The Black Quarterback: Running from the Devil - part 3
This is 2007. This season we have witnessed the fall of the classic, from the pocket black quarterback, Leftwich, in favor of his “more mobile” backup, David Garrard. Leftwich was said by his head coach Jack Del Rio, to have “regressed” as a quarterback. It is interesting - and no accident - that Leftwich, viewed as heroic throughout his college career and first three seasons as a pro, suddenly became a malcontent in the Jaguars locker room.Meanwhile, if we look around the NFL we see a proliferation of black quarterbacks all from the mobile mold: Donovan McNabb, Tavaris Jackson of Minnesota, Garrard and his backup Quinn Gray, Daunte Culpepper and rookie number one overall draft pick, JaMarcus Russell of Oakland, Charlie Batch who backs up Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh, and Jason Campbell in Washington.
Batch, now much more stationary, was once mobile. And the only quarterback in the above name whose position is not secure, is not so ironically, Leftwich. And yet, there is one more name to add to this list, one other college quarterback with Leftwich’s pedigree as a classic-style quarterback. He, at present cannot get a shot at the NFL despite his high-profile college winning. In fact, when his team did win a national championship, the success of the team was given, in large part to his backup, though his performance in the ultimate college contest was one that validated his entire career to that point.
His name is Chris Leak.
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It is true that most black quarterbacks were the best athletes on the field when they were young. It is true that each of them carries the responsibility of the entire football world on their shoulders.
It is true that every college coach from Mack Brown now to Tom Osborne then has told them, “If your first read isn’t there, use your legs,” because these men know that if they teach these young men to go through their progressions, that they might be sacrificing a touchdown for a five to seven yard gain and a first down.
For the generation coming up racism is not perceived as dangerous - so they laugh at it, watch black comedians incorrectly call themselves racists and laugh some more; call themselves racists just to feel like they are part of a larger whole.
Yet they cannot see through the rabbit hole to the light of reality when they cannot dissect a play as well as their white counterpart because they were told to use their legs in stead of check down to a secondary receiver. They only do their duty and sacrifice themselves at every turn. They take more late hits that their white counterparts because they are perceived as part running back by referees. They are seen as expendable by coaches because they can always become wide receivers or corner backs.
And they never, ever ask why.
But there is one part of the equation and the making of the black quarterback that is never asked, never hinted at, never perused by those who write about the games.
Where does this phenomenon come from? Not from the outside - the coaches, the fans, the owners - but from the inside. Since when did the voice of the man in charge of his life feel it was okay to be silent about his inability to play the position of quarterback like his white peer?
Americans are stupid people. We pretty much believe what we’re told, by and large. And the bigger the lie, the more we believe. Fans and pundits alike believe the black quarterback is a mobile creature who thinks better on the run than he does in the pocket. Like the stigma placed on the jazz musician, he is at his best when improvising even if the “improvisation” is just window-dressing for a different type of structure. And the black quarterback, in his quest to fit in, to play the position of his dreams, is no different. He buys into the image provided for him - and wears t-shirts telling the world he is, in fact, a quarterback all the while.
Here is where the taboo will be posited: the majority of white quarterbacks arise from middle to upper class families. The majority of black quarterbacks come from lower-middle class to impoverished backgrounds.
As the white quarterback is growing up he has time to think, to ponder his future, to wonder what his future will hold. He is protected by his family and at school protected by his athleticism. By high school, every single student understands that the well-being of the school hinges on the ability of the white quarterback and the success of the football team he leads. His coaches have a responsibility to provide him with every tool necessary to succeed. This includes teaching the athlete, to the best of the coach’s ability, to read defenses in preparation for his college years on the field.
With this nurturing environment, should the white quarterback pan out in his time at a university of his choice, a career in the NFL automatically awaits. He can become Brady Quinn, who played a total of about a dozen plays during his rookie season with the Cleveland Browns, yet Quinn appears as the star in Subway sandwich and EAS sports drink commercials. He is seen as mature, willing to put his head in the play book and learn the pro game. After all, he’s been in training for the job since he was 14.
White quarterbacks from affluent backgrounds have immediate access to “quarterback schools” like the Manning Passing Academy hosted and run by the Archie Manning and his sons, including the famous Super Bowl champion Peyton and his younger brother, Eli. There is Terry Copacia’s All-State Quarterback School and Evan Bowen’s Elite Passing Academy and Air 7 Quarterback University (Air 7 QBU) which were recently featured on HBO’s Real Sports. Joe Montana, arguably the best quarterback in the history of the NFL, thought so highly of QBU he sent his son, Nate, a walk-on this season at Notre Dame, to the camp. “Scholarships” for poor, black quarterbacks that pay the tuition for the camps do exist, but they are few compared with the parents who pay the requisite fees to attend.
