It’s now official, Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald has named Clayton Thorson his starting quarterback. Here’s the Tweet below, as well the original post we ran back on August 3rd, predicting this.
I also called it while doing a TV hit on CLTV “Sports Feed” and radio hit for 1620 The Zone Omaha right around that time.
Per @coachfitz51, redshirt freshman Clayton Thorson will be the #B1GCats starting quarterback Sept. 5 at Ryan Field. pic.twitter.com/xCIJ60XiaC
— Northwestern Athletics (@NU_Sports) August 27, 2015
On National Signing Day 2014, we wrote a piece extolling the virtues of the recruiting class that Pat Fitzgerald introduced. That specific Northwestern recruiting class had the best “stars per player average” of any during the Fitzgerald regime.
As we wrote then:
“The jewel of the class is Clayton Thorson, the country’s sixth-ranked dual-threat quarterback. An ESPN analyst compared him to Alex Smith, and said that he combines the traits of Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian. Matt Alviti, another blue chip of another Northwestern recruiting class, will back up Siemian next year. However in 2015, it will be an exciting race between Thorson and Alviti.”
Rivals ranked that class 59th overall, while Scout had them 50th.
Now back on July 13th, in our Northwestern Never Too Early Season Preview, we wrote:
“Conventional wisdom is that the job is Clayton Thorson’s to lose. He’s a dual threat, and that’s extremely critical to running the Northwestern attack. The reason we had to endure the “quarterback 1a and quarterback 1b” soundbites from Fitz during the Kain Colter/Trevor Siemian regime is because there was just one thrower (Siemian) and just one runner (Colter) in the years since Dan Persa left. (And Persa himself lost a lot of his mobility after the achilles injury, and he wasn’t same guy at all during his final season)
It’s best for all involved with Northwestern football that they find one guy, the same guy, to do both. The QB derby is still officially completely wide open, but this offense doesn’t work well when you have a single threat QB. It can really thrive though when you have a dual threat taking the snaps from center.”
(By the way, I discussed Clayton Thorson, and this situation, on CLTV “Sports Feed” today with Jarrett Payton and Josh Frydman)
Fitzgerald said at Big Ten Media Days that the quarterback derby is wide open, and that it will be decided “internally,” before the decision is announced “externally.” When it does become official, logic and reasoning dictates that will be Clayton Thorson. Officially, the redshirt freshman is currently in the midst of a three-way battle with fifth year senior Zack Oliver and Alviti. Call it “quarterbacks 1A, 1B and 1C,” I guess.
Oliver has the experience advantage, but not by all that much, as he threw just 49 passes last year. Alviti completed just two passes and had nine rushing attempts. Thorson red-shirted and ran scout team. Essentially, NU will be starting from scratch this year at the position; no matter which way they go.
“Alviti brings legs, he’s elusive, he can run, but he can also throw the ball a little bit,” said senior cornerback Nick VanHoose.
“Clayton can throw the ball, he’s got a pretty good arm, but he can also run a little bit too, so he’s kind of balanced. Then you got Zack, who isn’t much of a runner, but the kid’s got a cannon, and he’s definitely a good pro style quarterback.”
VanHoose is a three year starter, and an All-Big Ten defensive back. He’ll be one of NU’s best and most important players this season.
It makes sense for Fitzgerald to say publicly that the race is wide open, and that everyone has a chance. Fitz is known for being loyal- to his assistants, to his seniors (“exciting times for our program, especially our seniors”), to upperclassmen, as he doesn’t like to burn a freshman’s shirt unless he really has to.
And until the depth chart for week one versus Stanford comes out, there is no magic date to name a starter.
Maybe not even then, as depth charts actually mean a lot less than we think they do. Chip Kelly actually said during his first preseason as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles that he lets a media relations person make his.
Still Fitzgerald, and offensive coordinator will Mick McCall will get pelted with QB competition questions on Northwestern Media Day August 12th. Maybe the starter will be named then?
You can figure it out by making an educated guess.
1. You need a dual threat to run the spread-option
2. Only Alviti and Thorson fit the bill
3. Thorson has a tremendous size advantage, and he’s more of a complete package than the other two
4. You don’t have much experience to work with anywhere, so you might as well go with the guy who has the most upside. #DoThisFitz
I asked VanHoose at Media Day if you need a dual threat to make the spread-option work. He responded:
“Yeah, I’d say a dual (threat) quarterback would be best to do it with. You look at Kain Colter, Dan Persa, they were the perfect package for the spread offense.”
Naturally, I followed up by asking if he could see Clayton Thorson being that guy.
“I could see Clayton as that, yeah,” he responded. Then I inquired about Alviti’s chances of being QB1.
“The two that most fit, I would say, would be Clayton and Alviti with the spread, being able to balance, and do both. Zack probably more of a pro style.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country.
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