Source: The Wisconsin State JournalAug.迷你倉出租 11--In the University of Wisconsin's first few fall practices, the coaches stayed close to the huddle, making sure the plays were being called correctly.They started moving farther away over the weekend, however, and by Monday's open-to-the-public scrimmage they should be out of the photo entirely."We're at the point now," offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig said, "where we need to step back and watch the players play."That goes double for the quarterbacks. Or triple. Or maybe even quadruple.No. 1 on the camp to-do list for new UW coach Gary Andersen is to select a starting quarterback. Andersen has publicly nominated three candidates -- holdovers Curt Phillips and Joel Stave and junior college transfer Tanner McEvoy -- in the race, though freshman Bart Houston has displayed such a strong arm in camp that some observers are wondering if he could get in the mix, too.With the exception of McEvoy, who didn't dive into the playbook until he arrived for summer workouts, none of the quarterbacks has a skill set that fits totally the style of offense Andersen ran at Utah State. All have their strengths, however, and for the most part the completion percentage has been uncommonly high during the first week of camp.The quarterbacks are being graded daily, but the two scrimmages should be important milestones in the quarterback derby. Until then, the coaches will wait for one of them to separate himself from the others, something that hasn't happened yet.Since no one knows who will win the job, let's look at what Andersen and Ludwig are seeking in a quarterback and compare it to the strengths and weaknesses of each player. That might yield some clues as to who will come out on top.Andersen's ideal quarterback "can beat you with his arm, his mind and his legs. I think that carries over to a lot of positions. If you've got a tremendous athlete who doesn't really think too well in the moment and can't react, it's a negative. But it's even more of a highlighted situation, I believe, when you come to quarterbacks. If they can do all three of those, it becomes very difficult to defend that quarterback."So what's the most important attribute to Andersen, the arm, the legs or the mind?"I would definitely say, his mind first," he said. "Every quarterback thinks he can throw it and make the throws and some quarterbacks run faster than others, but you've got to have the mental mindset to gain the respect of your team, your players and your coaches. If you don't have that first, you really have no chance, no matter how fast you can run or how well you can throw it."The most important factors for Ludwig, who came to UW from San Diego State, are "the ability to consistently move the offense and repetitive accuracy." But he, too, apprecia儲存倉es a quarterback who can move."An athletic quarterback adds a dimension to the game," Ludwig said. "You don't have to always have the perfect play because the guy's going to get out of a lot of things that may not have gone just the way you wanted them to. So there's a real advantage to having a guy that can make a play with his feet."So far, the quarterbacks have been pretty much as advertised.Though he doesn't have the arm strength of the others, Phillips is another year removed from his third major knee surgery and is throwing and moving better than he did last year. As a sixth-year senior, he is the best decision-maker of the group. Stave throws by far the best deep ball of the four and looks very confident, but the sophomore still struggles to make something happen when forced to move his feet in or out of the pocket. McEvoy has a low release point on his throws but is tall and has a strong arm. He shines when he breaks the pocket because he is fast and nimble as Phillips was before his knee problems surfaced.Houston, who missed almost all of his redshirt freshman season following shoulder surgery, might be too raw to start right away but has shown he can make all the throws."He was a lot better the first day of fall camp than he was the last day of spring practice," Ludwig said. "He has much quicker feet. He's changed his body a little bit over the summer and that's really helped his quickness. And there's not many people that can throw it as hard or as far as he can. He's got to tighten up who he's throwing it to."With Houston seemingly a year away from seriously challenging for the starting spot, that leaves Phillips, Stave and McEvoy in the mix. Here is Ludwig's assessment of those three after a handful of practices:"Curt brings so much to the table with his veteran presence. He's got a lot of savvy to him. As his rehabilitation continues, his athleticism has increased. So I'm seeing a lot of good things and he's throwing the ball with a very high degree of accuracy. Joel has quickened his feet through the course of the summer. He's doing a lot of good things, really settling down into our terminology and the new tweaks or the new parts of the system. I feel really good about him and what he's doing and the presence that he has in the huddle. ... Tanner's new to the system. He's in catch-up mode, but he's doing a lot of good things and he is a super athlete with a live arm."Feel free to search in there for clues as to who will be the starter. At this point, though, even the coaches aren't sure.Contact Tom Oates at toates@madison.com or 608-252-6172.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) Visit The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) at .wisconsinstatejournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉沙田
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