A Change of Heart
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At one point during last season I started getting text messages from a number I didn’t recognize, that said things like “Drew should be starting” or “JT is awful!” and I proceeded to reply to them. All season.
With increasingly venomous rants directed at Justin Thorpe. And I still don’t
know who I was sending the texts to. So yeah, saying I wasn’t wowed by Justin’s play might be a bit of an understatement. Todd didn’t go to the extremes of voicing his displeasure with Thorpe’s play in the form of aggressively anti-Justin texts to complete strangers, but he was pretty
much right there with me in spirit. We had front row seats on the Drew Dudzik bandwagon.
Since the season ended, Todd and I have probably spent more time pondering
the JMU QB question than anyone would consider healthy. Our animosity
toward Justin cooled and we started to view his season a little more
objectively. As we did, we started to come around to the notion that,
heaven forbid, the Dukes might be better off installing him as the QB and
moving on with Drew as the backup.
Like I said, Todd and I have spent WAY too much time talking about this. We always come back to two main arguments. Let’s break them both down.
“Drew is just a winner”
My Take – I hear this all the time and in fact I’ve said it many times in tailgating debates. As best I can tell saying Drew is a “winner” is some attempt to cast him as one of those QB’s who just has that little something extra that enables them to carry their teams to big victories. Look, I think
Drew has a ton of talent and there certainly is something to the way that he carries himself, that makes me think the kid has what it takes to lead this Dukes team to victory. There is just one problem with this. He hasn’t really “won” anything. He’s stepped up and played well in big
moments. His effort against Montana was amazing. His play at Maryland was
awesome. Guess what? JMU lost both games. As much as it pains me to type this, until JMU knocks off a good team, with Drew behind center, this argument just doesn’t work.
Todd’s Take- Drew looks like a 1-AA Steve Young out there when healthy, but that seems to be a HUGE qualifier. That said, I’ll have no real concerns if he’s under center against Morehead St. on Labor Day Weekend.
“Justin is a Great Athlete, but Not a QB”
My take -Again, this is an argument that many people, myself included, consistently bring up when discussing Thorpe. Looking back on the season however, makes me think we might be a bit quick to judge. Let me point out the obvious. Justin Thorpe is a redshirt freshmen who was playing his first season of college football. Yeah, he turns the ball over a lot, but so does Julius Wells and we all love him, right? JT was CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year and maybe it’s worth letting him develop as a starter, instead of as a backup.
Todd’s Take – I just think it’s too early to judge. JMU deity Rodney Landers didn’t exactly set the world on fire as a passer, but as he developed with the offense and became a true leader, his command and the threat of his legs gave him time and space to be more than adequate at “the pitchin’ and catchin'” portion. I also think the thing that JT-haters fail to consider is that after Drew went down for the season last year, Coach Matthews had to be a TON more guarded in how much he allowed him to run the ball himself. MM, already the Rush Limbaugh of playcalling, spent the rest of the season after Drew’s injury worrying if he’d have to burn the backup’s redshirt just for a series or two if JT got a stinger. I think this probably contributed to JT not being as big a threat to run, and in turn not freeing up space through play-fakes and misdirection in the passing game. All that said, it definitely remains to be seen whether JT can step up as a leader (which also requires off-the-field leadership).
The Verdict
I guess we’re not really 100% ready to move past the Dudzik era. Truth be told, we probably both agree that he’s a better QB at this point. We’ll also remain convinced to our last days that JMU was playoff bound last year if Drew stayed healthy. With that being said, the prospect of having a 4 year starter at QB might be too good to pass up. We’ll support either guy (no more angry texts to strangers) and have come around to the idea of JT as QB 1. We might actually be on his bandwagon come September.
