Drew Stanton. Brian Hoyer. Kirk Cousins.
All three NFL quarterbacks. All three best known as backups. All three winners on Sunday for the Cardinals, Browns and Redskins, respectively.
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Now who else outside of East Lansing can spot the trio’s final similarity?
It may not roll off the tongue — yet — but begin warming to the idea of Michigan State University as “Game Manager Quarterback University.”
A glance at their stats Sunday:
Stanton: 14/29, 167 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Hoyer: 24/40, 204 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Cousins: 22/33, 250 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT
That’s 57 percent passing, with 621 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s knowing your offense and giving your team a chance to win. That’s also the not-flashy-but-reliable game Spartans quarterbacks have displayed over the past decade-plus.
For Dave Warner, MSU’s quarterbacks coach from 2007-12, it’s all part of the plan.
“You look at what those ‘game managers’ did Sunday, and that’s just win,” said Warner, who was promoted as the Spartans’ co-offensive coordinator before last season. “That’s what Kirk Cousins did here, that’s what Brian Hoyer did, and before that, that’s what Drew Stanton did.”
Warner added that “managing the game is a very important part to playing the position, so I don’t take (GMQBU) as an insult” — though his excitement with that monicker didn’t quite reach “getting your oil changed” level.
Fine. We get it. “GMQBU” isn't as sexy as some of the other recruiting pitches out there. But for an 11th grader with NFL aspirations, the Spartans’ recent success with turning out pro-caliber passers is a mighty appealing recruiting tool.
“Stanton and Cousins and Hoyer, these were three-star and two-star guys,” said Joe Rexrode, MSU beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. “They don’t have monster arms, but they’ve all been in good systems that translate (to the NFL).”
And make no mistake, this streak has been maintained by a system. Head coach Mark Dantonio runs a pro-style offense, meaning the quarterback takes the ball under center. Watch most teams this Saturday, and you’ll see quarterbacks clapping for the ball in shotgun formations — something you won’t see much of on Sundays.
“There are not a whole lot of dinosaurs like us in college football,” Warner said. “But all that pro-style knowledge sort of leads to a head start in preparing for the NFL. It gives guys a leg up.”
Taking full advantage of that opportunity now is Connor Cook. Like his Michigan State predecessors now enjoying NFL success, Cook was lightly recruited out of high school. He had five scholarship offers, and four of those were to Ohio MAC schools.
After a few years in “the system,” Cook is the Rose Bowl-winning QB on a team picked by many to repeat as Big Ten champions. In at least one way-too-early 2015 NFL mock draft, Cook is projected as a top-10 pick. Now consider that the last Big Ten quarterback drafted in the first round was a kid from Penn State named Kerry Collins — and he’s 41 years old.
But the Spartans are gradually shifting a national perception. Days like Sunday force NFL executives to consider maybe trusting their offenses to MSU products.
And, just maybe, “Franchise Quarterback University” isn’t too far off.