Any question as to who will be under center for Louisiana Tech this season has likely been answered courtesy of an unexpected development Monday.
In a press release, head coach Sonny Dykes announced that quarterback Nick Isham has decided to leave the Tech football program. No reason was given for the decision, which Dykes said he was informed of Saturday.
The coach said he and his staff didn’t push for an answer to the question of why Isham decided to leave after a year, although losing his starting job would certainly be a place to start.
“Neither one of us really asked,” Dykes said in comments released by the school. “It was one of those things that his mind was made up and it was better for him to move on. Quarterbacks transfer so there was a little bit of a concern about it. We talked to him about possibly redshirting him next year. We tried to accommodate him but sometimes guys figure it is best to go and we never really asked him.”
Isham had practiced with the team through Friday, which was the Bulldogs ninth practice of the spring. He had been listed as the backup to redshirt senior Colby Cameron in the battle for the starting job.
In 2011, Isham played in nine games -- starting the first seven games of the year -- completing 155 of 257 passes for 1,457 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. Isham also rushed for two touchdowns, and caught a touchdown pass in Tech’s Poinsettia Bowl loss to TCU.
Isham, whose start against Southern Miss in the opener last season made him the second-youngest opening-game starter in college football history (Texas A&M’s David “Moon” Walker, 1973) at 17 years, 11 months young, was a three-star member of Tech’s 2011 recruiting class. There’s no word on where the Hidden Hills, Calif., native may end up next.
Coming out of high school, he had received offers from, among others, Utah, Air Force and New Mexico State.