Patrick Witt has left the building.
Witt, who figured to battle for Nebraska’s starting quarterback position with Zac Lee, is leaving the program after finishing with spring semester classes in May.
“Patrick has decided that it is in his best interest to continue his college career at another school,” Husker head coach Bo Pelini said in a released statement. “Patrick is a great kid from a great family and I appreciate the contributions he has made to our football program. I wish him nothing but the best in the future and know he will be a success wherever he goes.”
The first thing that comes to mind in hearing of Witt’s departure from the program is should we really be surprised? After all, Witt, who would have entered his sophomore season in 2009, played at two different high schools (Wiley High School in Texas and Parkview High in Lilburn, Ga.).
Rivals.com ranked Witt among the top 20 pro-style quarterbacks in the nation and among the top 100 prospects in Texas. Witt was also a first-team academic all-state selection as a senior. He only visited Nebraska, but also received strong recruiting interest from Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma among others.
Not that Witt’s pre-Nebraska history is of any fault of Pelini and his staff because Bill Callahan’s staff recruited Witt, who redshirted the 2007 season before serving as Joe Ganz’s understudy in 2008. With Nebraska having gone to a more Spread-oriented look in 2008, thus slightly deviating from the West Coast Offense, that involves more quarterback running plays, the straight dropback passing Witt might not have been the odd man out for offensive coordinator Shawn Watson’s offense anyway.
So how does Witt’s departure impact the quarterback race? One would think the job belongs to Lee, who is mobile with a strong arm. Plus, he also has experience playing at the college level which includes his time at San Francisco City College.
Kody Spano redshirted last season after throwing more than 5,000 yards and rushing for about 900 his last two years at Stephenville High School in Texas. Incoming freshman Cody Green is loaded with potential and is on campus, which is a plus, but has some catching up to do. Plus, it’s likely going to be very rare that Pelini burns a redshirt on a freshman.
As for potential reasons why Witt transferred since neither he, the Husker coaches or his family are commenting on such reasons, maybe he is reading between the lines and does not think he is going to be the starter. The fact that either Witt or Lee would transfer is not unthinkable given that they were recruited by the previous coaching staff. Plus, the current staff is high on Green and to a lesser degree Spano.
If a starter is not named until fall as Watson indicated may happen a lot of time would be lost if somebody transferred at that point. I would think if Witt felt he had a strong chance of being the starter he would have stayed but it could also be that he feels even if he is the starter this coming season he may lose out to Green the following season.
One other factor could be that he knows the offense is going to evolve more requiring a mobile quarterback and of the candidates he is probably the least mobile.
I’m an alum that gives money but that’s just my two cents.
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