By Tyler Mayforth
Daily Record Sports
San Marcos —
Texas State can add more question marks to an already murky quarterback situation.
Redshirt freshman Eric Soza, whose play in the spring gave him a leg up on the race for the starting nod in the fall, recently left the program. Soza informed head coach Brad Wright before the semester ended that he wouldn’t be returning to San Marcos in the fall.
“It surprised us and obviously we hoped that he’d want to stick around and compete for the starting position, but he felt it was in his best interests to transfer,” Wright said. “Once that happens, all you can do is to wish him luck.”
Soza’s departure came as a shock to many within the program since he proved in the spring to be a better option at quarterback than redshirt junior Tim Hawkins.
While Hawkins appeared in 11 games for Texas State, he showed little to convince the coaches he retained any knowledge from those outings. Soza, on the other hand, didn’t appear in a regular season game and was the quarterback of the scout team and had to memorize 11 different offensive schemes throughout the season to give the Bobcats’ defense the best look possible at their upcoming opponent.
Soza looked to have a stronger rapport with the receivers, knowing when they’d come out of their breaks and his passes were crisp and on target. He didn’t dance around in the pocket as much as Hawkins and many players said Soza was more of a vocal leader than Hawkins not only in the huddle but in the locker room and weight room.
“You’re talking about a guy who only had a few weeks to look at our playbook in the fall and then had to go right into helping us game plan,” Wright said during spring practice. “Eric has all of the intangibles to be a great quarterback and he’s a coach’s son, so I had no doubt he could come out here and be able to perform.”
Soza didn’t perform too well in the first spring scrimmage, but in the Maroon and Gold spring game, he led the offense on five scoring drives. Hawkins, on the other hand, continued to struggle in the pocket and only completed 45 percent of his passes for 41 yards.
Once spring practice ended, Texas State figured it had a two-horse race for starting quarterback. While Bryan Hill and Alvaro Garcia are still in the mix, Soza and Hawkins distanced themselves as No. 1a and No. 1b, respectively.
Two months later, the Bobcats are back to square one — finding two quarterbacks who will step up.
“We put all of our eggs in two baskets (Eric and Tim) and now we have to find someone else to fill that second basket,” Wright said. “We have some guys who can do it, but it could all change in the fall.”
Once two-a-days begin, heralded recruit Tyler Arndt arrives on campus and will find his path to start as a true freshman remarkably clearer. Arndt has the tools (6-foot-3, 188-pound, three-star rating) but the biggest question will be if he has it mentally to compete at the next level off the bat.
If Arndt walks into the first fall practice and makes his presence known, then continues to impress the coaches throughout the fall workouts, Texas State’s coaches would be hard-pressed not to throw the three-star recruit into the fire. Hawkins, on the other hand, needs to prove he deserves more than just spot usage out of the shotgun.
If Hawkins doesn’t Hill or Garcia wouldn’t mind taking his spot.
“There’s going to be some serious competition here once two-a-days begin,” Wright said. “In my opinion, we have fall camp and four non-conference games before we decide who’s going to be the guy to lead us through conference.”
Texas State opens the 2010 season Sept. 4 when it travels to Houston to face the Cougars. The Bobcats open conference play Oct. 9 at Southeastern Louisiana.
