Alabama State head coach Reggie Barlow spent most of his playing days in Tampa Bay following head coach Jon Gruden around and taking notes. Barlow had dreams of running his own program one day and was enamored with Gruden, who had achieved the ultimate -- a Super Bowl title -- in only a few short years of coaching.
Given that, Barlow figured Gruden might have a few tricks worth remembering. Some of them, Barlow said, have been worth trying out.
Freshman Devin Dominquez is one of six Alabama State quarterbacks on the roster.
For example, Gruden had this thing about wanting a lot of quarterbacks around. He loved having options at the position, how competition made everyone better and how the variety of talents opened up new possibilities in the playbook."He would've had 10 of them on the roster if he could have," Barlow said of Gruden.
Barlow's taking that approach to heart, literally.
After watching former ASU coach Charlie Coe struggle to find a consistent QB last year with just two options, Barlow opened camp a week ago with six on the roster. There's last year's starter, junior Alex Engram; junior college transfer Chris Mitchell; redshirt freshman Darius Mathis; and incoming freshmen John Andrews, Brandon Dowdell and Devin Dominquez.
"That's just one thing that always stuck with me about coach Gruden," Barlow said. "He always said he wanted options at QB. The more the better. That made sense to me."
This is no case of quantity and no quality either. Almost all of the QBs have legitimate shots at playing time, especially Engram, Mitchell and Dominquez. Mathis is a talented athlete who the coaches might move to receiver. Andrews, who is one of the quickest guys on the team, can do pretty much anything.
"These guys are really pushing me," said Engram, who Barlow called the frontrunner right now. "I knew I'd have some competition, but these guys can play. They've come in here gunning for the spot. We're a team and we're helping each other, but we're all battling as hard as we can."
It's produced exactly what Barlow hoped it would -- good quarterback play. In some cases, unexpectedly good QB play.
"We wanted to move Mathis out to receiver pretty quick, but he's making that tough. He's thrown the skin off the ball the first few days," Barlow said. "We can't move him."
Mathis, who said he's willing to play any position to help the team, has been at least as sharp in passing drills as Engram. His only problem has been consistency.
"I think I'm much better now than last year, but I've obviously got a long way to go," Mathis said. "My biggest thing is just staying consistent and doing my thing every time out. That's been my one biggest flaw."
While Engram and Mathis were the top two through much of the first week, they weren't the ones drawing attention when the Hornets put on pads Thursday. Instead, it was Dominquez who showed off an incredibly strong arm and was surprisingly accurate.
Dominquez's presence is a story all by itself. He wasn't a highly sought after recruit or even a last-minute signee. In fact, the coaches didn't know anything about Dominquez until a few weeks ago, when a tape came over from the ASU baseball coaches.
Dominquez, at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, is a rather imposing pitcher it turns out. He played both football and baseball in high school, but was a QB for only his senior year, in which he threw for more than 3,000 yards. The coaches liked what they saw and invited Dominquez to fall camp. He's perfectly happy there.
"I'll be sticking this out," he said. "I've started it, and when I start something, I finish it. I love football. I just wasn't recruited much out of high school for it."
That wasn't the case for transfer Chris Mitchell, who came to ASU from East Mississippi Junior College as a sought-after prospect. Mitchell was selected to the Mississippi Junior College all-star team last year and ended up winning the all-star game MVP award.
At ASU, he's trying hard to learn the offense and establish a leadership role in a short period of time.
"It's a little tough to be a leader out here having just come in," Mitchell said. "The guys have been great, but it's still tough. I think I'll get there, no doubt about that. But it's a little tougher. Right now, I'm just trying to make sure I'm doing the best I can. Everything else will come."
As they all continue to fight for the top spot, Barlow continues to watch with a smile.
"That's a great thing for this football team," he said. "There are some serious athletes in that group. All of them are only going to get better."
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