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BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
Hollywood makes movies and TV shows all the time about an unknown backup quarterback having to fill in for a starter and defying the odds to lead his team to victory.
Rarely is the story where a quarterback loses his starting job during fall camp, falls so low on the depth chart that he’s not dressing for home games or traveling with the team on the road and then is asked back to lead his team on a playoff run.
That’s what’s happening to Hunter Wells right now.
After being beat out in fall camp by Ricky Davis, Trent Hosick and redshirt-freshman Nathan Mays, it’s safe to say Wells wasn’t in the ideal position after starting 18 games between his freshman and sophomore seasons.
“I was proud of him for how he handled the situation because I know it wasn’t easy being the guy for two years and then not being the starter and thinking your career is probably over here,” said Shane Montgomery, Youngstown State quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. “It’s a credit to him because he could have easily given up and gone through the motions, but he kept going hard in the weight room and on scout team he was giving us good looks.”
Wells went so far as to ask for his release at one point during the season. But after a 24-10 loss at South Dakota State that saw Davis come out of the game after being sacked five times and a few nasty hits, YSU came back to Wells to see if he wanted his job back.
“When that happened we went to him and asked him and he was ready to go,” Montgomery said. “The biggest thing is he handled the situation well to start and I think it was easier for him to transition back to playing because he was still in it on a daily basis.”
It wasn’t an immediate impact in Wells’ first game back as starter against Indiana State. Wells was sacked on the first series, fumbling the ball, and then on his second series he threw an interception that set ISU up for a 10-0 lead. The game was saved by Darien Townsend’s 79-yard punt return for a touchdown for a 13-10 win.
The following week wasn’t much better at North Dakota State when the Penguins got stomped 24-3 at the FargoDome. Wells completed 18 of 27 passes for 222 yards, but it was the second week in a row YSU’s offense couldn’t find the end zone.
It wasn’t until the following week that things began to click when YSU hosted Southern Illinois. Wells was 13 of 25 for 124 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Wells was also only sacked once.
“He was a little rusty his first couple games but he’s gotten better each week and he threw the ball well on Saturday [against Jacksonville State],” Montgomery said. “Hunter’s biggest thing is getting back to game-type situations.
“Even though he had two seasons under his belt, to sit out eight or 10 weeks and not do much of anything will set you back.”
Saturday’s 40-24 win over the Gamecocks was the defining moment for Wells. He torched JSU’s secondary for 290 yards on 10 completions. He hit Damoun Patterson for a 70-yard touchdown pass on YSU’s second play of the game and hit Townsend for 85 yards later in the game.
“It’s a difficult role to step into,” Wells said. “You go from starting to not starting and then sitting out the whole year to now. But shout out to all my teammates for trusting in me to get the job done.”
The win was YSU’s fourth in a row and YSU is now three wins away from a national title.
“This team doesn’t know how to lose,” Wells said. “We’re on a roll right now. We’re playing really good football on both sides of the ball and that’s huge at this point in the season.”
The season has been a whirlwind at quarterback for Montgomery. He said he’s never before had a year where he’s played four different quarterbacks and managing playing time between multiple guys who believe they’re the best quarterback to lead the team hasn’t been easy this year.
“It’s been a challenge but the kids have handled it well,” Montgomery said. “Ricky [Davis] is at a point right now where he’s ready to go if we need him but I think he understands we’re playing pretty well right now and we’re trying to ease him back in weekly.”
Wells’ performance this week may have to be as effective as it was against Jacksonville State since YSU’s next opponent, Wofford, will try to control the clock with a triple-option attack.
“It will shorten the game so there will be a couple less possessions for us,” Montgomery said. “We’ll have to be very efficient when we have the ball.
“We’ll need to sustain some drives to keep our defense off the field because these guys are going to run the ball nine out of 10 plays.”