Bowling & Burgers, 8th Frame: The Quarterbacks

The QBs tweet for Nathan:

Sims vs. Rocco will be the story of training camp, but Rock might already be the clear starter. I'm just glad we have 2 great options at QB.

Rolling fast now, the alley is about to shut down...


Strikes

• Mike Rocco passed for 2,671 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2011.  With two years of eligibility remaining, if he maintains a 2,500+ yards/season pace, he would leave UVA as the school's all-time passing leader.  Let that sink in for a second.
• Rock was just a sophomore last season, and once the threat of David Watford dropped away and he got comfortable and confident as the starter, his game took off.  Some seem to think he's limited athletically and has a low ceiling for development... I disagree.  At the QB position, and especially in college, a player gets exponentially better the more he plays, the more experience he gains, and the more he masters the playbook.  If he's not disrupted as the starter this season, I think we'll see Rocco really take off.  He looks a lot - A LOT - like Matt Schaub to my untrained yet experienced eyes.  And Rock might just break Schaub's UVA records.
• The elephant in the room is the presence of all-word quarterback recruit and transfer from the 2011 National Championship Alabama Crimson Tide, Phillip Sims.  We've covered Sims quite a bit already on this blog - here, here, here, here, here, and here - but unless you've been living under a freaking rock somewhere, you already know all about who he is and how good he might become.  The Virginia football program is lucky to have this kind of talent on the roster, let's just say that.  While Rocco has the potential to be the best statistical passer we've ever had, Sims has the chance to be the best passer we've ever had, period, point blank.
• I'm not 100% sure what the future holds for David Watford, but for now I think he's a pretty darn good option for us as the #3 QB.  Hopefully he redshirts this season and sticks around for his next real shot at the starting QB job -- in 2015.  But I just don't really see that happening.  So for now, I'll be content with having him as our #3 QB and just leave it at that.
• Meanwhile, we have two great true freshman talents cultivating on the bench via redshirt seasons in 2012.  Greyson Lambert and Matt Johns have a lot of ability and ensure that the future of the QB position at UVA is in good hands... and that's even before you factor in incoming 2013 recruits Corwin "Turtle" Cutler and Brendan Marshall.  (The staff has done a fantastic job of stockpiling quarterbacking talent, a major morass of the prior regime.)

Gutters

• Quarterback controversy.  No need to elaborate on that two-word sentence, other than to say that this exact situation has ruined many good teams throughout the history of football.  We have a really positive situation at QB right now if Rock stays at QB1 and Sims earns QB2 status and comes in for mop-up duty.  Of course, that won't last.  The first time Rocco throws an interception - or heck, an incompletion - you know the fans will begin to scream for Sims.  I just fear that these two quarterbacks won't be able to co-exist on the roster, given the fan scrutiny they'll endure.  Having two good quarterbacks is a good problem to have, but I don't relish Coach London's position right now.  (In fact, I bet he's still trying to figure out how exactly to handle this, while waiting for one of them to get hurt to maybe make things easier.)

Projected Depth Chart
QB) #16 Michael Rocco (Jr.), #14 Phillip Sims (So.), #5 David Watford (So.)

Burgers...

Pierce: The QB burger is a Triple Baconator. There's too much meat. Truly, we need to pick one of the burger/bacon/cheese servings and enjoy that. But which QB patty is the chosen one? My guess is it'll be Sims.

Mike: The QBs are a super underrated burger. No one knows what to expect. But it should be well known soon. Whole lot of talent.

Kendall: Screw burgers, this is a steak sandwich.


Score for the Frame:
Despite the potential for disaster via quarterback controversy, our roster is suddenly littered with tremendous talent at the QB position.  With Rocco developing so quickly, Watford oozing ability, Sims' great pedigree, and Lambert toting around that howitzer, this is the best stockpile of passing talent I've ever seen on the UVA roster.  Easily, this is a STRIKE.

Score Thru 8 Frames: 106


The Game So Far:

| 7/ | 7- | 33 | 8/ | X | 9/ | 8- | X |   |   | 106