Let us now turn our attention that magically mysterious and sometimes improperly-named area of our cities - the “ghetto.” We are looking at a world the country at-large knows of not at all. Sure, there are rumors and enough tales of those who rose from its streets to believe that all it takes to succeed from there is discipline and will power, two attributes that historically have never been associated with black people.
The blighted urban area is a dangerous place where people survive on hard work as do their white suburban not-quite neighbors. However, they also must survive by their wits and guile, and often by stealth. It takes a certain intuition and heightened ability to understand the most minute alteration in the movement of people, even in the appearance of a blank space, to survive.
In the ghetto, if your first option isn’t there, use your legs to create something… it is sometimes the difference between life and death. There is always the presence of fear in the ghetto. There too is a do it yourself-ism in the ghetto that is part of the alleged heart of these United States. It is more real than any frontier-to-riches story, or from nothing to something tale of white people from anywhere else in America; the “who you know” truly does not exist in the ghetto, you make it through your day or out of your environment by the merit of the work you put in - every, single day.
This young man grows up searching for a way out of his environment, hoping his skills as the best athlete on the field will carry him to greater heights. At every turn there are people who are more than willing to use his talents to their benefit, with his greater good being secondary to their own cause. It is in this environment where scouts for college coaches hoping to circumvent NCAA rules, reside. Their jobs are to steer athletes to the college program for which they - unofficially - work. These middlemen give the black high school quarterback illegal perks with the unsaid understanding that there is a college football program paying for this swag, waiting for their official commitment in the form of their signature on a scholarship contract on national signing day.
He will find that these people will be lurking just around the corner for his entire playing career. Be they a corrupt agent looking to secure him as a client while in college or a corrupt businessman looking for the now pro quarterback to invest in a non-existent business.
For this quarterback there is little learning of how to play the position. Correcting throwing motions is as rare an act as comprehensive film study of their opponents or their own play. The game of football is an extension of everyday life. The success of the high school team is based on the survival tactics of the quarterback rather than his knowledge of the defenses he faces. Though he might be popular in the halls of his school, unlike his white counterpart come basketball season - unless he is the star of that team as well - his exploits are likely to be forgotten by the middle of winter.
This is a snapshot of the bleak landscape in which an overwhelming number of black quarterbacks arise. With this backdrop it is become more obvious why they enter the NFL as singularly talented athletes but stunted in growth when compared with most of their white peers.
With the automatic stigma of “athlete” attached to most black quarterbacks, on the surface it would seem to be a boon to any NFL head coach to stumble upon classicists like Byron Leftwich or Chris Leak.
Leak was raised by his older brother, C.J., who played quarterback at Tennessee and in high school was one of the most sought-after players in the nation at his position. Chris chose Florida over Tennessee because Volunteers head coach Philip Fulmer refused to give C.J. a chance to compete as the starter, choosing Casey Clausen instead. Then in 2004, with an added year of eligibility, Fulmer again chose other quarterbacks over the elder Leak, including Erik Ainge.
In his senior year as a Gator the younger Leak completed 63.6% of his passes for 2942 yards and 23 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. These gaudy statistics were accomplished in Urban Meyer’s spread option system, one that was not at all conducive to the smallish drop back passing Leak. In obvious running situations Meyer substituted heavily-recruited freshman Tim Tebow for Leak. Tebow, this season’s Heisman Trophy winner, was Meyer’s pet choice as quarterback. The sophomore is a big, bruising runner whom can withstand the pounding that comes with running the spread option in the SEC.
And because of Tebow’s success, college coaches around the country are actively searching for white quarterbacks to run the spread-option; a domain that was once an almost all-black quarterback domain. As with most cultural and artistic advancements in America, they originate from black people - then are copied, co-opted, and appropriated by whites.
However, it was Leak who led Florida to the national championship in 2006, not Tebow. But on NFL Draft Day, Leak went undrafted. It was said that his arm was weak and he was too small to play quarterback in the NFL. Leak, though, is the same height as Drew Brees and proved his arm strength winning the distance-throwing competition with a 65-yard pass in a postseason All-American affair. Leak signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears but was released before the season began.
