I didn’t have any idea the pending departure of Brent Osborn would draw as much attention as it did.
I guess it is true what people say. The backup quarterback is always popular.
When it comes to how the quarterback situation was handled, it all comes down to the bottom line — UNT’s coaches thought Derek Thompson was better and went with him. I don’t have an issue with that.
One could sit and second-guess that pick all day, especially since UNT has been pretty pedestrian offensively, but Thompson has not been nearly as bad as people are making him out to be.
Has he missed some open receivers? Yeah. He has also made some plays and done some good things in an offense with very few playmakers.
Teams don’t just start switching quarterbacks in the middle of the season or give guys a series here or there most of the time, although that is the question I asked that prompted the whole news about Osborn coming out anyway.
Most teams pick a guy and stick with him unless a second quarterback gives an offense a totally different look, most of the time because he adds a running threat to a traditional pocket-passing offense.
Osborn is a junior and will have his degree before he leaves UNT. That means he will be able to transfer and play his senior year at another school, if that is what he chooses to do.
Can’t blame him. He didn’t get a shot this year in a game and wasn’t going to get a shot.
Next year, it’s going to be Brock Berglund battling Thompson for the job. All signs point to Berglund getting a real good shot.
You just feel bad for Osborn, who has bounced around in college football without getting to where he wanted to go as a player. He was always a good guy to deal with.
Let’s just not forget, Thompson has a history of serious injuries and UNT’s quarterbacks have a history of getting hurt.
It may look like Osborn’s time is up, but you never know what will happen late in the year, especially with Andrew McNulty well on his way to a redshirt year.
And by the way, the UNT soccer team opens the Sun Belt tournament tomorrow as the No. 1 seed. UNT has a good shot at winning the whole thing.