WSR Gridiron Report

Makes sense...a lot of sense...

It does make sense. What doesn't make sense though is Stoops' hesitation as to what happens if Foles ends up missing some time next season. Does he go with Beirne as the starter and Garman as the backup or does he rip Scott from his redshirt season as he kind of intimates in the article.

If I were Scott, I wouldn't agree to a redshirt without a commitment that he won't be asked to play a single down next season. I know that's not the "team" thing to do, but Scott had his freshman season completely wasted by getting some spot minutes in mop up duty behind Tuitama and the decision to play Scott then was an absolute mistake. If I were Scott, I wouldn't allow myself to be made a mistake twice because IMO Scott could do some serious damage in 2012 as the starter and would give Arizona, as the article suggests, back-to-back senior starters in consecutive seasons.

The Arizona fan base not only wants a winner, but a consistent winner and that's how you start to build that consistency. Back-to-back senior starters and then a redshirt sophomore in Garman being the frontrunner for the job in 2013 with perhaps the Rutgers QB transfer if he chooses Arizona.

Allow me to say that while on paper this sounds terrific, that imo it will be hard pressed to work in reality. There are a couple of big considerations to take into place......one Foles will have a very untested offensive line in front of him and may find that he is getting pinged a bit too much - which unfortunately means he may find himself on the sideline once in a while healing..........

Secondly, if we really were to Redshirt Scott then we would be burning another freshman qb's first year if he needed to play. Or Bernie may be quite adequate and I do not know - but does Bernie even as a senior give us our best chance.........or does Matt Scott give us our best chance to WIN games if Foles goes down.

Which sets up the following scenario, if we were to struggle early on and suffer a couple of losses does Stoops actually make it a 'throw away' year for the 2011 squad and set up for the 2012 season by keeping Scott on the sideline even if he needs him in an emergency. I do not think that happens.

Ok, Ok, lets be optimistic, I know, I know..........lets say everything is golden and Foles is healthy all season long and we are winning..........and then Scott has a chance at the starting job in 2012..............is he good enough to beat Savage or beat the incoming freshman from Texas out? I don't know. It is all about competition and I am thinking Stoops has to keep Scott on the sideline all 2011 in order to make us the most competitive team we can be.

Scott showed a ton of class accepting his role this year and doing well when he got an opportunity. If given a chance to be 'the man' in 2012 he may decide that sounds like a risk worth taking. But again, does it help the team in 2011? I have my doubts.

Whatever happens, it will be a bold move on both Stoops and Scott's part with plenty of drama.

Beerman, it very unlikely that Savage will commit to UofA now at all. Greg Schiano granted him no restrictions to schools that Savage can speak with. It has been Savage's wish to play football in Florida.
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/17473/greg-schiano-does-right-by-tom-savage
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/31/savage-loses-appeal-but-gains-ok-to-talk-to-florida-miami/

As of yesterday, he's set to visit AZ on 2/15. I hope the weather on that day is chamber of commerce weather.

I don't want Scott to redshirt. I think either Cam, Daxx or one of the potential transfers would beat him out, so it does neither him nor the program any good and actually causes locker room problems when he does get beat out.