Stephon Masha was named Josh Woodrum’s replacement as starting quarterback following the conclusion of spring practice. That was months before the highly-touted true freshman Buckshot Calvert arrived on the scene. The 6’2″, 180 pound product from South Florida came in with plenty of fan fare.
Message board reports began to surface soon after Calvert arrived on campus stating he could make all the throws and would push Masha for the starting position. Of course, this all happened while practices were closed to the general public and the media. The first opportunity we had to watch Buckshot in live action was at the Flames Fan Fest a week before the season opener. He dazzled during the glorified scrimmage, finishing 7-for-7 passing for 113 yards and 4 touchdowns. At the time, everyone blew it off as coming against a vanilla, 2nd-string defense.
Stephon Masha
Fast-forward one week. Stephon Masha led an anemic offensive unit in the season opener against Virginia Tech. The Flames finished the game with 160 total yards on offense, the worst offensive performance for any Turner Gill-coached Liberty team. The performance was so bad, we were nearly at the level of the 2005, 1-10 Ken Karcher squad who had just 145 yards of total offense against William & Mary, the last time Liberty was held below 150 total yards. Masha was the main culprit, finishing the game against the Hokies 9-for-25 passing for 70 yards and 2 interceptions.
Was it all Masha’s fault? Offensive Coordinator Joe Dailey doesn’t think so. “I think it was some 1st and 2nd down issues where we had false started, which put us back 5 or 10 yards at a time,” Dailey said. “So, you’re trying to call plays on 2nd and 3rd down, and you still got 15 yards. It ain’t easy. Then, you’re asking (Masha) to push the ball down the field when they’re playing coverages that are designed to stop the long distance routes…It wasn’t just a Stephon Masha thing. A lot of it has to do with Virginia Tech and what they do.”
Calvert got in on one series against Virginia Tech. He was 0-for-2 passing with 1 interception and had 1 yard rushing in his 3 plays. Coach Dailey said the plan to play him was more of a contingency plan than anything Masha did or didn’t do. “We had discussed all along, what are we going to do with Buckshot? We always talk about having a contingency plan, you know, worst case scenario. If a starter goes down at every position, what are you going to do? So, we felt like we need to give him a series in that ball game in order to get his feet wet to try to get rid of the jitters that you have as a rookie. That wasn’t one of those situations where we need to play him because Stephon wasn’t playing well. It had to do with, we need a contingency plan, and we gotta be prepared if that does happen. Going forward, (Buckshot playing one series a game) may be the case. We haven’t sat down and discussed it, in totality, for this week. We’re going to let this game plan play itself out and make a decision at the conclusion of the week.”
Buckshot Calvert
Three plays isn’t a lot of experience, but it is more than nothing especially coming against the caliber of a Bud Foster-coached defense. Virginia Tech defensive back Greg Stroman made a phenomenal play to intercept Calvert’s 2nd pass attempt. “I know (Calvert) was a little frustrated, a little upset with himself,” Dailey said, “because he feels like he can make every throw on the field.”
Coach Gill and Dailey still say Masha is the guy, but he can’t continue to perform the way he did in week 1 and expect to keep his job. We all know that. The ball is in his court (I know, wrong sport analogy), and he has to perform well, beginning Saturday against Jacksonville. Despite his poor performance, Masha still exudes confidence in his ability to get the job done.
“(Stephon) hasn’t wavered,” Dailey said. “Not much is going to bother him. He’s internally motivated. He doesn’t need me to get after him, he pushes himself hard. He knows that he went against one of the best defenses’ in the country. So, to have any success, is good. Does he want more? Yeah, I think we all did. After the game, he was upset with himself, but he said, ‘Coach, I’m going to keep fighting. This isn’t over, this is round 1.’”
Masha is not the guy to take us where we want to go. His throwing mechanics are awful. Yes he can run, but not if he can’t pass effectively. The defense’s will make him throw the ball to beat them, he just can’t do it.
To the answer the question that is posed in the title, no, there is not a controversy; at least not yet. Masha is not the guy though and I’m not so sure he should have won the job. The coaching staff obviously know’s the’s the QB of the future so why not hand him the reigns now. Texas and Notre Dame are doing the same thing with their QB situations.