QB Who? Crucial Quarterback Decisions Looming For Norfolk State & Prairie View A&M

NORFOLK STATE'S QB SITUATION

The quarterback situation is a tender subject for a head football coach to manage. In Norfolk State's 27-7 loss to Towson and their 34-31 overtime win against Virginia State, backup quarterback Otto Kuhns was brought in to replace starter Israel Carter.

Through two games, Carter has completed 13 of 21 (61.9%) passes for 96 passing yards and no touchdowns. Conversely, Kuhns has come off the bench to spark the Spartans' offense. This season, he's thrown 32/47 (68.1%) completions for 395 passing yards and two touchdowns.  

NSU's offense has been ineffective in the first two games with Carter as the quarterback, which could result from both the playcalling and the player. Coach Vick is taking the cautionary approach before making a switch.  

"We haven't made a decision as of yet," Coach Vick told HBCU Gameday's Steven Gaither on Monday's MEAC Coaches Press Conference. "We still got 'til tomorrow to decide. But, we want to go back and evaluate everything. Watch the film. I'll sit down with both of the quarterback and talk it through. Gotta do what's best for the team and what makes the most sense right now."

REASONS BEHIND PANTHERS MAKING THE SWITCH

Prairie View A&M made a quarterback change on Saturday night. Starter Cam Peters, who led the thrilling last-second 22-21 victory over crosstown rival Texas Southern at the Labor Day Classic, was replaced by backup Tevin Carter.  

"We wanted to play Tevin last week," Coach Tremaine Jackson said after the 27-21 loss to UT Rio Grande Valley. "We just didn't. It was so close until we didn't want to mess with it. We kind of had some momentum, which was different this week, we didn't have any. So we made the change. Tevin and Cam went back and forth in Fall Camp, so we got confidence in both of them. Felt like Tevin gave us the better chance in the second half, so we made that change."

Carter guided the Panthers to take the 21-20 lead with 13:00 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Vaqueros responded with a 6-play, 71-yard drive to score the go-ahead touchdown, leaving 2:21 on the clock for Carter and the Panthers to mount a comeback. Unfortunately, UTRGV stuffed Prairie View's final drive to win, 27-21.

Earlier last week, Coach Jackson told HBCU Legends, "I just think he's a winner," when he referred to trusting Cam Peters on the final play call of the Labor Day Classic.

Coach Jackson did say this about the possibility of making a switch: "We'll see who practices good this week. I always told myself that I wouldn't be one of those coaches saying that we would get back to the basics after a loss. Right, we'll get back to the basics."

Prairie View's and Norfolk's offenses were stagnant in Week 2 until the backup quarterbacks staged the teams' comebacks. Coaches Vick and Jackson will have to make decisions, and it may come to a difficult one that could affect the careers of these young student-athletes.

"The offense wasn't moving...We decided to make a change there, and it did create the spark we were looking for. We started scoring, we started moving the ball, sustaining drives, and so we just kind of kept it like it was after we made that change," Coach Jackson noted.

In most cases, early in a season, the coach typically stays with the anointed starter from Game 1. It's Game 3 on Saturday, where the Panthers will battle the Rice Owls, and the Spartans have a meeting set against Rutgers.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!