Dec. 2, 2012
It looks like B.J. Denker may have found some competition for next season’s starting quarterback job at Arizona.
Numerous
sites are reporting that former USC backup quarterback Jesse Scroggins
has decided to transfer to Arizona to play under coach Rich Rodriguez.
Scroggins,
who will be a redshirt junior next year, sat on the bench at USC behind
Matt Barkley and decided last summer to transfer to El Camino (Calif.)
College, with the plan being to transfer back to a four-year school.
That school appears to be Arizona, which accepted a bowl bid to the
Gildan New Mexico Bowl on Sunday to culminate Rodriguez's successful
debut season.
Scroggins, a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder from Lakewood
High, was a four-star recruit and the No. 6 quarterback in the 2010
class, according to Scout.com, which praised him as having "arguably the
biggest arm in the country" and said he "can run but is much more
comfortable in the pocket."
Rodriguez's zone-read offense
typically seeks a quarterback who's a significant running threat,
although departing redshirt senior Matt Scott, who had a superb final
year, had a manageable 9.7 rushing attempts a game this year while
mostly deferring the run-game duties to first-team All-Pac-12 running
back Ka'Deem Carey, who was only a sophomore.
Injuries plagued
Scroggins throughout his final year at USC in 2011, the first being a
hip injury in spring and the second being a hand injury suffered during
an August scrimmage. At El Camino this past season, Scroggins played in
eight games and completed 45.7 percent of his passes with eight
touchdowns and five interceptions. He also had 56 rushing yards on 42
carries.
Denker will be a senior next year after arriving at
Arizona as a juco transfer last offseason. He played in six games this
past season as Scott's backup, going 25 for 37 for 259 yards with three
touchdowns and one interception to go along with 74 rushing yards on 18
attempts.
-- Steve Rivera and Matt Swartz
