There are three lit candles in the front of the sanctuary at St. Albert's The Great parish in Huntingdon Valley today, side by side.
Each candle represents a prayer for the three remaining scholarship quarterbacks at Temple:
Chris Coyer
Those are for the three guys left, after the news that the Temple coaching staff (nicely) told two-time JUCO first-team All-American Garrett Barnas to take his considerable talents elsewhere. Barnas had expressed an interest to play football at Temple. It's not every day a two-time college All-American who runs a 4.45 40, has thrown 59 touchdown passes in the last two years and has the Illinois state record in the 110 hurdles knocks on your door and asks if he can play on your team.
With Temple's luck over the last 30 or so years, he'll probably (a) replace Mark Sanchez as the USC starting quarterback; or (b) start for Villanova in late August against Temple.
Our tongue is firmly implanted in cheek here, but you get the drift.
Garrett, we hardly knew ye.
Geez, what would it have hurt for him to come in and play spring ball? Who's going to quarterback the Cherry team in the Cherry and White game should Chester Stewart go down?
So now we are at three and that's likely where we'll stay.
The prayer with each candle is that none of those guys get hurt in 2009.
Or none of them flunks a class or worse.
I don't want to think about what's going to happen if all four go down.
There doesn't seem to be a backup plan should that happen, as it did with the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2008. They prevailed because they had five quarterbacks who could step in and play and won the Big East title.
It's not every day a two-time college All-American who runs a 4.45 40, has thrown 59 touchdown passes in the last two years and has the Illinois state record in the 110 hurdles knocks on your door and asks if he can play on your team.
Forget about the eschewed kneel down in the Navy game or the fourth and 1 from his own 34 in the UConn game, going with three scholarship quarterbacks in 2009 might be Al Golden's biggest gamble.
I thought that was a low number, so I spent the last two days printing out the rosters of the 119 Division IA (I refuse to call it the Football Championship Division or whatever they are calling it these days) teams and Temple had three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster in 2008, which represented the lowest total of any of the 119 teams.
Troy and New Mexico State had four.
Over 90 percent of the other schools had five.
Ugh.
I don't feel comfortable about it, but Al Golden apparently does. Right now, there are no designated emergency quarterbacks in spring ball, although maybe, in a pinch, sophomore-to-be defensive back Kevin Kroboth can take a snap or two. He was the quarterback of an 0-11 Nazareth team his senior year in high school.
There's is quality, if not quantity. Maybe not enough quality and quantity, but quality nonetheless.
There's a good mix of experience (Vaughn Charlton, Chester Stewart) with raw talent (Coyer).
Can Coyer start as a true freshman?
Why not?
I have no doubt that Golden is going to throw three into one mix, stir the pot, and see what rises to the top.
That's the way it should be.
It shouldn't be decided in the media or by some Joe Schmoe's opinion or by a highlight reel.
Get them out on the field and whoever moves the ball and the chains bests gets the job against Villanova.
That's the American way, after all.
Meanwhile, I'll keep going back to the church and make sure those candles stay lit.
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