Mullen is telling people offline that if the season started today it would be Williams. I don't think Fitz has his act together off the field.
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End of week 3 is not before the season starts. And that would be incredibly stupid on the part of whichever player it is if they left midseason. They'd lose a whole year of eligibility even if they never played a snap in the first couple of weeks.
ETA: Sorry, missed above post about it being Week 3 of practice. Please disregard.
I don't care which QB wins. I want someone to grab the brass ring and be a winner
Sounds like 100% coachspeak to me. If a shred of possibility of Williams being the starter over Fitz and Staley had ever existed in Mullen's mind, he would have played last year after he'd healed up. You don't redshirt a veteran for a year just to throw him on the field over multiple more talented younger guys the next. Seems pretty clear to me that Mullen's plan last year was to get Fitz and Staley the garbage time reps in preparation for this year while sitting Williams to give him an extra year should he choose to transfer. If he'd entertained the smallest possibility of Williams being this year's starter, he'd have gotten some reps towards the end of the year.
Exactly, if one of our QBs wants to step down in competition to play they would at least need to get a fall camp in at the new place just to get the offense down a little. Anyway, by the time our starting job is settled its likely going to be too late to transfer and enroll as a student to get on any other team anyway.
Remember, Mullen likes tall qb's. People are knocking on Williams, but he would have been a great SEC qb prospect 15-20 years ago. I think he can play, but is limited with his height. The 3 other guys have too much of an advantage.
Your response only answers why someone would leave after the season. To leave or announce leaving during the season still makes no sense. EVERY school has a last day to enroll (even JUCOs) so even if someone saw they weren't getting playing time in the first game or two they would be hard pressed to get onto a team somewhere else.
Let me spell this out:
If Fitz or Staley isn't named the starter by the end of the 3rd week of practice- Aug 20th or so- then they are going to be frantically looking for a school to transfer to. Considering most colleges don't start classes until middle or late August- that is plenty of time to transfer.
I can't be any clearer. Mullen, the QB's, and most everybody on the team is going to know who the starting QB is going to be by the end of week 3 of practice.
And if the first game actually was tonight, I'd expect Williams to start. When Mullen lies in bed before the first game, he won't be thinking "who has the best upside" or "who can throw the ball downfield", he'll be thinking "who can manage the game well, and not turn the ball over"? Williams, AS OF TODAY, is the only QB who has any experience in a big time environment. He's kinda like Wyatt Roberts from Last Chance U...He's not Cadillac, but he's a reliable truck.
Now, I think most agree Fitz/Tiano/Staley all have higher ceilings than Williams. But one of them is going to have to start reaching towards their ceiling during fall camp. Someone who can lead the team, and can manage the gameplan. Personally, I hope it's Fitz or Tiano that receives the 1st snap against USA. However, if Williams is the guy, I won't bash Mullen....unless Williams turns the ball over and can't manage the game. Then all bets are off.
Williams is not reliable. He helped us beat an Arkansas team in overtime that went winless in the conference and he scored 7 points in 3 quarters against ole miss. He got worse as a sophomore. He is not the answer, and if he is named the starter we are in serious shit. Fitzgerald looked better last year than Williams has looked at any point in his MSU career.
I agree with this explanation, except not based on Williams being "reliable" as much as Fitz/Staley not quite doing everything they need to do YET to seize the job. Mullen isn't going to give the job to either of them by default. Not at this point, at least. Like you, I'm extremely hopeful that one of them will take the next step during camp. Just part of the process.