Blake Anderson isn't anywhere close to naming Chad Voytik the starting quarterback for Arkansas State next season.
But even before the graduate transfer from the University of Pittsburgh has arrived on campus, Anderson thinks he's made the Red Wolves better at their most important position.
"I think what we created was some stability and definitely some competition and we brought some maturity to the room that we wouldn't have had otherwise," Anderson said. "He's just different than the other guys that we have."
Anderson addressed the addition of Voytik, who committed to ASU earlier this month and will enroll for summer courses that begin June 1, and the progress of his quarterbacks at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock on Thursday while in town for the ASU athletics caravan.
Anderson, who is trying to replace two-year starter Fredi Knighten, watched Justice Hansen, a transfer from Butler County Community College, James Tabary and Cameron Birse take the bulk of the quarterback snaps in spring practice without any of them separating from another. Then, his options were limited.
Since spring ended, Tabary, who started three games last season, has been dismissed from the team for what Anderson said then were "inappropriate and disappointing choices" and Birse has decided to transfer.
The departures, Anderson said Thursday, made adding another quarterback an "immediate issue."
"We've got too good of talent not to have somebody [experienced]," Anderson said. "It was something we could not pass up on."
Voytik, who Anderson tried to recruit out of high school while at Southern Miss, started 14 games for Pittsburgh, including the entire 2014 season while completing 61.3 percent of his passes for 2,233 yards and 16 touchdowns.
He'll compete mostly this summer and fall with Hansen, who began his career at Oklahoma before playing last season at Butler, and D.J. Pearson, who redshirted last season while recovering from hip surgery.
Anderson called Pearson"one of the most improved players" in spring practice, but as a redshirt freshman is likely not a serious candidate for the starting position.
Hansen was inconsistent during spring.
"There were days that I thought he looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the country and there were days where I thought he couldn't play for a good high school team," Anderson said. "It's hard to really know what he's capable of yet."
Anderson and Voytik originally talked in January. But Voytik needed to earn his finance degree from Pittsburgh in order to play immediately upon a transfer. So, ASU signed Hansen, while Voytik took visits to Memphis and Indiana before committing to Eastern Kentucky, an FCS school, in April.
But after the departures of Tabary and Birse, Anderson brought Voytik in on a visit, Voytik committed soon after and now ASU will have next season a quarterback who has taken snaps in an FBS game.
"He's a grown man," Anderson said. "He's six months away from raising his own family type of guy. He's grown. I like what he brings to the room, and he was willing to step in without any guarantees on being the starter. He has enough confidence to say, 'I don't need you to guarantee me, give me an opportunity and I'll compete.' You like that."
Anderson also said that tight end Jerry Moorehead is transferring, likely to Ouachita Baptist. Defensive back Sterling Wright and defensive lineman E.J. Sutton will also transfer, but it's not known yet where.