2008----- Quarterbacks

I've been doing a series of posts on the state of the 2008 UMass football team. Last Wednesday I finished the defensive side of the ball with a look at the defensive line. Today we start considering the offense. Unlike the defense where we lost only four players out of the two-deep, the offense needs a major rebuild. Nine offensive players from the two-deep graduated this year.

We'll start with the UMass quarterbacks. Remember I have no special inside information.

Freshman are green.
Sophomores are orange
Juniors are blue
Senior are red

I'm working out of the UMass depth chart for the Hofstra game. Teams are only allowed to dress 60 players for the playoffs, so the depth chart for the playoffs may have been different. Note that the class of the player is for fall of 2008 not their current status.

According to the last regular season depth chart:

QB -- Liam Coen Senior
------Scott Woodward Junior

There are two other QBs on the UMass roster, both will be redshirt Freshmen this year. Scott Wallace and Octavious Hawkins were recruited last year.

Discussion: Obviously, nothing except for injury could derail Liam Coen's march through the UMass record books in his senior year. One record he does not hold is playoff wins. Todd Bankhead leads all UMass quarterbacks with five. Coen has four post season wins going into this year.

Left handed QB Scott Woodward will be a senior in 2009. He wants to compete for a starting position. Woodward appeared in four games : Maine, BC, Towson and Northeastern. He went 13-25 52.0 Pct 143 yds 21 long 100.05 EFF.

Last year Scott Wallace made the traveling team as the third QB, but did not get any game time. I have the feeling that the UMass coaching staff is pleased with the recruitment of highly rated Octavious Hawkins and he will be strong candidate for a starting job in 2009.

The UMass football blog is looking forward to the Spring Game. It will be interesting to see who get the most reps at QB. The Blog also looks forward to seeing both the freshmen in action for the first time.

The conventional wisdom is that a team should recruit a QB each year. With lots of needs at WR , RB and OL, this Blog is not sure how Brown will spend the limited number of scholarships this year.