Oct. 4, 2010
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Long before this football season ever began, UCF coach George O'Leary knew that he would need contributions from quarterbacks Jeff Godfrey and Rob Calabrese to make it through the rugged 12-game schedule.
So it should come as no surprise now that O'Leary is planning on using both Godfrey and Calabrese on Wednesday night when the Knights (2-2) host UAB (1-3) at Bright House Networks Stadium in the Conference USA opener for UCF.
Godfrey, UCF's freshman phenom who has electrified the fanbase at times, will start at quarterback for the Knights. He nearly rallied the Knights to victory against NC State in the second game of the season, won his first collegiate start at Buffalo and then had an up and down performance in the heartbreaking 17-13 loss at Kansas State two weeks ago. Godfrey ran for 99 yards against K-State, but threw two interceptions and O'Leary said the offense missed several scoring opportunities because of inconsistencies in the pass game.
Calabrese, a junior and a part-time starter each of the past three seasons, started the season-opening win against South Dakota and played three quarters of the NC State loss. He played two series against Buffalo, and O'Leary said one of his big regrets from the K-State loss was not using Calabrese to give Godfrey a chance to watch the game unfold from the sidelines.
O'Leary feels that with Godfrey still in his infancy stage as a college quarterback that it's best to juggle the quarterbacks from time to time, starting as early as Wednesday's nationally televised game (ESPN) for the Knights.
``Of course you need both quarterbacks. It's only natural when you have a young freshman quarterback and you give him a chance to get a blow out there and give him a chance to see what's going on and get his head (cleared) if he's making some mistakes,'' O'Leary said. ``If they are older kids you go with one quarterback because they are used to the pressure. But with a young kid you have to have two ready to play and get them both in the game plan.''
UAB, which has had three of its four games decided on the final play, will also play two quarterbacks, but for vastly different reasons. The Blazers use sophomore David Isabelle to run the ball and he's their leading rusher with 327 yards and four scores on the ground. And when UAB is in passing sets, it's junior Bryan Ellis who is usually inserted into the game. Ellis has thrown for 777 yards and four scores and he passed for 373 yards and a TD two weeks ago against the University of Tennessee.
``We really have to play attention to their substitutions and with one quarterback be on alert for this and with another quarterback be on alert for that,'' UCF senior linebacker Lawrence Young said. ``As (defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable) says, `Play with your eyebrows up.'''
Godfrey was electrifying two weeks ago against Kansas State, nearly becoming the first UCF quarterback to run for 100 yards since 1999. But O'Leary was miffed at the freshman for missing several wide open receivers and for throws that were delivered not on time. O'Leary wishes he could have briefly pulled Godfrey from the game to give him a chance to clear his head while playing in a hostile environment.
``If we made a mistake coaching-wise the last game, we should have got him off the field in a couple of situations just to make sure he knew what was going on,'' O'Leary said. ``You put a lot of heart on a kid to know everything and you even shorten the game plan to help him out, but things change up. He just doesn't have enough experience to know where to deliver the ball. He's even asked to come off and see some of the reads. And that's smart of him.
``(Using two quarterbacks) is the kind of team that we have to be, especially with his youth,'' O'Leary continued. ``He's going to be a terrific player in the future and the rest of the year, but there's a time now where he needs to see what's going on. He's still the number one quarterback, but we need to have the ability to play both guys.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.