Emiere Scaife, Aaron Winchester, Conner Manning and Brett Sheehan took their turns throwing passes and making hand-offs during more than 100 minutes of no-contact drills. Coach Trent Miles said it will be an open competition and that the offense will be tailored to fit the strengths of whoever wins the job.
"I saw some good things and I saw some bad things," Miles said. "I saw some things that are very correctable and I saw some things that we have to work on."
Arbuckle was the Sun Belt’s football student-athlete of the year after passing for more than 4,300 yards and leading the Panthers to their first bowl game. He attended Georgia State’s practice on Thursday. He is still enrolled in school and is preparing for tryouts with different NFL teams. He said he has also spent time working with the quarterbacks, trying to prepare them to take over.
Each of the quarterbacks showed something different on Thursday.
Scaife, at 6-2, 218 pounds, remains a physical presence with a big arm. Aaron Winchester, 6-2, 175 pounds, showed his ability to scramble. Both seemed reasonably accurate on Thursday.
“I felt as a team we were pretty good,” Scaife said. “The energy was good. The want-to was there.”
Conner Manning, a transfer from Utah, showed a very quick release and accuracy. Sheehan, who transferred from South Alabama before last season, is likely the darkhorse of the quartet to win the job. None of the four had any significant stats last season.
“It was good,” Manning said of Thursday. “It was good to get rust off and seeing defenses. Just getting some more chemistry with the guys will take some time but it was good.”
Manning said his quick delivery comes from coaching from an older brother and his school coaches.
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Luke Huard said he wants his group, led by the quarterbacks, to play with a fast pace, which will require things to slow down mentally.
“They handled it for the most part,” Huard said. “Each guy had some positives. Certainly, each guy had some plays where their decisions could be better. The big thing you are trying to develop in the spring is your rhythm and timing.”
