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Friday, April 9, aoio | The Red & Black
THE RACE FOR THE STARTING JOB
The Bulldogs have three quarterbacks all varying in style of play—vying
to take the first snap from under center when the 2010 season begins.
By NICK PARKER
Thk Rkh & Bl Al K
Each has his own unique strengths.
Each hopes to become the final piece
of the puzzle for an offense returning 10
starters.
Logan Gray possesses the dual-threat
ability with 4.4 speed.
Zach Mettenberger has prototypical
quarterback size at 6-foot-5 with a rocket
arm.
Aaron Murray, the most accurate of the
trio, is a blend of the two not as fast as
Gray and not as strong of an arm as
Mettenberger.
"You got Logan, who is a super athlete.
If quarterback doesn’t work out for him,
he can go change to another position,”
Mettenberger said prior to spring prac
tice. “It’s a little different for me and
Aaron both. Aaron is a little more mobile
than me. and he might be a little more
accurate. But I think my size and how I
can throw the ball is definitely something
that I have that the other guys don’t.”
But two scrimmages and 14 spring prac
tices later, the team is in a three-way quar
terback battle eerily similar to the one that
took place in 2006. That year, coaches waf
fled on whether to start then-fifth year
senior Joe Tereshinski, then-junior Joe Cox
or then-freshman Matthew Stafford.
But this year, a leader has yet to emerge
in a battle that could determine who is
Georgia’s starting quarterback for the next
two years or even four years, depending
on which candidate wins the job.
Saturday, all three will take the field
between the hedges, and fans will get
their first glimpse at the question head
coach Mark Richt and offensive coordina
tor Mike Bobo have been trying to solve
all spring.
G-Day the culmination of three
spring scrimmages will go a long way
toward answering the question that has
saturated spring talk.
"I’m not going to get into any pecking
order, but I will say this though: at the
end of spring we'll rack them where we
think they are," Richt said. "We won't nec
essarily say this guy is the starter, but we
might give a one, two, three, or we might
give a co-No. 1 and 2. I don’t know what
we’ll do. but at the end of spring, we’ll
give some kind of indication of where we
think they stack up.”
To give each a fair opportunity, Richt
has tried to divide the reps evenly among
the three, which has proven to be a diffi
cult task.
“It's very difficult when you’re trying to
rep three guys with the [first-string
offense) and you're only rotating two
groups," Bobo said. “It's tough for them
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“They all look good. They are
always focused, and I’m
excited to see where this
thing ends up.”
Tmmmks King
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to get the kind of looks you want working
with the l second and third string offense 1.
But that’s just the way it is. They have to
make the most of their situation and not
try to do too much. We’re not looking for a
guy that’s going to try to force [passes]."
But surely one of the three quarter
backs has separated himself?
If so, the coaches haven’t given any
indication.
“They haven’t really given any insight or
let us know either way," Murray said.
“They've done a good job of making sure
we had equal reps and equal time with the
first team and second team. So I really
couldn't say who was where right now.”
Added wide receiver Tavarres King:
“They ail look good. They are always
focused, and I’m excited to see where this
thing ends up.”
Though Gray’s stats haven’t matched
Murray’s and Mettenberger’s, the two
redshirt freshmen’s statistics have been
strikingly similar.
Murray has completed 67.6 percent of
his passes for 284 yards in the two scrim
mages. Mettenberger has thrown for 283
yards at a 65.4-percent clip. Gray has
completed 52 percent of his passes for 145
yards.
"You can throw anyone of them in
there, and it will seem just like a normal
day, just going through the motions.” wide
receiver A. J. Green said.
Regardless of who is in the game, the
offense philosophy will largely remain the
same.
“I think, obviously, depending on who
our quarterback is. the coaches are going
to try to do stuff that fits their strengths,”
Gray said. "So maybe we might call a
couple more quarterback runs when I’m
in the game, but basically we're going to
stick with the basic offense that coach
Richt has been running for several years.”
But with zero career starts among the
three quarterbacks, Saturday between
the hedges, with fans looking on should
help determine who will be the missing
piece.
And that missing piece will complete a
Georgia offense that has experience at
every position except the one that mat
ters most— quarterback.
FIRST & GOAL
\
J
AARON
MURRAY
STYLE OF PLAY; Pocket
passer who can buy extra
time with his ability to
escape the pocket and
make throws on the run.
UPSIDE; Blessed with a
strong arm and natural
leadership abilities,
Murray is the most accu
rate passer of the three,
has a quick release and
was ranked the No. 2
quarterback in the country
out of high school.
DOWNSIDE; At only
6-foot-1, Murray lacks
ideal height for the posi
tion and hasn’t taken a live
game snap yet.
SPRING STATS: 23-34,
284 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INTs.
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LOGAN GRAY
STYLE OF PLAY: Gray is
a dual-threat quarterback
who can run or pass and
likes to make plays out
side the pocket with his
legs.
UPSIDE; As one of the
fastest players on the
team, defenses constantly
have to be aware of
Gray’s running ability, and
he can turn a broken play
into a first down with his
feet. He also has two
more years in the system.
DOWNSIDE; Gray lacks
ideal arm strength and
struggles with accuracy at
times. He has played very
sparingly in his first three
seasons.
SPRING STATS: 13-25,
148 yds, 1 TD, 11NT.
ZACH
METTENBERGER
STYLE OF PLAY: Pocket
passer with NFL size and
a Matthew Stafford-like
arm.
UPSIDE: Possessing one
of the strongest arms in
the country, he can make
all the throws and has
ideal size at 6-foot-5,243
pounds.
DOWNSIDE: He has a
slower release than Gray
or Murray and isn’t very
mobile in the pocket. He,
like Murray, lacks playing
experience after redshirt
ing last season and will
have to sit out the season
opener because of an off
the-field issue.
SPRING STATS: 17-26,
283 yds, 3 TD, 11NT,