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Sophomore quarterback James Morgan will have some competition for first-team reps in practice this week, according to The Toledo Blade’s John Wagner.
Bowling Green head coach Mike Jinks burned the redshirt of true freshman Jarret Doege against Northwestern to play in relief of James Morgan, who went 15-of-26 for 166 yards and the Falcons’ lone touchdown.
Doege finished 12-of-18 for 90 yards in garbage time in his first game appearance.
Per the report, Jinks said he expects to play both quarterbacks in practice this week and will make a decision “by kickoff” on Saturday against Middle Tennessee State.
Morgan, a Dino Babers recruit, took over the starting job from James Knapke midway through the 2016 season and was the incumbent starter coming into the 2017 campaign. The former four-star recruit from Green Bay, Wisconsin, finished last year with 2,082 passing yards for 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He’s collected 622 yards passing for two touchdowns and two interceptions so far this season.
Doege is a Jinks recruit who committed late in the 2016 recruiting cycle. Doege, the younger of brother of former Texas Tech gunslinger and current BGSU wide receivers coach Seth Doege, was a three-star recruit coming out of Cooper High School in Lubbock, Texas. During his senior year at Cooper, Doege threw for 3,663 yards and 33 touchdowns while leading them to the Texas high school quarterfinals.
The Falcons find themselves 0-3 after three bad losses to Michigan State, Northwestern and FCS South Dakota, so reassessing the roster is a necessary move for the coaching staff. The worst part of BGSU’s quick slide into football obscurity is the rapid fall of the offense.
Bowling Green is 104th in total offense with 1,036 yards, three total touchdowns and two interceptions despite the Air Raid being Jinks’ calling card. They average 345.6 offensive yards per game, which isn’t great, considering the competition they’ve faced thus far.
Tim will tell if the cange will do any good, but it doesn’t hurt to see what you have, especially if they can redshirt Doege again if it all falls apart.