Graham comments on QBs at Pac-12 Media Day
Jul 24, 2012, 5:18 PM | Updated: 11:13 pm
The Arizona State Sun Devils are just 37 days away from
their season-opening game against the NAU Lumberjacks.
And, more than a month away from that contest, nobody has
any idea whom the starting quarterback will be for Arizona
State.
At Pac-12 Media Day in Los Angeles Tuesday, Graham was
asked about the signal-calling situation and what the
process will look like in determining a first-stringer.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea of where we’re going, but
there is still some competition left,” Graham said. “It’s
not that we have three guys that haven’t done anything to
separate themselves, we’ve just got three really, really
quality guys — it’s great to inherit that kind of
situation.”
Those three quality guys, of course, are sophomore Mike
Bercovici, who served as Brock Osweiler’s backup last
season, sophomore Taylor Kelly, who was a favorite of the
Erickson coaching regime, and redshirt freshman Michael
Eubank, who redshirted last year.
Despite the depth at the position, which features three
candidates with unique skill sets, Graham wants to move
quickly in fall camp to determine his pecking order moving
forward.
“The longer it goes without naming a starter, I don’t like
that. As soon as we can do that, we need to do that,”
Graham said. “It settles everything down — you need a
leader, you need a quarterback.
“Not to say that we wouldn’t use two guys, but I do
believe that the leadership at that position is very
important.”
Coming out of spring ball, most around the program figure
the two prime candidates to be Bercovici and Eubank, but
Graham says there are certain intangibles that will be a
big part of determining the starter.
“It’s going to be very critical that the person taking
that snap isn’t necessarily the most dynamic player —
they have to be a player that manages the offense, that
doesn’t put the ball in jeopardy and doesn’t turn the
football over,” he said. “Because I firmly believe if we
don’t turn the football over, we’re going to score.”
Graham’s Sun Devils were picked to finish fifth in the
Pac-12 South by the conference media, although they did
receive three votes to win the Pac-12 Conference
Championship Game.
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