Replacing Quarterbacks Is a Legendary Problem

A new quarterback is a must.

Gotta have one.

Sure, the old one did a great job, but quarterbacks do not last forever. There comes a time when they have to be replaced.

The time is now.

Ninety-nine and 44/100ths of the folks who have gotten to this point assume I am writing about the Chargers, what with their unabashed shopping for a quarterback to replace a guy who isn’t even gone yet.

Wrong.

San Diego State’s Aztecs really need a new quarterback. Todd Santos, now a geezer of 24, is out of the picture. He went out with a bit more glory than the Chargers are affording Dan Fouts, what with Santos’ number being retired and two pages of the season-ending news release being devoted to the 27 NCAA, Western Athletic Conference and SDSU records he set.

And so the Aztecs are left to contemplate what life will be like without Santos running the offense.

Unlike the Chargers, who have managed to create a quarterback controversy with nary a candidate to challenge the incumbent, the Aztecs are going about this business in the quietest of ways.

They are currently engaged in spring practice, a low-profile exercise that’s about as exciting as cleaning out the garage or weeding the garden. It’s simply one of those things that has to be done to plant the seeds for the fall.

What Coach Denny Stolz cannot really predict right now is who might bloom as his quarterback when it comes time for the season opener on Sept. 3 against UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

In alphabetical order, the candidates are . . .

Scott Barrick, a redshirt freshman from Fallbrook who has not played a down of varsity collegiate football.

Brad Platt, a junior transfer from Southwestern who has not played a down of major college football.

Jack Skoog, a junior who threw 15 passes as Santos’ backup last fall.

None of them are Santos clones, and that is the way Stolz wants it. In fact, he has told them exactly that.

“We have to divorce ourselves from the past,” Stolz said. “I don’t want them to be Todd Santos. I want them to develop their own identities. I want them to play within themselves. We’re not going to ask them to do the things Todd Santos did.”

If it sounds cold, if it sounds as if Santos is a relic to be relegated to some trophy case, that is the way it has to be.

Barrick is probably the most high-profile of the candidates, simply because he was part of that highly acclaimed 1987 recruiting harvest. He was the most heralded quarterback recruit since Jim Plum came out of Helix. What he has to hope is that he does not fall prey to what we will call the Jim Plum Syndrome.

Plum, you will recall, ended up spending his career behind an unknown kid who came to SDSU from Selma, Calif. That would be Todd Santos.

Platt, at this point, is probably Barrick’s stiffest competition. He, too, is a local product, from Chula Vista High School and then Southwestern, but he did not get the attention Barrick got at Fallbrook. Platt blossomed out of the spotlight at Southwestern, where he passed for 4,500 yards in two years.

Skoog has to be the dark horse at this point because he is pitching for the SDSU baseball team and will not participate in spring practice until after spring break. Barrick and Platt, again listed alphabetically, will come out of the spring first and second.

“Brad’s probably running a little bit ahead of Barrick right now,” Stolz said, “but it’s a long, long, long way from being decided. The final decision, really, doesn’t come until the ballgames, when we see what they can do.”

What, then, would their attributes be?

Stolz, proving to be as agile as he hopes his quarterback will be, scrambled quickly out of the pocket. He wasn’t going to be sacked by this question.

“We don’t know yet,” he said. “I like ‘em both mentally. I like their attitudes and leadership qualities. As far as what they’ve accomplished, I can’t say yet. They do have talent. They’re young players with raw talent. They will both be fine quarterbacks.”

I had heard that both Barrick and Platt, alphabetically again, have stronger arms than Santos.

“That’s baloney,” Stolz said. “I read that kind of stuff in newspapers because some pro scout said something about Todd not having a strong arm. That’s asinine. Some scout probably saw him when he was playing with a broken wrist. Todd has a very strong arm.”

Since it already has been established that the new SDSU quarterback will not be measured against Santos, this avenue seemed pointless to pursue.

In terms of personality, Barrick and Platt go in different directions. Barrick is reserved and introspective, kind of like you-know-who. Platt is confident to the point of maybe being a little cocky, a trait that is certainly not foreign to quarterbacks.

Barrick and Platt. Platt and Barrick. With maybe that fellow Skoog literally coming out of the bullpen.

Only one will be the quarterback.

“We’ll pick the one we can win with,” Stolz said. “We don’t have to have a Todd Santos to execute our offense.”

There was that name again.

The legends live on, but the Aztecs are lucky in one sense: Since their legend simply ran out of eligibility, they are undergoing a neat and orderly passing of the baton. It is a bit messier to replace a legend who has expressed no intention to depart. Ask the Chargers.