[Hank 91]

Whenever I hear about these issues, I think about Matt Cassell. Back up first to Carson Palmer and then Matt Leinart, Cassell never took a meaningful snap at USC, but ended up as a starter in the NFL. A well-documented story, I know, but I don't think it would've been a brobdingnagian surprise for a player like Nottingham, with impressive high school credentials, two years studying under Andrew Luck, and four or five years total under Shaw, presumably a good developer of quarterbacks, to catch on in the same way. I can't begin to understand how difficult it would be to go from big man on campus and national recruit to four-year backup, but if you're leaving college with a Stanford degree with a minor in quarterbacking, I'd say your options are pretty good.

[Hank 91]

Whenever I hear about these issues, I think about Matt Cassell. Back up first to Carson Palmer and then Matt Leinart, Cassell never took a meaningful snap at USC, but ended up as a starter in the NFL. A well-documented story, I know, but I don't think it would've been a brobdingnagian surprise for a player like Nottingham, with impressive high school credentials, two years studying under Andrew Luck, and four or five years total under Shaw, presumably a good developer of quarterbacks, to catch on in the same way. I can't begin to understand how difficult it would be to go from big man on campus and national recruit to four-year backup, but if you're leaving college with a Stanford degree with a minor in quarterbacking, I'd say your options are pretty good.