Quarterback Question?

By Adam Kiefaber

-I reached deep in the archives and picked out the fifth-ever blog that I wrote for this site. Many of you didn’t follow Buckeye Lane back then, so I figured it was time to run the story again. Pretty sad on how little things have changed-

By Adam Kiefaber

The biggest question heading into the 2007 football season has to be, who is going to be the signal caller for this team?

2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, although disappointing in the National Championship game, could have been Ohio State’s best quarterback of all time. In 2006, Smith completed 65.3% of his passes, tossed for 2,542 yards with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 30-to-6. More importantly for Ohio State fans, Smith led the Buckeyes to three straight victories over rival Michigan. In those three games, Smith completed 68.3% of his passes, tossed for 857 yards with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 7-to-1. Also, in those games Smith rushed for 194 yards on 33 carries and had two rushing touchdowns.

The Buckeye quarterback history isn’t pretty. Art Schlicter came up one-point shy of giving Ohio State a National Championship and was the fourth overall pick in the 1982 NFL draft. However, Schlicter, a confessed compulsive gambler, best statistics include being in more than 30 prisons and committing over 20 felonies. Rex Kern led Ohio State to a National Championship in 1968, but played a short career in the NFL as a defensive back. 1987 starting quarterback Tom Tupa had a solid 17-year-old career in the NFL, but it was as a punter and not as a quarterback. However, please remember this for the next Trivia Night at your local pub, Tupa scored the first two-point conversion in NFL history.

When he scored as a Cleveland Brown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the season’s opening weekend in 1994, he earned the nickname ‘Two-Point Tupa’.

Mike Tomczak, Joe Germaine, Bob Hoying and Kent Graham never started with regularity in the NFL. Craig Krenzel, although he is already out of the NFL, deserves credit for leading the Buckeyes to a National Championship.

Compared to every other position, a Buckeye quarterback doesn’t do well in the NFL and he usually doesn’t do that great at Ohio State.

Ohio State fans know that they don’t need another Smith, but a Krenzel will do.

So who will start in 2007 and how will they perform?

Here are the nominees ¬–

Todd Boeckman- junior (St. Henry- Ohio) 6-foot-5 235 pounds
Robbie Schoenhoft- sophomore (St. Xavier- Ohio) 6-foot-6 240 pounds
Antonio Henton- redshirt freshman (Peach County- Georgia) 6-foot-2 210 pounds

The Leader: Todd Boeckman didn’t blow anyone away in the spring game, but is expected to be the starter heading into the home opener against Youngstown State on September 1st. However, all three quarterbacks are expected to see the field in that possible blowout against Jim Tressel’s old team.

In the spring game, Boeckman completed 6 of 14 passes for 103 yards; he didn’t throw a touchdown or an interception and was sacked twice. However, he did fumble the football, which was forced and returned 80 yards for a touchdown by senior linebacker Larry Grant.

Boeckman competed in very limited action during the 2005 and the 2006 seasons. He might best be known for having the camera all over him at the 2004 Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State. Justin Zwick got the start while Troy Smith served a suspension for taking money. Zwick missed five games due to a shoulder injury that season and when he needed to be spelled during the Alamo Bowl, Ohio State decided to line-up true freshman Ted Ginn Jr. at quarterback rather than waste a year of eligibility during Boeckman’s redshirt season.

Boeckman was ranked as the 19th best pro-style quarterback in the nation and was the 13th best Ohio prospect in the 2003 recruiting class by Rivals.com. According to Scout.com, Boeckman had offers from Iowa, Maryland and Pittsburgh. Both sites labeled Boeckman as a three-star recruit.

The Best? : Rob Schoenhoft showed off a strong arm while quarterbacking for the Scarlet and Grey teams during the spring game. In the game, he completed 7 of 15 passes for 83 yards; he threw for one touchdown and no interceptions and was sacked once. He did fumble, but made up for it on a touchdown drive where he scrambled for a first down on 3rd and 9 and then competed a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brandon Smith.

In 2005, Schoenhoft was a bigger recruit than Boeckman was in 2003. Which if you think about makes Boeckman a fifth-year junior. Anyways, Schoenhoft was ranked as the sixth best pro-style quarterback in the nation and was the eighth best prospect from Ohio by Rivals.com. Schoenhoft picked Ohio State over big-time programs that included Florida, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame. He thought that he would be given a great opportunity to play and now he just has to get by Boeckman. Websites Rivals and Scout had Schoenhoft labeled as a four-star recruit.

The next Troy Smith? : Antonio Henton excited fans and coaches alike in spring practice with his athleticism. However, he showed in the spring game that he is not ready to start at the quarterback position. Overall, Henton threw three interceptions, fumbled once and completed 8 of 16 passes for only 45 yards. Henton did rush for 36 yards on 9 carries while quarterbacking for both the Scarlet and the Grey.

Henton could be the quarterback of the future, but I don’t expect him to be a serious contender to start until Boeckman leaves after the 2008 season. He might be able to rotate in with Schoenhoft in the 2009 season and could possibly start in 2010.

Henton turned down offers from Illinois and Maryland. Scout.com had Henton labeled as four-star recruit while Rivals.com had him ranked at three-star status.

What to Expect:
• Once the season begins with home games against Youngstown State and Akron everybody will have their own favorite.
• Some will like Boeckman, claiming that is solid and won’t make many mistakes, a la Craig Krenzel.
• Others will favor Schoenhoft because he has the strongest arm.
• And the rest will like Henton because he won’t get the playing time that his fans think he deserves. Similar to how Troy Smith’s career started sitting behind Justin Zwick.
• No doubt in my mind, the media and the fans will begin to panic the week Ohio State travels to Washington on September 15th. However, I believe Boeckman and Schoenhoft can battle for the job until the October 6th date at Purdue.

Who do you think should start?

Who is the best for 2007?

How about 2008?

Would anyone of these quarterbacks have a chance to play if Ohio State lands top 2008 recruit Terrelle Pryor?

Also, I ran by this interesting story from The Buckeye Blog- Brutus Buckeye nominated for Mascot Hall of Fame- The story provides a link where you can vote for Brutus