n o r t h w e s t e r n f o o t b a l l • D I G I T A L P R O G R A M • N O R T H W E S T E R N v s . M I N N E S O T A
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BUT FITZGERALD WAS AS DIRECT as a concrete block to the head
when discussing the overriding topic of this 'Cat season, the quarterback
position. To recap: Back in September, as they prepared to open
against Stanford, the assumption was that job belonged to Johnson, the
former five-star recruit who had transferred in from Clemson. He would,
in fact, then start against the Cardinal, but in his first three possessions
as their choreographer the 'Cats gained just 41 yards on 12 plays. TJ
Green now replaced him for the final possession of the first half and
directed a nine-play, 41-yard drive before turning it over on downs,
and then he led 10-play, 66-yard drive on their first possession of the
second half before he suffered the sack at the Cardinal nine that broke
his ankle and ended his season.
By default, then, the job went back to Johnson, but on the last play of the
third quarter of the 'Cats Big Ten opener against Michigan State, with
his team down 24-3, he was replaced by Smith. Johnson started and
was replaced again by Smith the next week at Wisconsin, and then, at
Nebraska, Smith took over the job he still holds even though the 'Cats
are averaging just 14.5 points-per-game. That is 129th among the FBS'
130 teams, better than only Akron's 10.6 ppg, and so Monday it was
only natural that Fitzgerald was asked what needs to be done to fix the
problems. He didn't hesitate. "It starts with preparation," he began.
"It's obvious that some of our guys didn't do what they needed to do to
prepare for the season. That showed and manifested itself pretty quickly.
Roles change. Roles changed dramatically for some guys. Obviously
their production, or lack thereof, is a statement to preparation. So I think
it starts there. It's funny. I sat here in the preseason and everyone told
me who my starting quarterback was (Johnson) and nobody listened
to me. I was pretty adamant that at quarterback there was an ongoing
battle going on, and obviously I was correct.
