Being a football quarterback on the high school, collegiate or professional level is perhaps the most prestigious, highest profile and most sought after positions perhaps in all of sports.
On the other hand, being a football quarterback on any level could be the most disappointing, anonymous and thankless positions in all of sports.
Every successful football team has to have a good quarterback. He is the back that handles the ball the most often and is the only one that is involved in all aspects of a team's offense. Folks don't refer to a team's quarterback as a field general for nothing.
Due to the nature of the game, good football teams need more than one quarterback if they want to sustain a successful program. Injuries happen in contact sports, especially in a position that has numerous opponents striving to pound you into the turf whenever the chance presents itself.
Being quarterback is an all or nothing proposition for most athletes. If you make the starting lineup, potential fame and fortune await, but if you are second string or worse, your chances of the aforementioned fame and fortune are greatly reduced.
The University of Arkansas Razorbacks have signed several blue chip high school quarterbacks the past couple of seasons. Ty Storey ad Rafe Peavey were signed amidst great fanfare with both athletes having the potential to be stars on their way to the NFL. Awaiting them at the UA, is another quarterback, Austin Allen, who is the younger brother of recently graduated starting quarterback Brandon Allen. The elder Allen has been the main signal caller now for three years and has a chance for a pro career now.
All three quarterbacks can't be starters. With the rising future of the Hogs under Bret Bielema, one of these young men will be the "the man" for likely at least the next two years, with the other two relegated to relative anonymity.
If you come to the UA as a heralded running back, you will likely get to play. While two running backs normally rack up nearly all the rushing yardage, several always get the chance to shine and have numerous opportunities. A football team also needs at once multiple linemen, multiple defensive players and multiple receivers to be successful. You can only play one quarterback.
Over the next couple of years, one of the three Razorbacks mentioned will assume the mantle of head Hog while the others are likely to toil in obscurity, perhaps even transferring to another school should they fail to get the starting job. A good example of this would be former Arkansas quarterback Tavarious Jackson. When it became clear to him that he would never start at Arkansas, he transferred to another school and eventually became the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings on the professional level.
When I was in high school, the University of Missouri had Terry McMillan as their quarterback, and he became famous throwing touchdown passes to All Pro Mel Gray. He was quite lucky to even get to play college ball as he didn't start a single high school game in that sport. He was the third string quarterback for Coral Gables High School in south Florida. They were a state champion behemoth, and although McMillan was a quite talented passer and could run, he couldn't beat out two other guys. Those other guys went on to start at the universities of Florida and North Carolina. Lucky for him, a scout in the area was aware of McMillan's talent and got him a spot on the Missouri roster.
On the professional level, Kansas City once had a quarterback who was signed to serve as a backup to their marquee player in that position. The job paid well, though the playing time was extremely limited. A professional backup is like paying for an insurance policy. You have to have one, but you also hope you never have to use it.
In the late '90s, the Chiefs were being coached by Marty Shottenheimer who had considered Elvis Grbac his best quarterback and the quarterback of the future, with the aforementioned Rich Gannon signed to play the insurance role. As luck would have it, Grbac, was injured in the ninth game, and Gannon was inserted as the starter for the rest of the season. Gannon excelled and ignited a winning streak that got the Chiefs the top seed in the playoffs.
Grbac was cleared to play in the playoffs and Shottenhiemer had to decide if he wanted to reinsert Grbac who hadn't played in a couple of months or to keep riding Gannon who had proven himself to be a good field general in a variety of ways. Shottenheimer went with Grbac, the Chiefs lost the first game and were eliminated. Gannon was upset at being passed over and left the Chiefs to join their hated rivals, the Oakland Raiders.
At Oakland, Gannon blossomed, having several great seasons and was even named the Most Valuable Player of the National Football League in 2002. Grbac? He never really developed and was cut not long after Gannon left.
Over in St. Louis, most folks know the story of Kurt Warner, the practice team quarterback of the St. Louis Rams. He was never even supposed to actually play in a real game but a series of injuries decimated their roster, and he found himself as the starting quarterback. He went on to become the league's MVP and led the Rams to the Super Bowl championship and a fairly productive pro career. Had those injuries to those other players not have happened, we might well have never heard of Warner.
On the high school level, while the position of quarterback is a highly coveted one, superior athletes who don't land that job will play somewhere else. Pea Ridge employs two quarterbacks but both athletes will play somewhere due to their abilities.
Having seven grandsons, I'm pretty sure some of them will eventually play football. Speed and size has long been a family trait. I'm hoping they will play something that gets them on the field. With quarterbacking, it's feast or famine. Maybe a raft of running backs? Sometimes it's good to be the other.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 04/06/2016