Stanback! Here comes Isaiah

Stanback! Here comes Isaiah
As quarterbacks go, he’s faster than a speeding bullet
By Richard Linde, 21 February 2002

"But since I'm a dog, beware my fangs." The Merchant of Venice.

"But since I'm a dog, beware my fangs," The Merchant of Venice. Photo of Isaiah Stanback courtesy of dawgman.com

In this day and age of parity in college football, having an athletic quarterback can be a deciding factor in a close conference race. As the lynchpin of Washington’s recruiting class, Isaiah Stanback could be the “difference” the Huskies are looking for in years to come.

He’s certainly athletic enough. He can play basketball and baseball, and defensive back or wide receiver besides quarterback. Based on game films he’s seen, Coach Rick Neuheisel says that he’s the best high school quarterback he saw on tape. Without a doubt, he’ll play quarterback at Washington.

In a taped interview shown on Fox Sports Net, Neuheisel said, “Isaiah is without question the best quarterback I saw on tape this year. I don’t think that it’s even close. There are lots of publications that will have you believe otherwise. But having done this for a number of years and having coached some guys who I think are pretty good and who have gone on to the next level, there is no doubt in my mind that Isaiah Stanback is the best quarterback in the country. And that’s of all the tapes that I saw, and I saw lots of guys. This guy is special.”

One recruiting service ranks him as the 9^th best quarterback in the nation, which doesn’t jive with Neuheisel’s comments about him until you realize that his high school team, the Garfield Bulldogs (Seattle), won just two games last season. He’s either terribly underrated or there must have been a plethora of good quarterbacks coming out of high school this year. In reality, it’s probably a bit of both, with a lean to being underrated. Having played quarterback at UCLA as well as on Sundays, Neuheisel has developed a number of good quarterbacks as a college coach and could hardly be called obtuse when it comes to evaluating signal callers.

Stanback passed for 1,628 years and 11 touchdowns this season and had 1,341 yards and 12 touchdown passes last season, his junior year. He was the MVP quarterback at the USC football camp last summer, according to dawgman.com.

Besides Washington, he was also recruited by USC, Arizona State, Nevada and Tennessee.

But the family oriented Stanback decided to stay at home, much to the Dawgs' delight. Charity begins at home they say, and with Stanback, the Huskies got a benevolent donor, in that he committed early.

Getting him to commit in early December was huge for the Huskies, helping them pull in a top 20 class in recruiting and win over highly rated prospects like Kenny James (RB), Nathan Rhodes (OL), Stanley Daniels (DL), and Donny Mateaki (DL). Stanback and Jordan Slye (Franklin high school, Seattle) are the only quarterbacks the Huskies recruited. "I'm trying to help get other players here (at Washington)," Stanback told the Seattle Times. Give him an “A” for effort.

Each recruiting season, it is vital for Washington’s success, year in and year out, for it to recruit the top players from its own state. David Samek of dawgman.com believes that Neuheisel has gone four for four in that department over the past four years. He says, “This year, he (Neuheisel) needed to get Garfield High School's Isaiah Stanback to tell the USC Trojans and ASU Sun Devils that he was going to play his home games at the Dawghouse on Montlake Boulevard.”

Blaine Newnham of the Seattle Times thinks highly of Isaiah. “Make no mistake about it. The Huskies recruited him to play quarterback. Not to run the option the way Marques Tuiasosopo did, but to roam the field the way Donovan McNabb does, or John Elway did. To be a passer first, an escape artist second…At Garfield, he spent his time racing from the rush, buying time and real estate with his speed, sometimes retreating 30 yards behind the line of scrimmage only to flip the ball 50 yards in the air.”

I wouldn’t rule out the option, however. He has the size (6 feet 3 inches, 190 pounds), the speed (4.4 seconds in the 40) and the athletic wherewithal to do just about anything the Huskies will want of him at quarterback.

Greg Biggins (PacWestFootball.com) says of him, “Picture a more athletic Marques Tuiasosopo.”

Is that possible?

If so, in years to come, it might be said that Rick Neuheisel pulled off the recruiting coo of the year in 2002 when he signed Stanback.

In any case, now that he's a dawg, beware his fangs.

Reference:

Newnham, Blaine, “UW has its man in Isaiah Stanback,” The Seattle Times,” 24 January 2002.