A Risky Strategy For Recruiting Quarterbacks

FILE Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn. (FILE AP Photo/Butch Dill)

CHUCK OLIVER
680 THE FAN, ATLANTAI’ve got a strategy for recruiting quarterbacks that is fairly risky. And every bit as good an approach as almost anybody else’s right now.

Be a reeeeally good loser.

When a kid commits somewhere else make sure he and everybody who loves him knows just how much you enjoyed BLAH BLAH the entire relationship BLAH BLAH great kid etc and, legitimately, mean every word of it. You *will be* reading from your script each time, but the words still ring true.

Even the fringe quarterback, the 2* you weren’t really that hot for on the recruiting trail, same thing. You ought to do that with any borderline reasonable choice in recruiting, even if you’re Missouri and the kid signed with Tulsa or UNLV. Even if all you did is send him an email and agree he could come on an unofficial visit.

A skyrocketing percentage of all players, all positions, are transferring and no spot on the 2-deep more so than quarterback. What you’re doing is setting the stage for a potential second bite at the apple in a year or two or three.

The current approach is try to keep all the QBs on your roster happy, somehow. And I don’t know any coach who is doing that, many actually are doing such a poor job of it that it’s costing them their jobs.

Gus Malzahn’s approach last season may actually be the winner: “That other guy? He’s our starter. You’re the backup, and we absolutely want you to stay. But, he’s our starter.” Then hit the portal for the experienced, older backup after you lose your own backup QB, and possibly 3rd-string, 4th-string and every other kid on the depth chart, to another program.

It’s an unconventional approach, but it fits the current unconventional times in college football, player movement-wise.

Chuck Oliver can be heard weekdays from 3PM to &PM on 680n The Fan’s “Chuck and Chernoff.”

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