One week after facing the task of stopping Kent State quarterback Joshua Cribbs, Ohio faces another tough task at quarterback: Akron's Charlie Frye.
The Mid-American Conference is known for producing some of the top quarterbacks in the nation, and Frye is one of several MAC signal callers who will at least get a look at by the NFL.
He has thrown for 3,272 yards, nearly 300 per game, while completing 66 percent of his passes. The yardage is good for third in the nation. He's thrown 19 touchdowns to just nine picks and has added another six touchdowns on the ground. It's his third straight season of 2,000 or more yards passing, and next year will surely be his fourth. Yes, he's just a junior.
This past week, he was named MAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his performance at Central Michigan, where he threw for 416 yards. Cribbs was the other winner.
But Frye is by no means the most highly touted quarterback in the MAC. That would be Miami's Ben Roethlisberger, who is already above the 3,000-yard mark with two games left. He's thrown for 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. The biggest thing about Roethlisberger, also a junior, is that he has led his team to an average of almost 40 points per game and a 9-1 record.
Bowling Green's Josh Harris is the top senior signal caller. While he has thrown for only about 270 yards per game, Harris hurts defenses on the ground more so than the other quarterbacks. He has an average of about 50 yards per game rushing.
Ohio fans missed out on seeing another top quarterback in the University of Central Florida's Ryan Schneider. Injuries have caused him to miss a couple games, and now he is one of several players who have been kicked off the team. In a largely disappointing year for him, he's still thrown for 243 yards per game, 13 touchdowns and 15 picks. Last year, he had 3,770 yards and 31 touchdowns. Even though this season has been rocky, I'd be surprised if he isn't given a look by NFL teams this spring.
These are only a few of the great quarterbacks in the MAC. Toledo's Bruce Gradkowski and Northern Illinois's Josh Haldi and Cribbs also are averaging more than 200 yards per game passing.
Gradkowski, a sophomore, has completed 71.2 percent of his passes, third best in the nation to North Carolina State's Philip Rivers and Virginia's Matt Schaub. In fact, MAC quarterbacks hold five of the top 16 positions in that stat. Injuries have forced Marshall's Stan Hill to miss most of the season or he'd probably be in this group too.
The MAC has produced NFL quarterbacks Chad Pennington, Byron Leftwich, Daunte Culpepper and Charlie Batch. But still the best is yet to come.
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Lonnie McMillan
