Larry Smith will enter the 2011 season with more career starts than all but two quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference — he’ll jump to second on that list if Stephen Garcia is not reinstated at South Carolina. He is going on five seasons and three head coaches as a student-athlete at Vanderbilt. His first career start was the 2008 Music City Bowl, one of the most important victories in school history. Over his next 20 starts, he took as much blame as anyone in the program for the way the Commodores regressed to SEC futility with back-to-back 2-10 seasons. Over those two years, he could have given so many more excuses for his or his team’s performance than he ever did.
This spring, Smith benefitted from James Franklin’s arrival on campus as much as any player on the team. Sharing snaps in practice with redshirt sophomore Charlie Goro and walk-on John Townsley, he carried himself like a starting quarterback, both on the field at practice and with the media. At the Black and Gold Spring Game last Sunday, he put up numbers for the Black Team in their 19-7 victory that would have constituted the best or second-best statistical performance of his SEC career: 16 completions for 233 yards and a touchdown, an interception on an overthrow and a touchdown reception on a halfback pass from Zac Stacy.
As far as the 2011 Commodores are concerned, Larry Smith is The Guy at quarterback. But that will not be enough to convince Franklin to stray from his plan not to declare a starter until preseason practice in the fall. And it shouldn’t be.
Over the summer, Vanderbilt will add four healthy quarterbacks to its practice rotation. Franklin’s first recruiting class includes three multi-dimensional quarterbacks — Lafonte Thourogood, Josh Grady and Kris Kentera — who were all told they were expected to compete for playing time under center from the day they got to campus. Those three join redshirt junior Jordan Rodgers, who saw limited action this spring while recovering from a surgery he had in January and is expected to return to full participation this summer.
Franklin is fiercely committed to the competitive atmosphere he brought to the program when he was hired in December. He has no incentive to go back on his word when it comes to the most important position on the field. This is his team now, and this quarterback race will be the first big decision he makes that will be subject to the kind of preseason public scrutiny that is standard fare in the SEC. He has the right to be as deliberate as possible.
And if anyone can handle a few months of uncertainty and instability, it’s Smith and the Commodores. Four wins and three head coaches in two calendar years have a way of making you flexible.
Smith deserves this final season as a last opportunity to show how far he’s come as a Commodore, and he should emerge from summer practice with the starting job. But for now, the best way he can put his leadership skills to use is bringing the best out of his eventual successors in an open competition.
