I'm thinking we may see Stegall before the year is over. Here's why.

[Mjoelner]

Lee (love him, hate him or indifferent) is gone after this year. Do we really want Relf or Saunders to be our only returning QBs with any experience? I really doubt it. Even if we are able to get Cam Newton, I would still love to see his back up with some game experience. What good does it do to have TWO potentially good QBs on the bench with zero experience? None. And, speaking of his back up (should we get Newton) I think Stegall and Russell will be ahead of Relf starting off the spring so why not give one of them some experience before the year is out? Out of Russell and Stegall, I would choose Stegall. He's more mature thus less likely to fold like a lawn chair if things don't go well for him, he put up insane numbers running the spread in high-school, plus he is further removed from football from Russell therefore may need more actual game time to try to get his feet back under him.</p>

 

[opusdawg]

we want see Stegall at all on the playing field this year. Coaches say he looks good and has the skills but is "rusty" for a lack of better words ... which is expected

 

[Mjoelner]

I figured he was 'rusty' (see the last reason I would play him instead of Russell) but that is exactly why I would play him later in the year in mop up duty. I really do want him or Russell to have a little game experience before next year so we're not dealing with a complete unknown if we don't get Newton.

 

[bulliegolfer]

only way is if Lee and Relf both go down with injuries. He hasn't played football in 3 or 4 years. Nowhere near being ready.

 

[Todd4State]

I don't see what good it would do to throw a guy out there that likely doesn't know the offense all that well and hasn't played football in a few years. What kind of situation would we use him in? At best, he would be similar to Relf.

Again, it doesn't make any sense at all to stop what we are doing at QB. It's certainly not an ideal situation, but as long as we're moving the ball and scoring points, I'm not going to complain.

As far as next year, if we don't get Newton, we would have a Russell/Relf and maybe Stegall combination. That's not going to be all that bad. If I have faith in Dan Mullen about anything, it's developing QB's. Russell's biggest issue will likely be inexperience and making freshman mistakes, but he would be an upgrade over Lee in just about every other area. I see no reason why Relf would not get better either. He will likely be a better passer next year, and a better runner and hopefully his decision making on the option will improve as well. I haven't seen Stegall to form an opinion of him.