Syracuse QB coach Tim Lester apologized to Charley Loeb, John Kinder for lack of snaps in spring game

Handicapping the Syracuse quarterback race heading into training camp just got a little harder.

Syracuse quarterback coach Tim Lester said Tuesday that he made a mistake allocating playing time in the spring game when Charley Loeb was limited to just eight pass attempts, an outcome that appeared to indicate Loeb lagged far behind Terrel Hunt in the battle for SU's starting quarterback job.

Lester blamed the slanted snap total on the chaotic experience of attempting to direct both the Orange and Blue offenses and the unexpected switch to a running clock in the second half. He said he apologized to both Loeb and John Kinder and he expects the quarterback competition to continue into training camp.

"It was a mistake by me," Lester said. "Because we had one guy banged up in the second half, Coach (Shafer) shortened the second half, which was when I was going to start rotating guys. "

Instead of having the offensive coordinator lead one team and the quarterback coach the other, Lester said he wanted to work on the play-calling process with offensive coordinator George McDonald and underestimated the importance of the breaks an offensive coach gets when the defense is on the field.

Loeb handled the lack of spring game playing time calmly, admitting only that he was "surprised" by the playing time distribution.

"I signaled on both sides which I'll never do again," Lester said. "It was crazy. It was signal, signal, signal, punt, then run to the other side of the field. Before I knew it, it was over."

The Syracuse coaching staff maintained throughout the spring that the quarterback competition was open and closely contested and head coach Scott Shafer said as much after it ended. The spring game breakdown initially seemed to indicate otherwise.

Hunt was 19-for-29 for 209 yards and had one fewer completion than Loeb and Kinder had attempted throws combined.

Hunt spent the whole first half directing the first-team offense and performing well against the second-string defense, while the other two alternated with the second-team offense and faced heavy pressure from the defensive starters.

Not surprisingly, Hunt ran the more efficient unit, dominating the time spent on the field and the number of passing opportunities.

"I brought them in and apologized and said that wasn't our plan," Lester said. "I told them the plan beforehand -- everyone gets reps with the ones. I was going to get Terrel the most reps. He earned the most reps with the ones. I didn't want it to go the way it did, so I apologized. We're going to make mistakes, too. As long as we tell them we did. I told them beforehand what to expect and they didn't get what I told them. That won't happen again."

Lester said one of the primary reasons Hunt had a better spring was because he caught on to the offense quicker than the other two quarterbacks. The coach still hopes to see how the offense looks with each of SU's options playing at a high level.

"Once any quarterback gets to the point where they understand what they're doing, they stop thinking and start playing," Lester said. "That's when you know he can do it. At the end of spring we had a depth chart but I told our No. 2 and No. 3 that they're just learning. It can change over summer when it all clicks. Our 2 and 3 were doing a lot of thinking. Really, one thing that helped Terrel was, for some reason, the offense clicked a little quicker."

Lester said that he hopes a tweak in Loeb's delivery can also help him improve before training camp. The coach adjusted his motion in an effort to keep him from throwing across his body. He believes it will lead to better accuracy.

Lester grades the quarterbacks in four categories on each throw and said the only significant advantage for Hunt was in accuracy.

"(Loeb) is the best we have as far as footwork goes," Lester said. "Timing, understanding, he gets it. He has the most powerful arm I've ever seen in a quarterback that I've coached. Sometimes that's a bad thing because you have to control that arm. His feet numbers were the best ones, he's going to the right place, throwing at the right time. He's just missing throws. Bottom line."

Loeb's play lapsed during the middle of the spring, around the time that Oklahoma transfer Drew Allen announced his intention to transfer to Syracuse.

Lester said the alterations to Loeb's motion seemed to work and got better toward the end. He said the two quarterbacks graded out fairly close together when the spring was taken as a whole.

"(Charley) got better," Lester said. "It actually started getting him back in it. Toward the end of spring I brought him in. I said, 'Normally I'd never touch your motion as a senior but we have to try some things because you're just missing guys.'"

While Lester's comments offer a little more optimism for Loeb's quarterback candidacy, last year's backup to Ryan Nassib still sits third on the list of quarterbacks most likely to win the job.

Hunt will enter training camp at the top of the depth chart, but Allen seems at least equally likely to emerge with the quarterback job. Of the seven quarterbacks that have used the graduate transfer rule last two seasons, like Allen did, all seven have won the starting job.

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/index.ssf/2013/06/syracuse_qb_coach_tim_lester_a.html

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