Well, there's a reason he wasn't recruited to be an offensive player.
— Testudo Times (@testudotimes) November 3, 2012
Yep, Maryland has a freshman linebacker at quarterback
Maryland’s lost every last one of its quarterbacks, and now has linebackers and running backs taking snaps.
The quarterbacks Maryland has lost so far this year:
- 2010 starter Danny O'Brien
- 2011 starter C.J. Brown
- 2012 starter Perry Hills
- Converted receiver Devin Burns
- Freshman Caleb Rowe
They're now down to Shawn Petty, a freshman scout team linebacker who threw the ball in high school. He has one attempt so far, an incompletion, giving him only five fewer yards than Georgia Tech's starter. He's also been sacked and has fumbled. The Terps are also running the Wild Crab with running back Wes Brown, which is going pretty well! He's completed his pass! WILD CRAB. QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSY.
Petty was a consensus two-star type in high school without a lot of offers, quarterbacking Eleanor Roosevelt but projecting as a linebacker at the next level. The scheme he ran in high school was built around the triple-option, similar to what Georgia Tech and Navy run (not, note, the zone-read option that Maryland uses), but it appears to have had a lot of multiple looks and Petty passed about 40% of the time, his coach estimates.
When you watch him play, it’s no secret the type of player he is. He looks every bit a linebacker, probably more - maybe much more - than his listed 230, but he doesn’t lumber around; his feet look surprisingly nimble, and though he doesn’t have great speed he’s certainly quick enough to be a threat with the ball. More importantly, he’s big enough that he’ll be able to absorb hits from head-hunting linebackers on the zone-read in a way Caleb Rowe really wasn’t, which brings the ZR back into play for Maryland. In a way not dissimilar to someone like Ben Roethlisberger or Daunte Culpeper, he’s also a bear to bring down for a sack. Linemen will have no trouble doing it, but if a defensive back gets to him on a zone blitz? Best of luck.
But he’s got more of an arm that his move to linebacker would have you believe. He has a huge windup, but because of that big windup he puts a lot of torque on the ball, leading to good-looking, catchable balls. He looks composed when he has to escape the pocket and has surprisingly nice touch in short throws.
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