Georgia State coach Bill Curry assumed he was set at quarterback for the next few years after his team wrapped up its inaugural season.
Months later, as the Panthers prepare to begin preseason practices Thursday, a combination of transfers, disciplinary issues and legal issues means Curry’s likely No. 1, Bo Schlechter, has never started a college game at quarterback. That doesn’t seem the way to sustain momentum after last season’s surprising 6-5 debut. However, Curry doesn’t seem worried.
“We will be a better football team,” he said.
The issues started during the offseason when starter Drew Little was suspended for spring practice and the first four games of the season for violating undisclosed team rules. Around the same time, Star Jackson, who transferred in from Alabama, announced he was leaving the program for personal reasons. He played in four games last year.
Without arguably their best two quarterbacks, Curry said he hoped either Kelton Hill or Schlechter would seize the job during the spring. Both played well, but Hill took over and was the presumed starter until he was arrested and charged with burglary last month. He has been removed from the roster, and the team is moving ahead as if Hill won’t rejoin them.
Curry hadn’t planned to recruit a quarterback because the position was so deep. After Jackson’s decision, coaches went to work and eventually signed Ben McLane, who led Brookwood to a state championship last year. He is the presumed backup.
“It’s been pretty interesting,” Schlechter said of the offseason.
So, while the position isn’t nearly as deep as it once was, Curry isn’t as concerned as one might assume. He praised the athleticism of Schlechter, a quarterback and punter-turned wide receiver-turned quarterback again.
“He’s got a gun for an arm, can run like the wind,” Curry said. “He’s tough, when he’s focused on what he’s supposed to be thinking about. His consistency is what we are going to need see improved.”
He complimented the competitiveness of McLane, who is Brookwood’s career passing leader with 4,747 yards and 35 touchdowns.
“Ben’s played in the big leagues, coach’s son, good student,” Curry said. “He was part of a young team that struggled. He was knocked around as a sophomore, better as a junior and then won the state as a senior. A great offense.”
Schlechter, 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, will get most of the snaps with the first team in August practices. McLane and Little will split what’s left. Schlechter said he has started trying to improve his consistency by increasing the time he spends studying the playbook.
A quarterback since he was 6 years old, he moved to wide receiver last year when that position became thin. Curry planned to move him back to quarterback during the spring. Schlechter said he was going to try to win the starting job anyway. Now that he seemingly has it, he wants to keep it.
“I’m not really nervous because I’ve been doing it forever,” he said. “I’m excited.”
Because of his quarterbacks’ inexperience, Curry said the offense likely will be more conservative in the first few games, starting with the season opener against Clark Atlanta on Sept. 2 at the Georgia Dome.
Schlechter said that’s fine, but not necessary.
“In all honestly I think from Day One that I know the offense,” he said. “Whatever they want to do I’ll do it. We won’t have to change anything because I’m stepping in.”
There is a chance that Little could return before the fifth game, against Murray State on Oct. 8 at the Dome. Curry said Little, who passed for 2,102 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, has done everything asked of him during the offseason. Because of Little’s positive attitude — “He’s paid as tough a price as anyone I’ve ever disciplined anywhere I’ve ever been” — and not because of the position’s lack of depth, Curry said he’s considering reducing, but not eliminating, the suspension.
Schlechter and Curry said they’ve already seen the team rally around their new quarterbacks, even if took a painful lesson to teach some of them about accountability.
“The team has begun to grow together,” Curry said. “They’ve worked with a kind of work ethic that we haven’t had unless coaches were on the field.”
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