Sept. 18, 2015
Past Mick McGrane 2014-15 football features
2014
Kaehler: A Thinking Man's Game (Aug. 5)
Whittaker: Long Time Gone, Never Forgotten (Aug. 6)
Life in the Weight Room: Hall's Strong Suit (Aug. 15)
Roberts: A Career Comes Full Circle (Aug. 21)
The Season's in Session, Take Your Seats (Aug. 29)
How Quickly we Forget (Sept. 7)
Looks can be Deceiving (Sept. 19)
O-Line has Aztecs' Running Game in High Gear (Oct. 23)
Falling Short is no Longer an Option for Aztec Football (Nov. 29)
Winds of Change: "Rise To 25" Fuels New Direction for Football (Dec. 23)
Pumphrey in Need of a Playing Partner (Dec. 24)
2015
Football no Longer Needs Sun to Sell Itself (Feb. 4)
Aztec Football is Flush with Experience in 2015 (Feb. 20)
Regardless of Road, Whittaker's Future is Flush with Success (July 23)
Gordon no Longer Wrestling with Football Future (July 30)
Kazee has the Corner Covered in Aztec D (Aug. 5)
Hageman has Given Boot to Aztec Kicking Woes (Aug. 14)
Life is a Snap for Aztecs' Overbaugh (Aug. 21)
Munson Shines upon Emerging From Shadows (Aug. 28)
Pumphrey Prioritizes Winning in Rush to Stardom (Sept. 2)
Aztecs Positioned to Take Next Step in '15 (Sept. 4)
Aztecs Look to Get Offense in Gear (Sept. 6)
Penny's Stock Rising on Rate of Returns (Sept. 7)
Sorry, No Apologies Forthcoming (Sept. 11)
McGrane: Seeking a Solution at Quarterback
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer (@MickOnTheMesa)
As with all things inconceivable, the SEC again bemoaning a brutal schedule, Jim Harbaugh proving petulant, modern-day tooth fairies being taken for a twenty, college quarterbacks amazingly are given to inconsistency, incompletions and even (gasp) the occasional interception.
They are less than perfect and far from finished product, demos on a showroom floor awaiting a final coat of shine.
They are expected to be flawless, fearless and altogether numb to the negativity directed by their detractors. Never mind that even the "can't-miss" guy frequently falls into the NFL's nether reaches, a flicker of his former fame.
As San Diego State continues to sort out its quarterback situation, an undesirable dilemma in Week 3 of any season, it does so with the most fervent of hope that either Kentucky graduate transfer Maxwell Smith or redshirt freshman Christian Chapman will soon be crowned king.
Clearly, with two games gone, time ticks away in a delicate process where identifying a starter also means singling out a stand-in --- assuming SDSU ever reaches that point.
"In a perfect world, I'd like to settle on one (quarterback)," said offensive coordinator Jeff Horton. "But even if we did settle on one, I'd still like to be able to get the other one playing time because they're one play away from being the starter if there's an injury."
Once upon a time, Horton put his stamp on some of the finest quarterbacking in the Big Ten. In seven seasons as quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin (1999-2005), he had a hand in ultimately producing three of the top four passers in the history of the program, including Jim Sorgi, Brooks Bollinger and John Stocco.
While Sorgi and Stocco followed the natural progression of hitting their stride in the latter stages of their collegiate careers, Bollinger was the wild card. Selected by the New York Jets in the sixth round of the 2003 draft, Bollinger was a redshirt freshman in 2000 when he helped lead Wisconsin to its second straight Rose Bowl title. Nonetheless, he endured his share of struggles the following year and was benched for two games in favor of Sorgi, himself a sixth-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2004.
"The biggest challenge (in using two quarterbacks) --- and we did it when I was at Wisconsin --- is being able to keep continuity," Horton said. "Guys can be streaky and get hot. If you take them out of the game, there's always a chance they'll cool off. I've seen it work both ways.
"But right now, our goal is to be champion of the Mountain West, and to do that we need to develop both Maxwell and Christian to their full potential."
Smith, who will make his third straight start when the Aztecs host South Alabama on Saturday, threw the first scoring pass of his SDSU career last week when he connected with tight end Daniel Brunskill for a 29-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the game against Cal.
Nonetheless, Smith was replaced by Chapman after three series before the two shared time behind center the remainder of the game. Smith finished 10-of-19 for 136 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while Chapman, who was part of three plays against USD the previous week, was 4-of-13 for 37 yards and also was intercepted once.
The two enter Saturday's contest a combined 25-of-55 for 312 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.
"I actually think Maxwell showed a lot of improvement from Week 1 to Week 2," Horton said. "I thought his sideline demeanor and his awareness during the game as we made adjustments, he was able to digest a lot of different things and he was light years ahead of where he was against USD. I thought he came out seeing the field well and started really strong. Later, we struggled some and I think he may have gotten a little fatigued mentally. But I think he understood things much better last week than he did in the first game.
"We thought it was important to get Christian in the game and see what he could do in the middle of the fray. No blood had been spilled yet and the game was still in balance and we wanted to see how he could rise to the occasion against that level of competition. It's a learning experience for him, and whether it's good or bad, he's still going to learn from it. He's a redshirt freshman and redshirt freshmen are going to make mistakes."
As are graduate transfers.
"Maxwell may be older, but he's new here," Horton said. "Before the start of the season he hadn't played in almost two years. He's been here since January and he's in a new system. With Christian, this is really the first time he's done much of anything other than run the scout team. To me, they're two brand-new guys who are still getting comfortable. Every snap that Maxwell takes, he's getting better, he's learning. It's the same way with Christian. They're both out there grinding, they're putting in a lot of time and I think both of them are just going to keeping getting better.
"These are college guys; these aren't NFL guys who become free agents after playing somewhere for awhile. It takes time to get up to speed. The thing I like about both of them is that they're willing to step up and hold themselves accountable."
As is their offensive coordinator, who isn't shying away from the blame that two games into a 1-1 season seems a bit unwarranted if not a tad unfair.
"With transfers like Maxwell, probably the toughest thing he faced was just being accepted," Horton said. "He's an outsider, and guys already in the program tend to wonder, 'Why is he coming here and what did he do that caused him to leave the other place?' First and foremost, he had to earn their respect. He had to make a transition that can involve doing things an entirely different way than he was doing before and adapting to a whole new environment. All of those things come in to play.
"But I'll also say that the offensive coordinator needs to do a lot better job of putting both of our quarterbacks in better situations and giving them a better plan. It all starts and stops with me; I'll be the first guy to say that. I've got to get them revved up and get them moving in the right direction."