COLLEGES’ BLACK QBs FACE PRO HURDLES:
Progress can be a funny word.
Because depending on what side of the coin you’re on, what is believed to be improvement can actually just be stalled evolution. Next Monday night, the College Football Playoff National Championship will take place as the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs will both travel down Interstate 20 and meet at the brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, in what I have dubbed the “SEC Bowl.”
There will be hundreds of stories written leading up to the game, in addition to all the analysis and commentary that comes with a sporting event of this magnitude. However, there is one stat that I’m sure will get overlooked.
Since the 2010 season, a black quarterback has started in the national title game. On Monday night, Alabama sophomore Jalen Hurts will make his second consecutive start in a College Football Playoff National Championship game. Last year, he was joined by Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.
Between the latter part of the BCS era and the new playoff system, names like Cardale Jones (Ohio State), Jameis Winston (Florida State), Everett Golson (Notre Dame), Jordan Jefferson (LSU), Darron Thomas (Oregon) and Cam Newton (Auburn) have been the men under center in the sport’s biggest game.
And who could forget Michael Vick’s performance in the 1999 season’s national championship game, or what Vince Young did to USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl? To some, that can seem like progress. But if that’s the case, why are black quarterbacks so heavily criticized when it comes to the NFL Draft?
Because if you think that race doesn’t play a part in this, just ask Watson and last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Lamar Jackson.
Leading up to last year’s NFL draft, Watson’s game and abilities were dissected, as usual for any top quarterback, entering the draft for the world to see. We knew all the things he did well, and the areas he needed to work on.
However, anybody in his or her right mind who watched Watson play at Clemson would tell you that he was the best quarterback available in the draft, and this was before he beat Nick Saban in the championship game.
But on draft night, the Chicago Bears, who desperately needed a quarterback, traded four of their picks to move up from No. 3 to No. 2 to pick their quarterback, but it wasn’t Watson, it was North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky.
Back then, and even now, people were scratching their heads at the Bears’ decision. Watson had just led his team to back-to-back national title game appearances, while Trubisky’s team went 8-5 in his lone season as a starter in Chapel Hill because he could never beat out Marquise Williams for the job. Who is Marquise Williams? That’s exactly my point. Now it, fortunately, seems like it worked out for both quarterbacks. While Trubisky played well and became the face of an NFL franchise, he was totally outshined by Watson, who at one point led the league in passing touchdowns while being an early candidate for Offensive Player of the Year before suffering a season-ending leg injury.
Which is why it will be interesting to see what happens with Jackson in the coming months. And although he hasn’t officially declared for the draft, the speculation and analysis about his future have already begun.
“I would urge him to go back to school for another year. I don’t get the sense that’s going to be the case,” said ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay about Jackson on “SportsCenter” over the weekend.
“On the positive side, we all know it: He’s an electrifying athlete. He can do some things with the football in his hands that most quarterbacks cannot do. He has improved. He improved in terms of his poise and patience in the pocket this year. I thought he improved his accuracy overall. But you can see today (against Mississippi State), the mechanics aren’t consistent. He’s missing high on a lot of throws, four interceptions. Yes, you can argue one of them wasn’t his fault. But by coming back to school and continuing to work on his mechanics and continuing to get bigger and stronger so his frame will hold up at the next level if he does have to run as much as he does, I just think that would be the best thing for him.”
Like any quarterback, Jackson has flaws. But Jackson won the Heisman Trophy for a reason. Last Saturday, he joined a very exclusive group in college football that includes Tim Tebow and Cam Newton as the only players in FBS history to ever accumulate at least 50 passing and rushing touchdowns in their career.
The idea that Jackson would somehow be incapable of excelling at quarterback in the NFL is something that almost every black quarterback has to face, whether it be Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson.
To many, the stats and production on the field don’t matter because all they see is an “athlete” instead of a quarterback.
The notion is layered in prejudice and is starting to get very old.
“Lamar Jackson is just a runner? Please. Jackson has 1k MORE passing yards than Aaron Rodgers’ most efficient season at Cal, MORE passing TDs than Carson Wentz at NDSU, higher passer rating than Deshaun Watson’s best yr at Clemson+MORE ypa/ half the INTs than Drew Brees at Purdue,” Yahoo Sports Insider/Analyst Jordan Schultz tweeted on Saturday in reference to Jackson, and the fact that he has 67 career passing touchdowns and 50 more on the ground in his time at Louisville.
The sad thing about this situation is that even if Jackson does declare for the NFL and becomes successful, he will still deal with prejudices due to the color of his skin while playing in a league that has seen a black quarterback lead his team to the Super Bowl in four of the last five years (Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson (twice), Cam Newton).
On Sunday, the Buffalo Bills ended a 17year drought when they made the playoffs only because the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens to give the Bills the final spot. But why did it take all that? Because back in November when the Bills were 5-4, and in playoff contention, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott decided to bench starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who is black, for 2017 fifth-round draft pick Nathan Peterman, who is white.
The Bills lost that day to the Los Angeles Chargers by 30 points. Peterman was 6-14 for 66 yards and threw five interceptions in the first half before he was told to sit. He hasn’t started since. Taylor, who went 4-2 in Buffalo’s final six games, will be under center when the Bills take on the Jaguars during Sunday’s AFC Wild Card game. Three steps forward and two steps back. Some would call that progress. I say it’s plain old prejudice.