BEAUMONT, Texas – With the start of preseason camp in full swing, and Lamar University in the midst of drills, LamarCardinals.com will be doing its annual position-by-position breakdown of the team heading into the season opener against No. 8 Idaho (Aug. 31, 2023).
Today LamarCardinals.com will be breaking down the LU quarterbacks (I’ll bet you thought we were going with the secondary in our next post, so I’m doing QBs today just to keep you guessing).
QBs Quick Facts:
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 2/1
Starters Returning/Lost: 1/0
Newcomers: 2
Stats:
The Cardinals completed nearly 48 percent of their passes last season for 1,911 yards and 11 touchdowns (154-of-322) with 10 interceptions. The signal callers also carried the ball 79 times for 255 yards and three touchdowns (3.2 ypc).
The Storyline:
For starters, those of you who thought that I would be announcing the starting quarterback in this article will be highly disappointed. This is just a brief look at the position as a whole, nothing more.
The quarterback position is an interesting spot for Big Red entering the 2023 campaign. LU returns a wealth of experience and athleticism between its two returning letterwinners – Mike Chandler (6-0, 190, So.) and Jakolby Longino (6-3, 205, So.). Due to COVID (and the changes to the redshirt rules for incoming freshman over the last few year), the Cardinals will have extra eligibility at this position.
A native of Converse, Texas, Chandler is entering his fourth season with the program, yet he is just a sophomore athletically. Due to his redshirt, and the COVID year which all players got back, Chandler returns to Beaumont with the experience of a savvy veteran even though he is still an underclassman.
During his career, the former three-star recruit (coming out of high school) has played in 22 games making 10 starts. He has completed 124-of-275 (.451) passes for 1,842 yards and 12 TDs. He has also carried the ball 106 times for 287 yards and four touchdowns.
For those who want to argue that after three seasons those numbers should be better, my reply is this: Chandler also took over as quarterback at the exact same time the Cards’ offensive line was going through a complete youth movement. I’m not placing any sort of a blame on the O-Line – we here at LamarCardinals.com have a great deal of respect for the offensive line (it’s about the only position in any sport that does that amount of work for the sole purpose of others receiving all the glory … which is another way of saying Unsung Hero). The facts are, when Chandler started his LU career, he was being protected primarily true or redshirt freshman. So, LU had 18- and 19-year-olds, some of whom had been in a Division I weight room for just a handful of weeks, going up against 21 – 22-year-olds who had been in a DI weight room for the last four to five years (if not longer). That is a trial by a very hot fire!
My point is, the experience will payoff for Chandler, and as well as this team.
With that being said, Chandler has been locked in a dogfight with Longino and junior college transfer Robert Coleman (6-0, 200, Jr.) during camp. Longino obviously has the experience edge here between he and Coleman and is playing some of his best football since arriving on campus.
Longino definitely has the size (standing 6-3, 205), a strong arm, and just like Chandler it’s fun to watch him break free and just run with the ball. During the 2022 season he played in five games completing 5-of-10 passes for 93 and carried the ball 12 times for 37 yards. Unfortunately, the majority of his time came in more of a mop-up role. Similar to Chandler, Longino was also a three-star coming out of high school. He signed with UTEP before making his way to the Golden Triangle.
Not to sound like a broken record, but Coleman also landed a three-star rating during his high school career before going the JUCO route (Mt. San Jacinto College). During his time in junior college, Coleman guided Mt. San Jacinto to a top 25 NJCAA national ranking and an American Division Championship runner-up finish. He’s a proven leader who completed better than 67 percent of his passes for nearly 4,500 yards and 45 touchdowns.
Odds are, the starting role against Idaho will come down between one of those three, but the Cardinals could have a dark horse in all of this. Another addition for the Red and White during signing period was Aiden McCown, a 6-2, 185 standout from Rusk, Texas. A three-star prospect (where have you heard that before) coming out of high school if his name sounds familiar to you it should. He is the son of NFL veteran Josh McCown, but before all of the comparisons in style of play, potential, and talk of Aiden being the next whoever – let’s keep in mind Aiden put together a healthy high school resume of his own and wasn’t signed to be the next Josh McCown. Aiden was signed to be the first Aiden McCown.
For those not familiar with Aiden’s prep accolades, he was rated as the No. 138 quarterback in the country a top 400 prospect in Lone Star State by On3.com. All that means is this young man has potential and as we all know, potential is nothing more than just potential until it is realized on the field. But McCown threw for more than 2,300 yards and 27 touchdowns (with just five interceptions) in his first high school season, while rushing for 780. He was recruited by several FBS programs but chose the Red and White. Maybe it’s too tall a task to expect him to win the starting role this season, but if not, McCown will have the opportunity to learn the system, and the coaching staff without the pressure of being the starter.
Not to be lost in the shuffle is Kendric Malone (5-11, 190, Tatum HS). While he might not have the size of the other signal callers on the roster, he can’t be forgotten. A 2022 redshirt, Malone is another dual threat for the Cards. During his high school career, he passed for just under 4,800 yards (2,300 of those coming during his senior year). He also rushed for more than 1,000 yards while scoring 28 touchdowns. He left Tatum having set five school records. He also brings quite a bit of talent to the position.
What I hope one can take from all of this is throughout preseason camp there has been a great deal of competition among the quarterbacks. As they say, iron sharpens iron, so this is a good thing for the future of the program. Obviously, each one wants the starting role, but they will each be rooting for the other no matter what happens. When it all comes down to it, the only thing that matters is what gives the team the best chance to win. Regardless of who gets the starting nod for game one – or any of the games moving forward – each knows they are just one play away from being called upon and they have to be ready for that moment.
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