ASU Football: Quarterback Concerns

The ASU football team is still reeling from last Saturday’s loss in Corvalis.  They’ll never admit that.  They are practicing as usual, preparing for Washington State this coming Saturday.  But they are definitely disappointed.  You can see it in their movement at practice.  You can see it in the long stares on their faces.  Devils in Detail is not suggesting that the ASU football team has “checked out”.  Far from it.  They are working hard, being coached and doing their best.  But they are lacking that bounce in their step that has been present for the last 5 weeks or so.  The realization to what they lost (besides one game) appears to have sunk in.

So, in trying to move on, this ASU team has to awaken to the reality that all is not lost.  They still have an excellent chance to win the PAC-12 South.  And believe it or not, they still have an outside chance at making the cut for the final four in the inaugural College Football Playoffs.  That scenario is highly unlikely, but it’s still possible.  Not only will they have to take care of their own business, by handling Washington State and Arizona, but they’ll have to rely on some other teams to help them out.  The most important of which is UCLA.  ASU needs the Bruins to lose one more game, either to Stanford or USC.  As for the national picture, they’ll need some other teams to stumble as well.  (Ohio State, Florida State, TCU)

But let’s stick to the present.  On Monday, for the first time, coach Todd Graham admitted that ASU quarterback Taylor Kelly may not be entirely healthy.  At the very least, he’s not back to his original form.  There were rumblings of such in his first couple games back. (Washington, Utah)  But ASU won those games and not much was spoken about it.  Essentially, Kelly was given a pass because he was working off the rust and getting used to game speed.

However, his performance in Corvalis, particularly in the second half, (as well as a goal line series at the end of the 2nd quarter) has prompted everyone involved to question Taylor Kelly’s current abilities.  People need to be careful here.  In any loss, the quarterback gets a lot of blame.  And everyone should agree that the loss to Oregon State was a team loss.  The defense, the special teams, and the offensive line all performed poorly at critical moments of the game.  But, Taylor Kelly struggled.  He missed some easy throws.  He floated some, just flat out missed others and also missed some reads.

Because of this, there are some who are clamoring for the return of Mike Bercovici.  Some of them argue that Bercovici should have never been put back on the shelf in the first place–that he was the “hot hand” and should be left in as the starter to ride the momentum.  This is all second-guessing and hind sight.  But after the loss in Corvalis, everyone, including the coaching staff has to take a serious look at the quarterback position.

You can’t help but notice that Kelly is not really effective as a runner in the zone-read option.  Not the way he was before his injury.  He also looks uncomfortable in the run/pass option plays that offensive coordinator Mike Norvell likes to call.  Kelly looks indecisive on those plays, which were very effective when Kelly was healthy.  Combine that with the fact that Kelly was off with his throws, it would therefore be irresponsible of the coaching staff to not consider a change.

The down side of considering a quarterback change is that coach Graham doesn’t want to panic.  Even if it’s the right move, he also doesn’t want to appear to panic.  He doesn’t want to send that message to the team–that the staff is hitting the panic button.  Sometimes, when a coach makes a change at quarterback, it comes off as reactionary and desperate.  Undoubtedly, coach Graham wants to avoid that at all costs.  It’s too early to pull the plug.  As mentioned earlier, the Sun Devils have lots to play for.

It doesn’t appear that Mike Bercovici is taking the reins at quarterback.  But the fact that coach Graham is mentioning publicly that Kelly “may not be 100%”, he has opened the door for a possible change.  It’s going to be interesting to see how this shakes out.  Most likely, Taylor Kelly will start Saturday against Washington State for senior day.  But his start may actually be somewhat of an audition.  If he isn’t playing well, he might get benched.  And then who knows what will happen after that.

This is a tough deal for Graham.  Taylor Kelly has been pretty solid as the Sun Devil quarterback for 3 seasons.  But Graham has an obligation to the entire team to put guys in who can perform and give them the best chance to win.  If that’s Kelly, so be it.  If not, then everyone has to be a grown up about it and go out and play.

Stay tuned.