2 QBs, 1 spot, no hard feelings
Sun Devils Keller and Carpenter believe duel is for good of team
Jeff Metcalfe
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 31, 2006 12:00 AM
Arizona State needed two quarterbacks to reach its football zenith, No. 2, during an undefeated 1975 season.
Best case, that's how it will play out this season: The intriguing Sam Keller-vs.-Rudy Carpenter sweepstakes, beginning with the start of fall camp on Friday, winds up with the runner-up being more than Mr. Congeniality for accepting his role.
Recent history indicates that a scenario in which both quarterbacks play significant roles is not at all unlikely. If ASU plays in a third straight bowl, as expected, it will have completed a 13-game season, second longest in school history. advertisement
The starting quarterback in each of the past two seasons failed to survive 12 games. Keller missed the final 5 1/2 games last year with a torn ligament in his throwing thumb, the kind of injury that plagued current Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner after leading the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl in 2002.
Carpenter, then an unproven redshirt freshman, smashed through the opening like Dog the Bounty Hunter. ASU righted a listing season with a 4-1 finish under Carpenter, who zoomed past the likes of Vince Young, Brady Quinn and Matt Leinart to lead the nation in passing efficiency.
Keller, a senior with eight career starts, returned early to participate in spring practice, where a healthy Carpenter was the better of the two. Head coach Dirk Koetter declared the job open for the first 18 practices, through the close of Camp Tontozona on Aug. 17.
So Koetter and new offensive coordinator Roy Wittke wade into potentially treacherous water with two 2,000-yard passing sharks, both hungry for playing time.
"There's only one quarterback," Keller said. "You take that with the position that gets all the glory, and you take two guys who did good one year, and a lot of people find that very interesting. It works out good for the team because we're both going to push each other to get better, and the best quarterback will play."
Coaches invite competition to create depth at other positions. But when quarterbacks compete, the risk is divisiveness.
"It's going to be up to me and Sam to set the tone," Carpenter said. "We're competing. It doesn't mean we don't like each other. It doesn't mean we're not friends. It's doesn't mean I wish bad upon him or he wishes bad upon me. We're competing our (expletive) off to win games so we can all enjoy going to the Rose Bowl or to a BCS game. If we make it an issue, then it will be an issue. But we're not going to do that, so I don't think it will be an issue between the team."
Keller said non-stop attention on the ups and downs at quarterback position "could take away from the team if everybody pays too much attention to it. They forget about all the other guys we have on our team. I could see that happening. It won't happen with us. It will just be one of us runs the ones (first team) and one of us runs the twos (second team), and it'll switch, and we'll do that the entire fall camp."
Koetter and the quarterbacks agree that film doesn't lie. Someone will play better and earn the helm of an offense with as many weapons as last year's unit that ranked second nationally. To the winner goes possible Heisman Trophy consideration. To the loser goes a Herculean dose of character building.
"That's the last thing I should be thinking about right now," Keller said of finishing second. "I'm a man, so I would live with it. You have to do that because that's the responsibility you have to your team. You have to be ready like I was when Andrew (Walter) was the guy. That's just your job as the backup."
All Carpenter wants is a fair shot and for people to stop saying he should be content to wait because Keller is only a year away from the NFL. In 2001, when he was a sophomore at Newbury Park (Calif.) High, Carpenter opted to play varsity wide receiver, safety and punter rather than junior varsity quarterback.
"People say no matter what happens this year you're going to be the starter (in 2007 and '08)," Carpenter said. "How do I know that? They could bring in some kid who is awesome and beats me out. I can't look past right now. Shoot, it's like going to the best steakhouse and they just give you a little sample piece. You're like, oh, man, I want the rest.
"I have no problem being the backup quarterback if I can look myself in the mirror and know I tried as hard as I could but I just wasn't good enough. If I get beat out, that's how sports go."
