Rutgers Scarlet Knights football: Quarterback Gary Nova officially named 2014 starter
Rutgers Scarlet Knight head coach Kyle Flood loved to tease the media all offseason about there being a quarterback competition, often stating the old “if we had to play today” line. On Wednesday night, Flood ended that speculation and officially named senior Gary Nova the Rutgers starting quarterback for 2014.
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Of course, this is August and being the starter now guarantees virtually nothing in the future. Just ask Nova, who was benched for the final three games of the regular season last year following less-than-stellar performances.
In Nova’s final two games before being pulled he completed just 47.4 and 32.4 percent of his passes for 277 combined yards and one touchdown to three interceptions.
However, Flood recognized he needed some change in his offense—not just at quarterback. To that end, he hired former Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen as offensive coordinator.
Friedgen is known for his work with quarterbacks, and this spring he was tasked with changing up the mechanics and confidence of Nova.
Apparently Nova not only got the message of the benching in 2013, but also took in the tutelage of Friedgen, because it took all of one practice for Flood to announce Nova as the starting quarterback for this season.
”I wanted to see where guys would be after the summer program because we’re only allowed to watch some things,” Flood said, via Yahoo! Sports. ”But when they have the football we’re not allowed to watch, so there’s a lot of stuff that we’re not allowed to see that they’re doing over the summer and I wanted to see Mike, Chris and Gary and see how far they had come and I think Gary did what I wanted him to do.”