, when you're playing it defensively, when you're playing it not to make a mistake. You can't be careless playing the position but certainly you have to play the position with conviction. You have to make decisions, you have to be able to throw the football with conviction, believing if you make a mistake especially early in the game you're not going to get pulled."
So much preseason discussion, useful or not, centered on which quarterback would start at Ohio State. There was Cardale Jones, who led the Buckeyes to the national title; J.T. Barrett, who stepped in magnificently when Braxton Miller went down in the preseason; or Miller, although that seemed unlikely with talk that he was moving to receiver.
In the season opener against Virginia Tech, Jones played the majority of the way, and Barrett had one pass that went for a touchdown. The Buckeyes offense looked like it was rolling. The last two weeks in uninspired wins over Hawaii and Northern Illinois, however, the two have switched in and out and the Buckeyes offense has surprisingly stalled.
Ohio State is not the only team to be tinkering with its quarterbacks although Meyer said after Wednesday's practice he'll stay with Jones - but for how long and to what end?
"I did have a very clear starter, the guy who starts," Meyer said on this week's Big 10 conference call. "The first three games we have had one. The first game worked out very good. The second game not so good and I wanted to give the other guy reps and the third game not good at all.
"We did have a very clear starter and we're going to have a very clear starter again this week at the right time. I kind of already know who it is."
Others are monkeying around with their quarterbacks, too. Alabama started Cooper Bateman in its loss to Ole Miss last weekend but after he was ineffective switched back to Jacob Coker.
South Carolina will start its third quarterback this weekend - freshman Lorenzo Nunez - after Connor Mitch went down with injury and Perry Orth didn't work out well.
Louisville has been particularly confusing this season because Kyle Bolin has gotten his opportunities but freshman Lamar Jackson (who's more athletic) plays, too.
Auburn was rudderless under quarterback Jeremy Johnson; after a bad loss to LSU this past weekend, coach Gus Malzahn has handed the ball to former backup Sean White.
Texas, Maryland, Florida and Rutgers are some of the other teams that are still working out the quarterback position, some playing multiple guys, some moving on to a second option.
"Quarterback is a rhythm position just like running back," Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said. "If you get a running back who's super talented but is splitting carries it's tough for him to get in a rhythm.
"Quarterbacks need repetitions to build confidence. If you have two quarterbacks, you have none. That's the famous quote. It just surprises me at Ohio State that Urban Meyer, arguably the best coach in college football, can't figure that out, doesn't understand that he can't play this game."
Palmer said: "For a lot of these programs at this juncture you have to pick a guy, stick with the guy and you have to be willing to ride it out."
Further complicating the quarterback picture is when teams sign two in the same recruiting class. Inevitably, one will win the job, one will lose out or one will transfer, as was the case a few years back at USC when Cody Kessler was named the starter and Max Wittek left.
There are currently eight Power Five teams - Louisville, North Carolina, Michigan, California, Oregon, Washington State, Arizona and Utah - with two quarterback commits in the 2016 class, but in at least two of those situations (Michigan and Utah) one of the players could move to another position.
Four-star Devon Modster is committed to Arizona alongside four-star Khalil Tate but the way Modster sees it, there will be competition for the starting job on way or the other.
"Either way, you have to compete with someone either older or younger," Modster said. "It's just Khalil is in the same grade. That's the only difference."
But Louisville pledge Tylin Oden, a three-star recruit from Columbia (Tenn.) Spring Hill, does have a few reservations about how the Cardinals are running their offense.
"I honestly don't really agree with playing multiple quarterbacks because I'm the type of quarterback that has to get going and playing multiple won't get a quarterback in rhythm," said Oden, who considers himself a soft Louisville pledge.
For prospects who see coaches not willing or able to make up their minds on one quarterback now, how can that give them confidence that things will change once they get to campus? Will they be the next looking over their should every errant throw?
Palmer won at Florida but knew the hook was always out there, ready to be used on him at a moment's notice. Ohio State has not lost but Jones and Barrett are in a tricky spot.
Maybe Spurrier is right. Maybe playing multiple quarterbacks doesn't really matter, that it's just like every other position. He has said on multiple occasions that he doesn't see why it's a big deal to play two in the same game, or in the same series.
But making a decision and sticking with it is important for continuity, too, especially at quarterback, where comfort can be crucial.
Imagine an offensive or defensive coordinator, or the head coach himself, being replaced for a few downs after every bad play call.
That is what Meyer, and some other coaches, ask of their quarterbacks, and it might not be the right thing - on the field or in recruiting.
"It's indecisiveness," Farrell said. "It affects recruiting in a way where schools can't make up their minds about the quarterback and then quarterbacks don't want to go there. Quarterbacks like to go to schools where there is one guy."
TEAMS WITH 2 QUARTERBACKS COMMITTED
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