Doug Marrone met with the local media today (that's SO 2004) to reaffirm that even though Greg Paulus is coming to SU, Ryan Nassib is still #1 on the depth chart...for the time being:
"Ryan is our starting quarterback," Marrone said. "I want to make sure that I educate everyone on this - part of opening up the spring practice and letting everyone come in was to make sure that we as a staff, once we made a decision as a staff that there was separation between players, not just quarterback or any position, that we were going to be able to put someone in the starting rotation."
For Marrone, it's about getting the best players the most reps. So the good news for Ryan is, he will still get tons of experience with the first team in August. That said, his status at the top of the QB food chain is anything but secure:
"To sit here and say that, the starting lineup, when we print this (post-spring) depth chart, is locked in stone, is ridiculous. A lot can go on between now and the start of preseason from a standpoint, has everyone reached their goals? How much have they worked to get better? Have they gained weight? Good weight or have they gained poor weight? How's their conditioning? A lot of times, there's always a saying, you can eat your way out of a starting job."
Well, I don't know if Ryan is down at the IHOP every Sunday trying to break Coach's pancake-eating record but I doubt that will be his downfall. It might just come down to, you know, how he and Paulus stack up in practice. (stack up? pancakes? GENIUS! PRINT IT!)
Marrone also mentioned that he told Nassib and Cam Dantley when SU started recruiting Paulus and how they should welcome the competition. They apparently did, at least to him. Besides, its not like they had a choice in the matter.
Finally, now comes the time to officially evaluate Greg and see just how well he measures up against his fellow QBs. Surely Greg's arm has been well-tested and his physical ability well-documented. How much of a look have you gotten at Greg exactly, Doug:
"I haven't seen him throw."
Oh.