Hokies QB Competition: The Vision is Clear

On Saturday Andy Bitter published a candid interview with offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler about Tech's quarterback situation. It's not business as usual at Beamer Co.

After the Sun Bowl loss, Frank Beamer gave, according to WaPo's Mark Giannotto, a definitive response about the future of the quarterback position, "Mark [Leal]'s the next guy in line here."

"He had a couple tough throws. He'll learn from that. ... That's not a great situation for your backup guy to step into. But I've got a lot of confidence in Mark. I've seen him in practice too many times."

Frank siding with seniority is neither new or surprising. Scot Loeffler stocking the cupboard with capable prospects and effectively declaring an open competition is.

Q: Is Mark Leal the frontrunner heading into the spring?

A: "I think because of age, you would say from an outsider and I think it's only natural that because of age, a guy that's been around. But to be quite honest with you, we're going to find out who our quarterback is. Period, end. He knows that. I know that. We've had the discussion. Obviously with age, you are the frontrunner. You should be, just because you've been around, an older guy. But he's got to prove that he's a starting quarterback. Whoever it is has got to prove and have the trust that they're the guy."

After signing three QBs in February, if it wasn't already clear that Loeffler wants options behind center other than Leal and Brenden Motley, it should be after Tech reportedly reached out to two possible transfers, Max Wittek (USC) and Michael Brewer (Texas Tech). According to Bitter this afternoon, Brewer will indeed transfer to Tech. He'll graduate in May and is eligible to play in 2014.

Having a plethora of options and an open quarterback competition is Virginia Tech's best plan of attack. The Hokies aren't fortunate enough to have had a 5-star stud spend the last two seasons on the sideline learning Loeffler's system. In fact, given the one-and-done-like pairing of Thomas and Loeffler, as well as the absence of a running game, I'm still not sure any of us know what Lefty's true scheme is.

Loeffler will have spring practice and August camp to 1) evaluate a bevy of QB candidates with different and unique skill sets, 2) develop his offensive identity going forward, and 3) build around the quarterback that fits what he wants to do on offense the best. Without a sure thing on the roster, this is the prudent decision.