Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @TheHungry_Hippo
One question has been hanging like a rain cloud over the University of Colorado football team since last November. Who will be starting at quarterback for the Buffs in 2016?
Incumbent starter Sefo Liufau went down with a Lisfranc fracture in his foot last season against USC. Freshman Cade Apsay, who has since been dismissed from the football program, took over for him and nearly led the Buffs to victory, but Colorado would ultimately lose 27-24.
Liufau is confident that he will be ready for summer camp in August as well as the Buffs’ season opener against Colorado State on September 2, but the injury has been known to require longer than a full year for the patient to fully recover.
Rushing Liufau back onto the field does not seem to be something that head coach Mike MacIntyre wants to do.
With Liufau out, senior quarterback Jordan Gehrke is the only player at that position with collegiate experience. Perhaps that’s even a strong statement. Gehrke’s “collegiate experience” consisted of limited action in 2014 and 2015, where he completed 32-of-68 passes for 286 yards. He had one passing touchdown and was picked off once in the action he saw.
There are currently two freshman quarterbacks on the Buffs’ roster, none of whom have seen any action at the collegiate level.
There’s Tyler McGarry, a six-foot-one, 190 pound addition from Studio City, California. He played football at Notre Dame High School for only his junior and senior years. At the position over those two years, he completed 10 of 23 passes for 220 yards and had two touchdowns as well as two interceptions. Yes, that’s his stat line for two seasons, not a single game.
Nothing is certain as of yet, but don’t count on seeing that much of McGarry in 2016.
There’s also Steven Montez, who as of now seems like a more promising candidate. In the Buffs’ annual Spring game last Saturday, Montez was 12-of-21 with an interception. Nothing flashy, but for an inexperienced freshman, he performed well.
“Athletically, he has ability in all that he does,” said head coach Mike MacIntyre after the Spring game. “He’s going to be a real good layer for us here for a long time.”
However, MacIntyre did express hesitation at the prospect of Montez being the starter.
“If everything works out with the other guys, I don’t know if he’s quite ready for that yet,” he said.
By “other guys,” Mac is referring to two people. The first is the aforementioned Liufau, who’s resting his foot and fighting to become healthy again as soon as possible. But the real wildcard for the Buffs is Texas Tech graduate transfer Davis Webb.
Webb led the Red Raiders to a victory in the 2013 Holiday Bowl over Arizona State but got bogged down by injuries in the following seasons. Webb announced his commitment to CU back in January and has visited Boulder and the University of Colorado campus.
MacIntyre remains confident in the commitment (which was never put to ink) despite Webb’s recent visit to California. It is rumored that he plans to visit Auburn as well, keeping all options on the table despite his verbal commitment.
After the Spring game last Saturday, MacIntyre said that “he [Webb] told me he’s definitely coming. He told me last night and the other day that he was coming.”
MacIntyre’s confidence in him is soothing, but will Webb turn out to be a mercenary for hire? Will he go to the football program that best suits his needs and chances to gear up for a potential run at the NFL Draft?
Things seemed to be looking good for the Buffaloes. The defense is deep, and has many returning starters. The offense lost star wide receiver Nelson Spruce and offensive lineman Stephane Nembot, but other than that, the running backs are looking impressive as is the receiving core.
But the program now finds itself without a captain to command the ship. As of now, it seems that quite a bit is resting on Webb’s decision. If he were to back out of his commitment and go elsewhere, the Buffs would be stuck in a rut. It almost seemed too good to be true that a bowl-winning, experienced quarterback was coming to CU. No disrespect to Liufau, but if anyone’s the most capable of leading the Buffs to a winning record, it’s Webb.
If Webb goes elsewhere, that may put more pressure on Liufau to suit up as soon as possible. And even if he does make a speedy recovery and is back on the field in August to practice with the team for a month, will he be 100 percent? How much should we really expect from him, coming off of such as nasty injury?
The Buffs currently face a tidal wave of uncertainty. The picturesque ending where Liufau leads the Buffs to a bowl in his senior season may very well be falling to pieces. So Buffs fans, keep your fingers crossed that Webb stays true to his word and that Liufau makes a full and speedy recovery. Or else there could be trouble.
