Entering the fall, most expected that the Virginia Tech QB battle would last only a couple weeks with Jerod Evans being the favorite over Brenden Motley. What no one was expecting was that freshman Josh Jackson would be able to get involved in this quarterback battle.
However, Jackson has worked hard and has done exactly that.
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Justin Fuente told media this evening that Josh Jackson is receiving first team reps and that the Hokies now have a three-way QB battle between Jackson, Jerod Evans, and Brenden Motley. At this point, Evans probably is still the favorite but the Hokies seem to have a tight QB battle that has allowed Jackson to catch up to the older duo.
Jackson came in as a borderline four-star recruit this past spring and that extra time to learn the playbook, work with Brad Cornelsen, and get in a collegiate weight room is paying dividends. Jackson also has clearly put in the work this offseason to not only separate himself from Dwayne Lawson but also jump into a quarterback battle that Fuente had said in the past was down to Evans and Motley.
Jackson also now seems to clearly be the long-term future at the quarterback spot with a good chance that he can be the starting quarterback in 2017 whether he wins the job now or not. Of course, locking down the job now would make it just about certain that Jackson is the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.
While it is quite surprising that Jackson is in the hunt for the job, it isn't like Jackson was some way under-the-radar recruit as he was a borderline four-star that was ranked 185th in the 2016 ESPN 300 and had a solid offer list that also included West Virginia, Utah, Oregon State, Minnesota, and Northwestern.
Jackson looked the most impressive of the quarterbacks in the past Spring Game and has shown solid accuracy and poise of someone who has been around the college game for a couple years, not someone who just arrived in January.
Fuente also mentioned that Jackson improved in the three important areas he evaluates for choosing a QB.
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Fuente doesn't seem to be afraid of going with a young quarterback as he did the same in the past when he went with Paxton Lynch at Memphis over veteran options ahead of him. Unlike Lynch, Jackson isn't an elite athletic specimen so the fact that he is in this battle is a great sign of Jackson's quarterbacking skills.
Josh Jackson has worked hard and fought his way into the starting quarterback battle with less than three weeks before Virginia Tech opens against Liberty. Justin Fuente did mention today that he hopes to have an idea on who the starting quarterback may be in the next week or so and that man might just be the true freshman Jackson.
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