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The Sports Network
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - You don't have to be Tim Tebow to be the
most scrutinized quarterback around.
The light in the microscope usually shines brightest on any team's signal-
caller.
Considering big expectations follow the sport's marquee position, it only
intensifies for the quarterback who is replacing a highly accomplished senior.
Such situations will be prevalent this coming season across the Football
Championship Subdivision.
There are some big shoes to fill nationally.
Whoever steps in for Bo Levi Mitchell at Eastern Washington faces one of the
more daunting tasks. Mitchell, of course, was the Most Outstanding Player in
the Eagles' 2010 FCS championship game win and captured the 2011 Walter Payton
Award (sponsored by Fathead.com) as the nation's outstanding player.
His successor, who is trying to replace Mitchell's 7,505 passing yards and 70
touchdown passes of the last two seasons, could be either junior Anthony Vitto
or redshirt freshman Vernon Adams.
Vitto has more experience in offensive coordinator Aaron Best's system and
holds the top spot going into spring practice in late March, but Adams is more
mobile - he passed for 5,234 yards and rushed for another 1,263 yards in his
final two high school seasons - and was the scout team's offensive player of
the year this past season.
The situation could change if Kyle Padron, who unseated Mitchell as SMU's
starting quarterback in 2009, comes to EWU. The big Texan (6-foot-4, 233
pounds) is seeking to transfer from SMU and is expected to visit with the
Eagles' program.
Lehigh's Chris Lum tied for second behind Mitchell in the Payton Award voting
and his replacement is much more set with senior Mike Colvin. He has good size
- 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds - with excellent arm strength. He already has played
in 22 career games, often as a change of pace run/pass-option quarterback.
Colvin has rushed for seven touchdowns in his career, although he struggled in
his only career start, replacing an injured Lum in a game at New Hampshire two
years ago.
Northern Iowa's Jared Lanpher played well against Youngstown State last season
- throwing for 238 yards and two touchdowns - when he started in place of an
injured Tirrell Rennie. The redshirt sophomore saw action in four other games
and could have the inside track to replacing Rennie this coming season,
although redshirt freshman Sawyer Kollmorgan has also impressed coaches since
he arrived on campus.
At Chattanooga, quarterback B.J. Coleman hopes to be NFL-bound, but he missed
a lot of time as a senior because of a shoulder injury. It opened the door for
Terrell Robinson to replace him and win Southern Conference Freshman of the
Week honors three times last season. He's a run-first quarterback, having
rushed for 417 yards and thrown for only 336 yards.
Robinson will have competition from redshirt freshman Jacob Huesman, son of
Mocs head coach Russ Huesman. His playing style is similar to Robinson's.
New Liberty head coach Turner Gill has to replace do-everything quarterback
Mike Brown. The most experienced of the Flames' returnees is redshirt senior
Tyler Brennan, who has appeared in 22 career games - often in mop-up time -
but was injured during the second half of last season. He's more of a drop-
back passer than the dual-threat Brown.
Redshirt junior Brian Hudson is also a pocket passer and has the strongest arm
among the signal-callers. Still another of Brown's possible successors,
redshirt sophomore Gabe Henderson, follows the Brown script in that he was a
wide receiver in 2010 - catching 10 passes - before transitioning to a
quarterback last year, when he was a redshirt.
Josh Woodrum, coming off his redshirt freshman season, has the high school
accolades, though not the experience of his Liberty teammates.
Jackson State signed one the FCS' top incoming freshmen last week in Lamontiez
Ivy out of East St. Louis. He will get a shot at replacing Casey Therriault,
although 6-5 redshirt senior Dedric McDonald has been the backup for two years
and redshirt sophomore Tevin Chapman is a good runner who is also experienced
in the system.
Jacksonville has to replace Josh McGregor, who ended his career 23rd on the
all-time FCS list with 11,230 passing yards and sixth in touchdown passes with
111. Trevius Folston and Kade Bell are returning, but a signee or two will
join them at the Pioneer Football League power.
The 6-7 Folston backed up McGregor as a freshman last season, while Bell, the
son of Jacksonville head coach Kerwin Bell, redshirted in his first season.
Plenty of other FCS programs are looking for a new starting quarterback after
losing a key senior. Included are New Hampshire (Kevin Decker), Central
Arkansas (Nathan Dick), Norfolk State (Chris Walley), Georgia Southern (Jaybo
Shaw), Richmond (Aaron Corp) and Wofford (Mitch Allen).
Also, there's Holy Cross (Ryan Taggart), Samford (Dustin Taliaferro), Furman
(Chris Forcier), Indiana State (Ronnie Fouch), Maine (Warren Smith), Portland
State (Connor Kavanaugh), Southeast Missouri State (Matt Scheible), South
Dakota (Dante Warren), Brown (Kyle Newhall-Caballero), Yale (Patrick Witt) and
Butler (Andrew Huck).
The Sports Network