Spring Analysis Blog - Ole Miss QB Needs

Opinions, analysis, and information about during the spring session. ... What's the most important thing to watch for this spring?

By Guinn Terry Davis

Rebels Need to Replace Snead

As Coach Houston Nutt was being grilled in his press conference on Thursday, March 25th, the most repeated inquiry by reporters was “Who's going to be under the center this fall?” In so many words, Nutt implied that “tackling” the quarterback issue for Ole Miss this year will be one of the biggest tasks he's ever had to face in his career. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. Making predictions in college football is a fickle thing, since there are so many factors to consider, but it doesn't take a 20-year head coach to realize that if you don't have a dependable quarterback, you can't depend on winning a championship.

There's two ways Ole Miss fans can face the team's quarterback issue this spring. For starters, with Jevan Snead gone, the only experience behind the center lies in sophomore Nathan Stanley, and any Rebel fan who saw his disastrous stint in the Cotton Bowl last January can't be overwhelmingly excited about that prospect. That's the half-empty point of view. On the other hand, Jevan Snead's surprisingly lackluster performance last season, followed by an even more shocking decision to vie for the NFL, probably has some Rebel supporters thinking that quarterback play can't be much worse this season.

Another wild card in the deck is the replacement of Kent Austin with Dave Radar for the offensive coordinator position. This isn't Radar's first time to the SEC rodeo, having four different tenures to his credit, with the most recent being offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2003-2006. The Crimson Tide were able to churn out a reliable Brodie Croyle under Radar's watch, so Coach Nutt must believe he hired the right man to mold Nathan Stanley, red-shirt freshman Raymond Cotton or incoming JUCO transfer Randall Mackey into a starting quarterback. We shall see, said the blind man.

Make no bones about it. Dexter McCluster, the undisputed champion of the 2009 Rebels, has joined Jevan Snead in the NFL Draft and will not be there to supply any heroics on this next go-around. Thus, it is critical for success in 2010 that the Rebels resolve the quarterback situation before it becomes a quarterback catastrophe. Like the old saying goes, fix a $50 problem now before it becomes a $400 problem later. However, if the Rebels can solve this issue in the spring and maintain the gritty defense they had last season, look for Ole Miss to surprise some pundits this year.