Under his older brother’s tutelage, Chris was taught to read defenses at a young age. Today, Leak is known as a cerebral player who spends as much time in the film room as he does on the practice field. Yet no NFL team seems to want him; GMs seem to find the size excuse and arm strength fallacy to not allow him a proper shot at making their squad.
The present crop of black college quarterbacks will face the same fate of other “athletic” quarterbacks before them. The next classic black player at this position to enter the collegiate ranks is 6′5″, 215-pound E.J. Manuel, who will play for Bobby Bowden at Florida State next season. Manuel’s present 40-yard dash time is 4.6, so he is not a running quarterback. The Seminoles run a pro-set offensive commandeered by coordinator Jimbo Fisher.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Manuel will be an NFL prospect in the coming years. The young player is set to declare his bio-medicine as his major, so he might be - arguably - the most intelligent college football quarterback in the country. Saturday, Manuel participated in the Under Armour All-Star Prep football game. His throwing motion will have to be tweaked, as he throws a bit too over-the-top and close to his ear hole at the moment. However, his arm strength is evident and he will certainly be able to make all the throws necessary to play football at the professional level. It will be interesting to watch the reactions of general managers league-wide to Manuel and his abilities when he is among the college quarterbacks to be considered to be drafted by NFL teams.
Manuel could be a first round draft pick like Leftwich. He might also be shunted aside and unceremoniously released after posting a 24-17 record as a starter by the team that drafts him after four years, as was Leftwich.
Think about this fact. Never in the modern history of the NFL has a quarterback been released by his team after posting a seven games over .500 record.
Never.
Yet it happened to Leftwich. Never mind that he was replaced by another black man, David Garrard, a mobile quarterback. Garrard’s nickname is “George Bush.” He is an admitted “company man” who backs his coach’s every decision, even if it means he sits on the bench. Oddly, these are not the qualities ascribed to most quarterbacks. They are used to making bold decisions and thrive on their individualism (though they are able to blend that with the concept of team). Those are the qualities that make them leaders among their teammates; those were the qualities for which Byron Leftwich was known.
Leftwich’s release by Del Rio and Jacksonville was never fully explained. In a time when having two quality starters is a must in the NFL, the Jacksonville head coach cast his four-year star starter to the winds for an unproven backup and third-stringer, Quinn Gray. Around the NFL, the move was met with skepticism. But what was even more stunning was that teams around the league were not clamoring for Leftwich’s services. There are a dozen teams in the NFL without a reliable starting quarterback, yet Leftwich went untouched until the dysfunctional Atlanta Falcons called for him.
Del Rio took another tremendous risk when he let go of Leftwich - alienating and losing the trust of his team. And sure enough, when Leftwich was released, his teammates privately groused about Del Rio’s decision. It was not that they did not approve of Garrard, they just knew who was best to lead them. It was not until Garrard led the Jacksonville offense on a fourth quarter drive during the season that they felt confident - not in Garrard, but in the decision making of their coach.
Del Rio did not want a quarterback who might challenge his thinking in any way; that appeared to be Leftwich’s primary crime. But that is Tom Brady, or Matt Hasselbeck, or Brett Favre, or Peyton Manning. Del Rio wanted an exact extension of him. He wanted someone who would “do it his way” and no other way. In other words, a subservient quarterback - and he got one in Garrard. With that as a mandate for success, it is no wonder that the Jacksonville quarterbacks are all black.
And here the thought arises: because Leftwich is used to reading defenses, in fact is dependent on deciphering defenses for his survival, he might be an anathema to certain white head coaches; same with Leak. Again, because of his training, it will be interesting to track E.J. Manuel during his time at Florida State and when it is his time to enter the NFL.
Even Donovan McNabb, a middle class, black, two-sport high school star in football and basketball has never escaped the “athlete” label. Today, with 10 years of NFL experience it is widely said that if McNabb does not have use of his legs he cannot be successful; he said not to be able to “make things happen” downfield from the pocket. Middle class McNabb, because he was so gifted physically, he too is stigmatized like his urban, ghetto peers.
We have viewed the black quarterback across time and space, and across racial and philosophical boundaries. And we arrive here, today. It is 2007 and the message to black quarterbacks appears to be: we want you, but we want you on our terms.
We want you, just don’t think.
The Black Quarterback: Running from the Devil - part 1
The Black Quarterback: Running from the Devil - part 2
Tags: Byron Leftwich, Chicago Bears, Chris Leak, David Garrard, Florida Gators, Jack Del Rio, NFL, racism
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