Christian Malone
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — The quarterback position is not completely settled as the Valdosta State Blazers head into their first game of the season.
The Blazers host Wingate on Saturday at 7 p.m. Redshirt junior Jimmy Coy is the starter, but backup Brett Whitmire has challenged him.
“I’ve been very please with (Coy),” Blazers head coach David Dean said. “He and Brett Whitmire both, I think, are ready to play. It’s going to be exciting to see how they’re going to react in front of a crowd instead of a scrimmage or practice or something like that because they’ve never taken a snap for us. There’s a lot of uncertainty there.”
When told that it sounds like the Blazers could play both quarterbacks against Wingate, Dean said, “Yeah, that’s a possibility. Who knows? It depends. We want to go with one, but if one is struggling or we feel like we need a spark along the way, we may put the other in there.”
Whitmire, a redshirt freshman, started the Blazers second scrimmage two weeks ago. He played the first series, then Coy stepped in.
When asked about Whitmire during his radio show on Monday, Dean said he was pushing Coy for the starting job, and by the end of the season the fans will see that Whitmire is VSU’s quarterback of the future.
Coy was named the starter when senior Russ Callaway was lost for the season with a torn ACL during the Blazers first scrimmage. After announcing Coy as the starter, Dean said he better take the job and run with it because Whitmire was not far behind.
Coy said he is confident and ready to start for the Blazers on Saturday.
“I can’t wait to play,” Coy said. “It’s been a long offseason. There’s been a lot of hard work. Hopefully it pays off on Saturday and we can start 1-0.
“Sitting out last year it was kind of hard to watch everything and see everybody play. It’s something I’ve loved to do since a little kid. I just can’t wait to get back out there again.”
Whitmire entered fall camp as a long shot — but also a dark horse — to win the starting job. When Callaway went down he was elevated to No. 2 on the depth chart.
Whitmire last played in a game in 2008 for Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville, Fla. As a senior he completed 62 percent of his passes for 1,601 yards and 20 touchdowns. He earned All-District honors and was honorable mention All-State.
The last time the Blazers went with a two quarterbacks was in 2008. Senior Tucker Pruitt got the start in the first game, but redshirt freshman Chris Hart also saw plenty of action.
Pruitt started a few games until he lost the job to Hart, then Hart lost the starting job when Pruitt came off the bench to lead the Blazers to a fourth quarter comeback win over Henderson State in the sixth game of the season. By the time the second round of the playoffs came along, the Blazers were still using both quarterbacks.
Whoever leads the Blazers offense on Saturday will do so against a tough Wingate defense. The Bulldogs return nine starters from last year, and it showed last Saturday when they held West Georgia to seven points. West Georgia only managed 159 yards until it went on an 80-yard touchdown drive in the final two minutes of the game.
“They looked pretty good,” Coy said. “We’ll see how we do.”
