With 11 days remaining before the season’s first kickoff, the Lions have a long list of details to iron out. At the top of the list: pick a quarterback.
Sophomore Craig Hormann and senior captain Joe Winters have been vying for the job since last season, when an injury kept Winters sidelined and gave Hormann a chance to showcase his talent in several games. The players have been on a steady rotation throughout pre-season practices, so head coach Bob Shoop’s decision to continue that rotation during last Saturday’s scrimmage against Harvard did not come as a surprise.
“Obviously you like to get into a rhythm and rotating makes that a little more difficult,” Winters said. “But we knew it was going to be like that, and it was nothing out of the ordinary.”
Both quarterback contenders gave solid performances in the Lions’ scrimmage against league champion Harvard. Each threw for one touchdown, had one penalty called against him and showed good clock management. Hormann finished the day 10-of-15 for 168 yards passing, and Winters completed 11 of 21 attempts for 124 yards and had one interception. Hormann had the longest pass of the game, connecting with junior Jim Besselman for a 73-yard completion early in the first quarter. The quarterbacks rotated throughout the game.
The parallel performances made Shoop’s starting lineup decision all the more difficult.“My plan was to be able to declare the starter today but the competition is too close,” Shoop said Monday. “Both had their moments in the scrimmage against Harvard. Both had very positive things happen in their drives, both had negative things happen. Neither played well enough to separate the two, which is not to say that they played poorly. We can win with them both.”
The instability under center, however, does not translate into confusion under center. Shoop was quick to point out that the quarterback battle has had no negative effect on the rest of the team.In fact, Winters explained, the quarterback rotation has created depth for receivers and quarterbacks alike.
“It’s been a positive thing for us,” Winters said. “We’ve had to go with not just the starting four, but we’ve gotten to work with all of the receivers, and they’ve gotten to work with both of us. It’s sort of good because we definitely developed some depth at the QB position. It’s something they have adapted to just like Craig and I have.”
Both quarterbacks are right-handed and throw with a similar velocity, so Winters did not think that the receivers had trouble adjusting to the constant shift under center.
The Lions demonstrated some of their depth in the receiving position in Saturday’s scrimmage, as 12 different players recorded at least one catch. Senior Brandon Bowser led the Lions with 5 catches for 33 yards.The Lions held a 21-20 lead at halftime, but with many of the Lions’ defensive starters on the bench in the second half, the Crimson scored 21 points in the final 27 minutes to defeat the Lions, 41-27.
Both quarterback hopefuls will continue to compete for the starting job during this week’s practices. A starter will be chosen before game-week preparation begins next Monday in anticipation of the Lions’ opening game against Fordham on Sept. 17.