Sophomore walk-on Nate Montana was the No. 3 option entering this season, but Weis explored using sophomore wide receiver John Goodman, who played quarterback in his senior year of high school, as a contingency plan. Goodman even started taking reps at quarterback late in the spring.
With the return of Sharpley, who started two games in 2007, completed 55 percent of his 140 pass attempts for 736 yards, and nearly staged a dramatic rally off the bench against Purdue and Boston College, no such experimentation will be needed.
Clausen is the present and Crist is the future, but having Sharpley on the roster allays concerns about who would be No. 2 in case either of the top two incurs an injury, especially after not signing a quarterback this past February.
How often is a third quarterback necessary? It’s happened three times since 1998.
In 1998, starter Jarious Jackson was injured in Game 10 while “taking a knee” in the end zone during a victory over LSU. Backup Eric Chappell started the next week at LSU but was replaced in the first half by freshman Arnaz Battle in a 10-0 loss.
In 2000, starter Battle was lost for the season in Game 2, an overtime loss to No. 1 Nebraska, so former tight end Gary Godsey started the next week in a victory at Purdue. The following week in a setback at Michigan State, Godsey was replaced by freshman Matt LoVecchio in the second half. LoVecchio took over as the starter the remainder of the year – only to lose his job the next year to classmate Carlyle Holiday, who then would be injured several times the ensuing year and replaced by walk-on Pat Dillingham (by then, LoVecchio had transferred).
