One month until the scoreboards are unveiled to all Spartan fans. One month until Andrew Maxwell takes over and gets a chance to prove himself as Michigan State begins its quest for their second straight division title and perhaps another berth in Indy. One month until Chris Petersen brings his 73-6 Boise State football program to East Lansing.
With Kellen Moore no longer the Broncos quarterback, who will step up this fall for Boise State? More importantly, what kind of quarterback will it be?
Chris Petersen
There will be four quarterbacks competing for the starting job this fall: Joe Southwick (Jr.), Grant Hedrick (So.), Jimmy Laughrea (rFr.), and Nick Patti (Fr.).
The writer for The Blue Turf blog, Darth Prophet, says that three of those four quarterbacks are bred for a running quarterback system.
He stated in his post on July 28: “Now why (would) Coach Pete recruit so many running QB’s if he didn’t have change in mind. We all know Coach Pete is close to Oregon, we all fear that if there is one school Coach Pete would leave Boise for its Oregon, (and) we all know Coach Pete spends time with the Oregon coaches. Add in what we saw in 2009-11, Coach Pete installed here and there the wildcat offense at times taking Kellen Moore out (and) inserting another back or even spreading him out of the backfield, (or) taking Kellen off the field altogether and inserting either another RB or a different QB to run the play. It does not take a great leap to say with Kellen gone we (will) see more of that kind of offense. My leap is I believe we are going to see a whole new offense and the fact that Boise State has so many capable QB’s, two of which have real game experience, leads me to believe Coach Pete may be looking to run a multiple QB attack, not a single field general. If coach is already leaning this way then announcing and or declaring a starter is much less important.”
Obviously, if Boise State has multiple quarterbacks playing in this game, it will be more difficult for Michigan State’s defense to prepare. That is not to say that Mark Dantonio and defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi won’t have their defense ready.
Offensively for Michigan State, as stated in the Blue Turf, the Spartans cannot just expect to power over Boise State’s defense and run the football all game long.
“To think Boise State’s defense will be anything but better than the one fielded in 2009 that held Oregon to no first downs until the 6 minute mark of the 3qt (Yes the very same Duck team that won the PAC 10 out right with the nation’s best rushing yardage) and fewer than 30 rushing yards total for the game should be expected. The defense Boise State fielded that day was smaller and younger than the one they will field Aug. 31 in East Lansing.”
This leads right back to the question that has been asked a million times this offseason: Will Andrew Maxwell and his receiving corps perform?
We may see who emerges as the best receivers for Michigan State in August, but we won’t know anything for sure about the Spartan passing attack until Aug. 31.
Preseason camp begins Saturday, Aug. 4 for both teams.
Check here for my brief preview of the game between the Spartans and the Broncos.
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