After six servings of Brett Basanez and a pinch of young Alexander Webb, Chef Randy Walker will once again unveil his house special, his signature dish — quarterback Tony Stauss. (Blue Chips come on the side.) For Stauss’ sake, let’s hope the Nittany Lions have their regular feeding sometime before noon EST on Saturday.
Like it or not, Stauss is back in the role everyone thought he would fill. While Basanez will spend Saturday baseball-capped and trying to keep weight off his ginger left leg, the pride of Racine, Wis., will lead the Wildcats into one of the most unforgiving environments in sports in front of a national television audience. However, according to Dr. Walker, Basanez is likely to return for next week’s homecoming affair with Purdue. Given that Basanez is NU’s proven starter, it doesn’t matter if Stauss throws for 300 yards or 30. If he is healthy enough to play, Basanez will be back under center.
Now, you could argue that Stauss never had a chance to win the top job, that one dreadful quarter-and-a-half in the Rockies was not enough to judge his ability. Back then Jason Wright was nobody, the offensive line was less cohesive than the Jackson family, and the defense had no clue how to stop the run. … Well, some things haven’t changed.
But Air Force was not Stauss’ only opportunity to shine. He had spring practice and Camp Kenosha to abuse the catatonic NU ‘D,’ as well as plenty of fourth-quarter garbage time late last season. And the seeds of doubt were planted early for Walker, whose voice wavered in April while calling his prize recruit “the guy.”
It didn’t take long for Walker to pull the plug on Stauss, exercising a Larry Boa-like hook late in the first half against Air Force and relegating his stud quarterback to sideline pacer.
So where does this leave us?
The bottom line is Stauss is not the right guy for NU. Walker knows it. The team knows it. Deep down, Stauss knows it. The spread offense demands a mobile quarterback, an innovative quarterback, a scramble-for-10-seconds-before-outrunning-cornerbacks-type quarterback. For two-and-a-half years, Walker had it in Zak Kustok. This season, Basanez has meshed with the system and taken command of the offense. With a little more polish and endurance, he’ll be a very good Big Ten quarterback.
Stauss, conversely, is your by-the-book dropback pocket passer. Speed is not his M.O., neither is improvisation. Give him a pro-set formation with a trio of quality receivers and a quintet of hogs on the line, and he’s an effective quarterback. Come to think of it, give him the NU offense of 1999 and he’d do just fine.
But putting Stauss in the spread is like putting a Pinto in the Daytona 500. He just can’t keep up. When Stauss was recruited in 1999, he was expecting to play in a traditional offense. Then things changed.
Stauss is only a sophomore. He has a strong arm, and he loves to study the game. He will fit in at some Division I-A school, just not at NU. Although he would forfeit a year of eligibility, Stauss should start shopping around for a new school, if he hasn’t already.
Look at it this way: If all goes well in State College on Saturday, he’ll have one heck of an audition tape.
Adam Rittenberg is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
