Keith Patterson still has not named a starting quarterback for ACU with the opener five days away, and he said he is not rushing the choice. The quarterback competition remains open, with four players in the mix and Patterson saying multiple quarterbacks are likely to play once the season begins.
That is the question hanging over ACU’s season opener now, because fans looking for a clean answer still do not have one. John David Black, Joe Castles, Marcos Davila and Tucker Parks are all competing for the job, and Patterson said Saturday that the plan is to use more than one quarterback.
“You’re going to see more than one Saturday,” Patterson said. He said the approach is not a delay so much as a choice to keep evaluating, even with the opener closing in. “Nope,” he said when asked whether the staff was rushing. “People kind of bow down to outside pressure. I mean, like, look, I don’t care who I put out there, it’s your responsibility as an offensive lineman, a tight end or running back, a wide receiver. Now, I don’t care who the quarterback.”
The quarterback race opened after Stone Earle took his final snap last season at Stephen F. Austin, then left behind a record-setting year in which he set the mark for the most rushing touchdowns in a single season by a quarterback. From there, the battle spread across four players. Black and Castles are sophomores. Castles is also a 6-foot-7 freshman, while Davila transferred from Nebraska and Parks came from Western Kentucky.
Patterson said the opener will not settle everything, either. “We’re probably going to, our plan is right now and I play two quarterbacks, and, show up and watch the game and you’ll see who they are,” he said. He added that before the season ends, any of the four could be on the field and said he was “excited about all four of them” because they each bring something different.
What gives the offense a chance to steady itself is what sits in front of that position. Patterson said ACU has four returning starters on the offensive line and called it the best line he has had since arriving. He also pointed to Cam Van as probably the strongest lineman he has ever had in the weight room, a sign that the staff sees the trenches as the unit that can absorb the uncertainty behind center. For now, though, the starter remains unknown, and Patterson is betting that the opener can still begin before that answer is made public.
