BC Football Position Previews: Quarterbacks

We are just over a month away from the college football season. I’m sure folks have been getting the itch of late (or a feeling of doom and gloom because of non-football, football related news).

Anyhow, we kick the content season off with position previews. Naturally, we begin nice and easy with quarterbacks. We all know where it undeniably starts, Phil “The Future” Jurkovec. Really the present, but had to squeeze that in no less. Let’s recap where things stand with our fearless leader.

Jurkovec enters the season 100%, his words not mine, after a surely frustrating season. With all the hype of the ‘21 season, Jurkovec went down against UMass, seemingly lost for the season with the hand/wrist injury. Despite a heroic return late in the season starting with the Red Bandana Game against Virginia Tech, he still didn’t have the grip strength needed to do the damage we were accustomed to see.

We try things for one last ride at BC. There’s a wave of big time quarterback prospects this year, so Jurkovec doesn’t have the same level of hype. He’ll instead go under-the-radar and raise those eyebrows once again. After an offseason that saw him attend the Manning Passing Academy with the other cream of the crop, he now also finds himself on the Maxwell Award Watch List for the nation’s top college football player.

2020

10 games / 2,558 passing yards / 17 TDs / 5 INTs / 61% comp. pct. / 150 yds & 3 TDs rushing

2021

914 yards / 7 TDs / 4 INTs / 54.2% comp. pct. / 322 yds & 5 TDs rushing

A slightly new offense this year, Jurkovec will look to flaunt everything he’s got, including showing that dual-threat. He did more of course last season because of the throwing hand injury, but the damage he can do there is real. Here’s a fun compilation BCI’s Curtis Flannery posted displaying Jurkovec’s wheels. The first one was unfortunately taken down.

Jurkovec is now staring at the history books for a few Eagles passing records. A stellar season could see him have the single season passing record (4,507). He should catch Matt Ryan and Doug Flutie for the most 300+ yard passing games, and in about half the time.

Right behind Jurkovec, is a face we now have some familiarity with. No, it’s not still Dennis Grosel. The now seasoned Emmett Morehead will hold the backup role. After enrolling midyear before the start of last season, Morehead was surprisingly thrust into the backup role after Jurkovec went down with injury early on. Eventually the coaching staff decided at Syracuse to throw the kitchen sink and let Morehead rip it. And rip it he did. His first throw was a bomb to Zay Flowers. The crowd roared. His arm strength and sheer height jumped off the screen. Now it may not have lasted or stayed consistent, but we can all serve to remember this was a true freshman who hadn’t played competitive ball in a very long time due to the pandemic abruptly ending his high school career. The California native ended 6 for 15 and 87 yards passing with a few nice scrambles against Syracuse and had a brief cameo against Wake. The numbers aren’t the most flattering, but given the context and now a full year as the assumed backup, you would expect to feel more comfortable in the event of another Jurkovec injury or helmet malfunction.

Let’s not dig too much deeper behind this. Mostly so we don’t let ourselves go into any dark places, but also for the sake of simplicity. Daelen Menard and Matthew Rueve are the two names many are familiar with. Rueve has the height and the Hasselbeck genes, while Menard is the slightly more seasoned, redshirt junior.

The heralded recruit Peter Delaportas comes to campus as well this fall. The three star Jersey prospect will look to soak things in and hopefully ease his way in unlike Morehead’s season. We’ll just leave that here to note.

Next up, running backs led by the Doak Walker Watch List honoree Pat Garwo III.