There will be a quarterback competition at Arkansas State this fall, after all.
Since spring practice ended last month, Coach Blake Anderson has dismissed one quarterback with starting experience and waved goodbye to the quarterback who had been at the school the longest. That left four scholarship players at the position, but none of whom had taken a snap in an FBS game.
Anderson, who will enter his third season at ASU this fall, said last week that he wasn't concerned about his quarterback depth, despite the dismissal of James Tabary and the announced intentions to transfer by Cameron Birse. But he didn't close the door on a late addition.
"It's possible," Anderson said last week. "We've got our ears open and are still looking and know that there's a potential fifth-year guy out there. And, if we find one that can help us win this fall, we'd definitely look at that as a possibility."
About 48 hours later, ASU had one.
Chad Voytik, a graduate transfer from the University of Pittsburgh, told his hometown newspaper he was transferring to ASU for the fall.
Voytik, who started 14 games over the past two seasons for the Panthers, hasn't signed his grant-in-aid form, so ASU coaches can't publicly comment on the addition. But from a beach near Destin, Fla., Voytik said by phone this week that he's ready to jump feet first into a competition Anderson and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner told him is wide open.
"They said that nobody earned the job by any means in the spring," said Voytik, who is vacationing with friends and family before starting classes at ASU on June 1. "It's an open competition, and they were looking for someone experienced and who could step in quickly and lead and take command on the offensive side of the ball."
Voytik is willing to jump at that chance after losing his starting spot for the Panthers at the beginning of last season.
The 6-1, 215-pounder started all 13 games for the Panthers in 2014. He completed 61 percent of his passes for 2,233 yards with 16 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He also rushed for 466 yards as the Panthers went 6-7. He started the 2015 season opener, a victory over Youngstown State, but then was benched and played sparingly the rest of the year.
Voytik announced in January his intentions to seek a graduate transfer and called Anderson, who offered Voytik a scholarship out of high school when he was offensive coordinator at Southern Miss.
At the time, Voytik said, Anderson needed a quarterback on campus for spring practice, but he had to finish out the semester at Pitt so he could graduate. So ASU signed Justice Hansen for spring practice, and Voytik committed to FCS-level Eastern Kentucky.
But Anderson called back recently, and Voytik was in Jonesboro last weekend for a visit and is planning to move to Jonesboro later this month.
Voytik cited the offensive style and cast of players around him — there are three players on offense who started at Power Five conference schools — as reasons for the change of heart.
“It just seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up,” he said.
Voytik’s focus will shift toward winning a starting job for his final year of eligibility.
“Of course I’m going to have to earn it,” he said. “I don’t want anything to be handed to me. I think it’s a great opportunity for me to go in and compete and earn the job.”
His biggest competition for the job figures to be Hansen, who started ASU’s final spring scrimmage, then became the presumptive favorite after the departures of Tabary and Birse. Hansen started his career at Oklahoma but spent last year at Butler (Kan.) Community College before arriving at ASU in January.
After spring practice, Anderson said the quarterback competition was far from over, but he commented about Hansen’s “ability to extend plays with his feet” more than once.
Hansen said after spring workouts that his biggest summer task will be to “help in a leadership role.”
He’ll have company at quarterback now in Voytik, who said he thinks he’ll make up for lost time because of his experience.
“I had to learn three offenses in the past four years. I know football,” he said. “It’s just a matter of the terminology and the tempo and to earn their trust and go from there.”
Help on the way
Arkansas State has four scholarship quarterbacks on its roster, but none of them have taken a snap for ASU or in an FBS game. When Chad Voytik arrives on campus this summer, he’ll compete for the starting job as by far the most experienced quarterback in the group after transferring from Pittsburgh. His statistics for the Panthers:
YEAR C-A-I PCT. YARDS TD AVG./G
2015 16-24-1 66.7 112 1 16.0
2014 176-287-7 61.3 2,233 16 171.8
2013 6-11-0 54.5 116 0 29.0
TOTAL 198-322-8 61.5 2,461 17 102.5
Sports on 05/11/2016