Go With Hornibrook Over Houston
MADISON, Wis.-The biggest question for the Badgers coming into the season, even bigger than the “how will they handle the brutal schedule” question, is who will start at quarterback after the long time, mediocre starter Joel Stave graduated. It has always been senior Bart Houston or redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook, but head coach Paul Chryst has still not given away any indications.
In the scrimmage yesterday that was mostly dominated by defense, Hornibrook led two touchdown drives and had the overall better day than Houston. When I attended the spring game in April, Hornibrook looked like the better QB to me that day as well. In other words, it seems to me that Chryst is doing everything he can to give Bart Houston every chance.
Why? Maybe Bart has more knowledge of Chryst’s offensive system, but just doesn’t perform well enough on the field yet (although he was pretty good at Illinois last season filling in for Stave). Maybe Chryst has some sort of “seniority bias” which is not a bad thing, since Hornibrook likely has the next three years as the starter anyways. And, you throw the brutal schedule on top of that, and it would be brutal to say the least to throw a freshman into the fire right away against LSU. Maybe it’s because of the highly-touted true freshman Kare Lyles who is waiting in the wings for next season, and they want Hornibrook to be his lifetime backup.
That said, Hornibrook should go into the season as the starter because only the last argument is valid. At worst, Hornibrook proves he is better than Lyles next season, and leads the Badgers for four seasons. And, the experience Hornibrook gets this season against “death row” will give him more than enough experience to be on of the best backups in college football. Starting Hornibrook is a win-win, and the right move for the future, and if Houston isn’t performing well enough to edge him out, they should just go with the freshman.
