EAGLE ALUMNI

A new era in Florida State football begins this Saturday in Durham, North Carolina. The season-ending injury to Anquan Boldin put aside all doubt that Chris Rix will be FSU's starting quarterback in 2001. When the 6'3", 205-pound freshman lines up behind center Saturday, it will be the first time in three years the Garnet and Gold must break in a new quarterback. But the real news is that for the first time ever Bobby Bowden will begin a season with a freshman signal caller.

The last time Florida State broke in a new quarterback there were some major growing pains. Chris Weinke got his career off to a decent start in the Kickoff Classic versus Texas A&M completing 21-of-36 for 207-yards, one touchdown and one interception. However, his second outing marked the worst performance by a Seminole quarterback in the history of the program. The 2000 Heisman Trophy winner threw an amazing six interceptions and the result was a 24-7 upset loss to NC State. Of course, Weinke bounced back and had one of the most prolific careers in the history of Florida State football.

FSU's other Heisman Trophy winner, Charlie Ward, did almost as poorly in his first game as a starter. Against Duke in the season opener Ward tossed four interceptions. Although he led the Noles to a come-from-behind victory against Clemson the following week, Ward threw four more passes that fell into enemy hands. A few weeks later the no-huddle offense was born and Ward went on to lead the Tribe to its first national championship in 1993.

So should fans expect similar growing pains for Rix in 2001?

"Obviously I'm not perfect and I plan on the downs being minimal," Rix said. "The last thing on my mind is throwing four or six interceptions. I want to do my job to the best of my capability and what what I'm coached to do... I plan on having a good game."

Rix makes his first ever college start this Saturday

When Rix arrived in Tallahassee no one expected he would be put in the role of leading one of the nation's most high profile programs into battle a mere 12 months later. A year ago, the usual rotation of quarterbacks was in place with Jared Jones waiting in the wings. With a redshirt year behind him, Jones would have entered the 2001 season as a junior with three years in the system behind him. But Bobby Bowden sent the Walla, Walla native packing after he violated team rules.

For added depth, Florida State signed Fabian Walker, one of the most prolific quarterbacks in Georgia high school history, with the class of 1999. Had Walker been able to enroll with that class, and avoided the ire of the NCAA, he would have entered this season as a redshirt sophomore and the likely starter. Instead, he enrolled in the spring of 2000 and was subsequently disqualified by the NCAA. Walker is finally back at FSU but must sit out this season under an agreement with the ACC.

Now with the injury to Boldin, Rix is now Bobby's go-to-guy, whether he is ready or not.

Despite a strong performance in spring practice and a good start in two-a-day practices, Rix' accuracy faltered in recent days. In Wednesday's scrimmage, FSU's new No. 16 started out completing 2-8 with an interception. Worst his passes were sailing high and behind his intended targets. He picked things up a bit later in the scrimmage, but you could hear the Seminole faithful already beginning to worry about the possible long season ahead.

Following his less than stellar scrimmage, there was a bogus report on an Atlanta radio station that Rix called his former coach, and current Georgia head man, Mark Richt for advice. These rumors of course made for interesting fodder on Internet message boards, including Warchant.com.

"That is inaccurate," Rix said. "I saw that on the site before I went to bed last night. I haven't talked to coach Richt except once right after he left during the spring time."

Rix' arm started giving him problems early last week

Always the competitor, Rix initially refused to blame his exhausted arm for his struggles. Later, with his elbow packed in ice for several days, Rix finally admitted that his sore elbow was hurting his accuracy.

"It started about Tuesday or Wednesday," Rix told Warchant.com. "That's when my passes started hanging, I started favoring my arm and releasing it a little low, hence the ball was hanging.

"It's weird because honestly I think I threw more in the spring but my arm didn't get that sore. My arm rarely gets sore and I'm surprised it did this week. The past couple days my elbow was sore and it was affecting my throwing."

As of Saturday, Rix' all-important right arm was back on the mend and shouldn't be a factor come Saturday. Also, with two-a-day practices over, the wear and tear on his weary arm should minimal.

"Yesterday in skeletons (passing drill) it felt great and I was hitting and I felt like myself again," Rix said. "That's what you are going to see next week at Duke."

Even with a rejuvenated right arm, no one should be naive enough to think there won't be major growing pains for Rix. It's practically a Seminole tradition for the first year starter to fall flat on his face early in his career (see table above). However, in every case FSU's passer has brushed himself off and led his team to great accomplishments. There is every reason to believe this trend will continue under the direction of Chris Rix.

Keep in mind the past struggles of Seminole quarterbacks when you hear Seminole fans calling for backup Adrian McPherson. In 1992 everyone was convinced that Danny Kannell, also a true freshman that season, should replace Charlie Ward after his early struggles. Fortunately, the FSU coaches gave the future Heisman Trophy winner a chance to learn from his mistakes and didn't relegate him to the bench at the first sign of trouble. Rix will hit some speed bumps this season, but like every past FSU signal caller his best days lie ahead of him.