Quarterback battles around the Southeastern Conference have generated a lot of storylines in fall camps.
Who would replace established quarterbacks who have moved on in their football careers? Who would replace Tyler Wilson at Arkansas or Tyler Bray at Tennessee or Jordan Rodgers at Vanderbilt? Those were the headline grabbers. There were smaller battles going on as well, like the four-headed competition that was settled at Auburn last weekend when junior college transfer Nick Marshall was named the starter.
While all that was taking place, a lesser battle was taking place at Missouri.
You didn’t hear much about it because there was an established starter, and an outstanding quarterback, who was returning to the job. But as hard as it might have been for outsiders to imagine, James Franklin was in a serious battle to retain his starting job for the Missouri Tigers.
Franklin, 6-foot-2, 230-pounds, was one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country in 2011 when he rushed for 981 yards and 15 touchdowns and threw for 2,865 yards and 21 more scores. But his statistics slipped in 2012 because of injuries that included a torn labrum in the spring and a knee injury and concussion in the regular season. In nine games, he passed for 1,562 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 122 yards.
In Franklin’s absence, Corbin Berkstresser, 6-3, 225, threw for 1,059 yards and five touchdown passes in 10 games and threw his hat in the ring for the starting job this season. But Berkstresser was not the only one who thought he’d win the job in case Franklin struggled or went down with another injury. Redshirt freshman Maty Mauk was also a legitimate threat for the starting job.
When healthy, Franklin should have been an obvious choice. But Tigers coach Gary Pinkel had an open competition before settling the case with the announcement last week that Franklin would be the starting signal-caller.
“Obviously, quarterback draws the most attention from media and fans, so we just felt like it made sense to end the speculation since we knew the course we’re taking,” Pinkel said.
“James has shown that he’s very capable of leading this team at a high level, and we fully expect him to do that. He’s really developed as a leader of this offense, and of this team, and we feel he’s ready to be the difference maker he was before all of the health challenges he dealt with last season.”
Mauk, 6-0, 200, had a strong showing in the spring and made a good run at the starting job. He will be rewarded with playing time in the fall on a regularly scheduled basis, something of a quarterback tradition at Missouri.
“We have a history with that, and it’s something that has worked very well for us,” said Pinkel. “When Brad Smith was a senior, we had Chase Daniel as a freshman show that he earned a series or two per game, and that was tremendous for his growth. When Blaine Gabbert was in his last year here, James Franklin was a freshman, and we got him some work on a fairly regular basis, and we feel that was instrumental in what he was able to do the next year as a starter.”
As encouraging as this for Mauk, who has become something of a fan favorite already, it has to be a letdown for Berkstresser, who performed admirably when called on to pick the team up when Franklin went down last year.
The Tigers will work out Wednesday and then have another scrimmage in preparation for the Tigers August 31 opener against Murray State.