Thursday, August 15, 2013

Aggie football position preview: Quarterbacks

(Andrew McDonald will start under center Week 1 of the season at the University of Texas/Photo by Shari V. Hill)

Leading up to the start of the college football season, we look at the New Mexico State Aggie football team in respective position-by-position breakdowns. We begin with the quarterbacks:

A week into fall camp, the team moved Travaughn Colwell, who was thought to have a slight edge initially for the starting quarterback job, to wide receiver.

In turn, NMSU appointed senior Andrew McDonald to No. 1 QB and elevated true freshman King Davis III as No. 2 on the depth chart.

McDonald’s a steady player who’s adequate to solid in all facets, a savvy veteran who can manage an offense and a football game. He - along with the quarterback position in general - was mismanaged a season ago, as McDonald took just a handful of snaps in a blowout loss at Ohio (not only did he not see the field the rest of the way, but his junior year of eligibility was burned in the process). Expect him to be supply similar attributes to what Matt Christian brought to the Aggie offense two years ago - a good knowledge of the system, a good decision maker and an underrated runner with the football.

With that, the move of Colwell was made as much so for Davis' progress. The coaching staff is high on him, and would like to groom a quarterback of the future within the program. Therefore, he’ll be the primary backup, and is all but assured to see game action this season, both under center and as a versatile athlete in an attempt to get the ball in his hands.

Colwell will remain No. 3 on the depth chart, and now the Aggies could have a unique offensive package in place: three quarterbacks on the field simultaneously.

Martin said the team’s option-offense package would expand with multiple-quarterback sets, an example of an offensive-minded coaching staff - Martin and coordinator Gregg Brandon - that will look to open up the playbook in 2013.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Matt Christian versatility made made us competitive. I hope McDonal can do the same.

The new O/C, along w/ Coach Martin play to each players strengths.

We still have a few weeks before the season opener but, I'm more optimistic than last year's obamonation.

Anonymous said...

Colwell messed up his shoulder at wr!!