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| Alex Swieca |
Name: Alex Swieca
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 210 lbs.
High school: New York (NY) Frisch
Position: Quarterback
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #13
Last year: I did not rank Swieca. He did not see any game action.
Swieca walked on to the team as a true freshman back in 2011. He has yet to play in a game, but he did play a little bit in the spring game back in April.
With backup quarterback Russell Bellomy going down with a torn ACL in the spring, that bumps the other quarterbacks up a little bit on this list. Swieca will certainly be behind Devin Gardner and probably even freshman Shane Morris, but options are thin beyond those two. If nothing else, I would expect Swieca to have a pretty big hand in running the scout team while the aforementioned guys and presumed #3 quarterback Brian Cleary get reps with the regular offense.
Prediction: Scout team quarterback, perhaps a few snaps in garbage time
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He for sure won't be simulating Braxton Miller.
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I'm not convinced that Brian Cleary will be the #3 QB. Morris comes in with better physical tools, but he won't have much time to learn the offense, and he struggled on the camp circuit against elite talent. I think his 4/5-star rating was for potential, not for what he can do on Day One.
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How can you say a kid that made the Elite 11 finals "struggled on camp circuit"? Morris has a lot to learn and probably isn't as,you said, college ready as say Chad Henne but the kid can ball and for sure will beat out a walk on, even if they are a RS soph. And have you seen Cleary throw? Kid has no arm.
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It took Morris two tries to get invited to the Elite 11. There were also pretty consistent issues with his accuracy, a problem that was mentioned just about every time he camped.
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Pretty debatable putting the 4th string walk-on QB this high, but I guess your argument is that the people below him will red-shirt, and a scout team QB is more important than a scout team whatever else.
I don't really buy that because there are people lower on this list who could play (at least special teams), and if an injury or two occurs they could be thrust into a meaningful role. That's highly unlikely for Swieca because he's still 2 guys back.
Plus, in general, a walk-on is pretty replaceable.
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The decision to not take another QB or Ath/QB in addition to Morris was a poor one.
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Walk-ons are pretty replaceable, but not necessarily quarterbacks.
Also, I would say that the scout team QB is less replaceable than a freshman like Royce Jenkins-Stone, who simply ran downfield on the kickoff team last year. You can find any number of guys on the team who can do that job, whether it's a walk-on, fullback, safety, linebacker, running back, etc.
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Cleary is terrible, Swieca should be the #2 if not Morris
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Swieca has an interesting background re how he came to football. Observing the Jewish Sabbath (which I am not sure if he does) typically involves various restrictions on Friday night and Saturdays. I don't think he was on the travel squad his first two years but if he is/forced to be high enough on the depth chart, will be interesting to see how things play out.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/freshman-alex-swieca-walk-on-football-player-university-michigan-played-game-high-school-article-1.981492
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