Spring Football Update: A Change of Guard at Quarterback

MUNCIE, Ind. – It's been called the most important position in sports. That is certainly debatable, but for college football, the quarterback position can change the entire dynamic of a team.

Ball State has been fortunate to have some very talented players take hold of the quarterback spot. Over the past 15 years, the Cardinals have seen the likes of Joey Lynch, Nate Davis, Keith Wenning and Riley Neal lead the offense. Lynch holds the program record for completion percentage (63.8). Davis guided Ball State to a perfect regular season in 2008.

Wenning shattered most of Ball State's passing records while taking the Cardinals to back-to-back bowl games in 2012-13. Neal stepped into the role as a true freshman in 2015 and held the No. 1 spot when healthy for four straight years.

That leads us to this year. For just the fourth time since 2004, the Cardinals head into a season without a returning starting quarterback on the roster.

This spring season is important for the likes of Drew Plitt, John Paddock, Hank Hughes, Eddie Schott and Elliot Charlebois. One of those five names will take the field against Indiana on Aug. 31 as Ball State's No. 1 quarterback.

"The best guy is always going to play," said Lynch, who is now in his sixth season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. "We've been very up-front and honest about that."

Plitt is taking the snaps with the No. 1 unit right now. He is getting more repetitions than ever before in his fourth year as a Cardinal. Plitt was the No. 4 quarterback on the depth chart two years ago but when injuries decimated Ball State at that position, he was forced into action in five games and even made three starts.

"I'm the only one that really has a lot of game rep experience," Plitt said. "In that sense, I think that's the biggest thing for me, having more experience than everybody, but it all comes down to who makes plays and who can perform."

At Loveland High School in Ohio, Plitt helped lead the Tigers to the 2013 state title. However, Loveland was not a prolific passing team. The Tigers were a running team where Plitt thrived on his athletic abilities, confidence and smarts for the game.

Those qualities have been important to his growth at Ball State, where he spent the 2018 season as the back-up quarterback. When Neal went down with an injury in the Ohio game on Oct. 25, Plitt was forced into action again as the starter for the final three games. He impressed in his second stint in the spotlight. He threw for 370 yards at Toledo, which was the eighth most by any MAC quarterback last year. Plitt then directed the Cardinals to a nail-biting 42-41 overtime win over Western Michigan in Ball State's home finale.

Lynch really likes what he has seen from Plitt this spring.

"He has all of the intangible stuff and besides that, he can make all of the throws," Lynch said. "He really knows the offense. He's a true field general. He has command of [the offense]. When he's out there, everyone feels confident and comfortable."

Paddock is a relative unknown to most Ball State fans. The redshirt freshman hails from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he led his high school team to the playoffs for the first time in program history. He joined the team in the summer of 2018 and spent the majority of last year as the No. 3 quarterback. Paddock briefly saw game action in the finale at Miami (Ohio).

"I think [confidence] is one of John Paddock's biggest strengths as well," Lynch said. "He really believes that he can play at a high level and he thinks he should be the guy, which we all love as coaches. He's continued to get better and he's a guy who can really throw it."

Throw it he can. Just watching Paddock throw the football, you can tell he has a lot of zip to his throws. One of the returning wideouts offered his opinion that Paddock throws the hardest ball. However, this is the first time he has thrown a football during spring. He spent his high school spring days playing on the golf team because Bloomfield Hills didn't have spring football practice.

"The [quarterback] room is great," Paddock said. "We obviously try to push each other and it's super competitive. We want to be better than the other guy. At the same time, we are trying to win a MAC championship. If all of us are great and we have depth at that position, I don't know a better position to have depth."

Hughes made his way to Ball State last spring after spending two years on the Texas A&M squad. The native of Richardson, Texas, is an elusive quarterback who can give a defense major headaches on option plays that stretch the perimeter of the field. Coach Lynch is happy from the improvement he is seeing in Hughes' passing accuracy, while Hughes loves the competitive spirit from all the quarterbacks.

"There's pressure with everything you are going to do, especially playing quarterback," Hughes said. "That's part of the game. That's part of the position. You have to welcome the pressure. If you go out there and you don't know what's going on because there's too much pressure then obviously, you're not going to play well."

Charlebois and Schott, an early enrollee this spring, round out the quarterback group. While neither one of these local players are likely to be the No. 1 quarterback in the fall, this is the time of year to get both of these guys as many snaps as possible. Once preseason camp rolls around in August, the top quarterbacks are going to see most of the action in practice.

"There's no question right now Drew is our number one quarterback," Lynch said. "The other four guys in the room are competing at a high level and getting better."

The annual Spring Game is this Saturday, April 13 at 11 a.m. The complete spring practice schedule is listed here.

For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State football team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateFB and @BSUCoachNeu.

Spring Football Update: A Change of Guard at Quarterback

Players Mentioned

Elliot Charlebois

Nate Davis

Hank Hughes

Riley Neal

John Paddock

Drew Plitt

Eddie Schott

Keith Wenning

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