Army headed into the offseason with just one quarterback who had any experience at the collegiate level. Entering spring practice, that number is now down to zero.
Head coach Jeff Monken confirmed Thursday that A.J. Schurr will not participate in any of the service academy’s 15 spring practice sessions. Schurr underwent shoulder surgery shortly after the end of the 2014 season and still hasn’t sufficiently recovered.
As for a timeline for a return, Schurr should be available for the start of summer camp in August.
With Schurr sidelined, that leaves just three quarterbacks on the roster -- sophomore Matt Kaufmann and freshmen Ahmad Bradshaw and Seth Gonzales -- none of whom have played a down collegiately. HudsonValley.com’s Sal Interdonato explains the rather skimpy resumes of each player.
That said, although it’s not like he has any other choice, Monken is looking forward to seeing how the trio handles the opportunity afforded them.
“We got a chance to see Matt be the scout-team quarterback and he’s such a great competitor and I don’t have any doubt that he will know what to do and he will compete,” Monken said. “Seth Gonzales got to play in jayvee games so he’s going to have a basis of the offense. I hope all three of those guys will compete and it will be interesting to see who comes out of that pack and then going into fall, we have a couple of guys coming in from the prep school and see how they will compete for the starting job.”
If experience means anything, though, Schurr will be the overwhelming favorite to win the job when he’s healthy.
Last season as a junior, Schurr started a pair of games for the Black Knights. He finished fourth on the team in rushing yards with 320 while his three rushing touchdowns were tied for third. In the passing game, such as it is with Army’s style of offense, Schurr passed for 242 yards and a touchdown on his 12 completions.
He entered summer camp last year as the favorite to win the starting job, but hamstring issues in large part derailed those aspirations.