JD Sprague has gone from being a walk on to the Bobcats starting quarterback after watching those similar to him from the sideline.
JD Sprague spent his first two collegiate seasons watching Tyler Tettleton and Derrius Vick man the quarterback position, taking mental notes from the sideline during every triumph or mistake.
Sprague, a redshirt sophomore, began as a preferred walk-on, which means that he was recruited with the hope of earning a scholarship in the future. Although he competed to be the starter during camp prior to this season, he was again designated to be a reserve behind Vick.
The waiting has paid off for Sprague, however.
Frank Solich and the Ohio coaches recruit a certain type of quarterback: one that is able to move the offense with his arm but also keep plays alive by scrambling until he can find a hole in the defense.
“Not all quarterbacks that are good runners have the ability to scramble and find the receiver and let the ball go,” Solich said. “Sometimes they turn into runners and that’s what they are when a play breaks down, but our guys can do both.
“We think what we’re doing gives us our best chance to win, and you see that a lot in MAC football.”
Tettleton and Vick each possess those attributes, so Sprague was able to learn the offense by watching other quarterbacks with a style similar to his. That helped him make the jump from being a walk-on to the Bobcats’ starting quarterback.
“He’s a young man that walked on here and was really able to get a lot of mental reps when those guys were out there,” said Scott Isphording, the quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.
Sprague, a Cincinnati native who attended Mason High School, started his first game last Saturday against Eastern Illinois after Vick left the previous week with a knee injury. He saw playing time against Kentucky, Marshall and Idaho but wasn’t able to dictate the momentum from the opening kick.
He threw for 143 yards and net another 69 on the ground Saturday, but he also tossed a pair of interceptions and said his start was “very average.” Isphording said Sprague is demanding of himself but will do anything a coach says.
“He was about six feet away from being really, really good,” Isphording said. “He missed three throws by about two feet, and if he makes those, we probably score 14 or 21 more points and feel like he had a heck of a day.”
Sprague will be under center again Saturday when Ohio enters the heart of its Mid-American Conference campaign on the road against Central Michigan. His relationships with Tettleton and Vick on and off the field have helped him learn the offense.
“I just wanted to be there for him in any way possible,” Tettleton said. “I expected this from (Sprague), and I expected the things that Derrius has been doing as well. They’re two great quarterbacks and two guys that really know how to lead.”
Sprague played just two years of high school football, as he also was a point guard on Mason’s basketball team. Saturday, he dropped back
and moved right of the offensive line, found a lane through the left side of the field and broke four tackles en route to an eight-yard touchdown run.
It was similar to how a point guard would drive through a lane of big men for a score, but Sprague said he’s unsure if his basketball skills have transferred onto the gridiron. Regardless, he’s making the most of his abilities after watching others before him do the same.
“I didn’t expect (to be starting now), but I worked for it,” Sprague said. “Me and Tyler are really good friends — and we still are to this day — so any little thing he could tell me, I would bug him about, and he would answer.”
The repetitions earlier this season have calmed his nerves, but Sprague still wants to improve his timing and feel for the game by not trying to do too much. Isphording, who joined the program in January, believes Sprague is finally starting to apply what he’s coaching at the right times.
“Just watching people you can only learn a certain amount,” Sprague said. “Now my learning is through the game.”
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