AMHERST — What had been a percolating feeling inside Walt Bell for a week finally became public knowledge Tuesday – Randall West is UMass’ starting quarterback.
Bell informed the quarterbacks of his decision Saturday but then withheld the information for two days in an act of gamesmanship and respect for the team. He told the rest of the Minutemen the news prior to Monday’s practice before announcing the decision publicly Tuesday.
“Randall has done a really great job,” Bell said. “He’s improved maybe as exponentially as any player on the roster since we got here. He had a great summer, it kind of makes me wish we had him full-time in the spring, just seeing the jump he’s made from a confidence standpoint, from a point-guarding standpoint.”
West has been the most consistent quarterback of the three-man competition that ensued for most of the summer. Although West didn’t have the flashy plays Andrew Brito or Michael Curtis produced with their abilities, he showcased the consistency of a starting quarterback. He placed great touch on his deeper throws, laying them into hands of waiting receivers, and rarely made a blunder that would cause fans angst if it was a real game.
That solid decision making is ultimately the strength West touted as why he believes he won the competition. He said his ability to limit mistakes allowed him to earn the trust of the offensive coaches and his teammates.
“I am not the most athletic guy in the room,” West said despite the fact he’s a two-sport athlete at UMass. “If we’re talking about straight-line speed, I’m not going to be the guy to beat you there. But decision making. Coach Bell, the No. 1 thing he told us in the quarterback room is that he has to be able to trust us – you have to take care of the football and he has to be able to trust you. Over the spring and over the fall, I made good decisions and built a good rapport with Coach Bell and the other offensive coaches.”
West credited his off the field work for helping make his decisions on the field easier once practice began. He said he spent a lot of time with the coaches going over plays on a whiteboard and mapping out the different options he had depending upon what the defense was showing him. Those sessions, he said, allowed him to think quicker on the field because he had already gone over the scenarios often enough in his head.
“I thought the whiteboard really helped me during camp especially,” West said. “All the stuff we run, there’s a lot of decisions you can make based on certain looks and there’s a lot of gray areas in the playbook. The board work I was able to do, the actual board work drawing out plays and where I’m going if this is happening, that helped a lot in the mornings so that in the afternoons when we got out on the field, there weren’t looks that surprised me. I knew if I was getting this look, I’m going here, or if I get this look, I’m going somewhere else.”
It’s not a surprise that intangibles played a large role in West winning the job, but Bell stressed that it wasn’t the only thing that earned him the position. As Bell joked, he couldn’t be the starting center for the New York Knicks just because he worked hard and was a good teammate. He said West went out and earned the job on the field, which complemented the leadership and maturity West has shown on a daily basis for both the basketball and football teams.
“All those things are true, he does have great intangibles,” Bell said. “(He’s) very even-keeled, learns really well, he’s probably done the best job of managing the process in terms of the point-guarding aspect of the system. But at the same time, he had to physically go out and do the job.”
West’s teammates noticed he was a different person on the field this summer, exuding more confidence and command of the offense when he was on the field. Senior receiver Sadiq Palmer said West was executing at a high level during practice and really inspired confidence in his teammates that he was ready for the bright lights with his work ethic and commitment.
Palmer, who has been West’s teammates all four years, added he’s excited for fans to see exactly what West can do as QB1 on the depth chart.
“He’s been putting in a lot of hard work and I feel like he deserves it,” Palmer said. “He’s been working his tail off, he’s been doing great throughout camp, even through spring ball he was great. It’s time for him to show everybody what he’s got.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.