In Mark Mangino's six year tenure at the University of Kansas, only three times have we made a bowl game. Three times. Those three seasons are also the years where, without a doubt, the most quarterback security was present. In 2003, it was Bill Whittemore. 2005, Jason Swanson came on at the end and allowed us to win the games at the end of the year we absolutely needed to win. And last year, it was Todd Reesing.
Mark Mangino has had awful luck with the health of his quarterbacks, which is the biggest reason as to why we didn't go bowling in 2006. However, it seems every season that we manage to weave our way through the schedule without a serious injury to the QB, we have success. The difference between the starter and the backup has always been so tremdously astronomical, that one injury has derailed our season. And as good-and-awesome as Todd Ressing is, and trust that we will get into all the deatils of Todd Reesing's awesomeness sometime this week, this is the deepest QB depth chart we have had since Mark Mangino has come to Lawrence, from top-to-bottom.
Todd Reesing is awesome. We all know that by know, or at least we all should. However, were he to miss a significant portion of time, our season would not be lost. Kerry Meier has proven that he can be an average Big 12 QB; a QB that will, at the very least, win the games he should. Hell, he has never been given a decent amount of injury-free time with the O-Line and weapons Reesing had last year; he could be an All-Big 12 contender for all we know. Still, we are continuing to dabble with Kerry Meier as a wide receiver, and smartly so. He has the potential to be the best wideout on our team this season, and he can always switch back to quarterback with a couple weeks of practice. But what if Reesing gets hurt in the first quarter? Who will play then?
That is the beauty of QB depth. We can afford to move Meier to WR because we have numerous other QBs who can fill-in in a pinch. Tyler Lawrence likely will never see field action while in Lawrence, barring an insane string of injuries, but he is invaluable as a member of the hand-signaler-people on the sideline, relaying Ed Warriner's calls to Reesing, and is a very intelligent man. But the really interesting guy, and the guy I would assume who will be the emergency replacement barring a Reesing injury, is A.J. Steward. He has the potential to be a special starter, although it looks like he will be simply a backup throughout his collegiate career.
Why? Well, because of Kale Pick. An incoming freshman, who will likely redshirt as long as AJ Steward proves that he is capable of playing #2, seems to have all of the qualities that Todd Reesing has. Obviously, the big-brass-balls category is a tough one to measure off grainy high school film, but they both seem to fit Warriner's offense perfectly. He is a little on the short side, although is definitely taller than Reesing, but is incredibly mobile and very accuarte. Assuming that Reesing and his 5'10" frame don't jolt to the NFL (I would give it about a .001% chance of happening), Pick won't be able to start until his Sophomore season. Still, Reesing essentially didn't start till his Sophomore season...
Now that I and overhyping Pick, we also have another incoming recruit at QB. Jordan Webb. It is still far too early to project him, or anything, but he will almost assuredly be a 3-star recruit, a nice solid depth/possible starter recruit.
Much more on the QB position throughout the week...
ROCK CHALK!