Webb versus Berglund (and maybe Meacham too)
Jordan Webb started seven games under center for Kansas last year. The 6-0 sophomore was thrown into the fire during his freshman campaign and it showed. Often in an attempt to get something going with the offense, Webb threw eight interceptions and just seven touchdowns. He is not totally to blame for those numbers however. The line did not help him out and neither did the lack of a rushing attack. Webb did complete 56.5 percent of his passes, which is not horrible for a freshman who obviously was not ready to play Big 12 football quite yet.
That year of experience may work wonders for Webb, but most do not expect him to be playing much in 2011. That job would then belong to 6-4, 205 pound freshman Brock Berglund. Berglund may have been able to cement his spot as the Jayhawks starting quarterback if he went through with his plan to head to Lawrence in January after graduating early from high school. However, he stayed back home in Colorado and will battle for the job in the fall. Coach Turner Gill is trying to add speed at every position and that may play a role in who ends up at quarterback. Berglund is not quick, but he is elusive and on a team that ranked 112th in the nation in sacks given up, having a quarterback who can move around a little bit is a good idea.
More impressively, Berglund can move around without losing his cool. He will not force bad passes. He does not have the arm strength to be a great quarterback, but he is what this team needs…a leader who can make good decisions. If he can win some games by stretching out the field as a freshman, that would be great, but the Jayhawks mostly need to avoid turnovers and at least try to stretch the field every once in a while even if it is just a vain attempt to open up space for the ground game.
Senior Quinn Mecham started four games last season with no more success than Webb. However, the former junior college transfer is the most experienced option on the team and should not completely be written off quite yet. If Berglund arrives on campus and is obviously not the immediate answer, the job should not automatically go back to Webb. It would certainly be Webb’s to lose and that will be the case until Berglund arrives, but this is a quarterback battle that could go on well into the fall.
Read the in-depth football preview for this team
