Often an athletic Quarterback will lose out as the starter on his team and will convert to another position. We’ve seen them convert to Wide Receiver, or even Running Back. Some will be moved to a Defensive Back position, usually Safety.
But, I will admit it’s kind of fun to see one of them convert to a Linebacker. That doesn’t seem to happen very often, and I wonder what pops into their minds when they get an opportunity for a nice hit on another Quarterback.
Shane Cockerille was a 4 star Dual Threat Quarterback prospect out of Baltimore, Maryland in the 2013 class. He was the 16th ranked prospect in the country at his position according to ESPN. Ranked ahead of him that season were Joshua Hobbs, the long time starter at Tennessee, and Mitch Trubisky that was
just drafted 2nd in the latest NFL Draft. Also rated ahead of Cockerille they had Malik Zaire, JT Barrett and Bucky Hodges. Old rankings mean little, but they are interesting to a recruiting nut.
Cockerille signed with the Terrapins of Maryland and redshirted as a freshman and then did not play at all as a redshirt freshman. In 2015, he ran 4th team at Quarterback. He was able to play enough to throw 23 passes, but it looked like he would not overtake the frontrunners any time soon.
Former coaches moved Cockerille to Fullback, but because of injuries, he found himself back and forth between positions and he was finally back at Quarterback.
With the arrival of new coach DJ Durkin, Cockerille found himself at the Weakside Linebacker position. Probably, no Quarterback wants to move to another position, but Linebacker was a good move for the 6-2, 235 Shane Cockerille. Durkin came from a defensive background having played Linebacker himself and coming from the Defensive Coordinator’s job at Michigan and from Florida before that. He was scrambling to find some good defenders for the Terrapins.
The move worked with Cockerille leading the team in tackles as a junior. Cockerille even got a little revenge on Quarterbacks with 3 Quarterback sacks.
This is not a success story, at least yet. Cockerille missed the team’s bowl game and this past spring
because of grades. He is supposed to be spending his time away from football regaining his eligibility. If he is able to play as a senior in 2017, look for big things out of senior Shane Cockerille at the Will Linebacker.
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In Ames, Iowa, they have a somewhat similar situation with Joel Lanning.
Lanning has been a Quarterback at Iowa State since his arrival. Signing with the 2013 Cyclones’ recruiting class, Lanning redshirted his first year on campus and then he didn’t play during his second, very similar to Cockerille at Maryland.
At around 6-2, 225 or more, Lanning was a big Quarterback. He finally got his shot as a Quarterback in 2015 and took over for Sam Richardson who was struggling. Lanning played really well in a close loss at highly ranked Baylor and he got the starting nod for their next game against a mess of a program in the Texas Longhorns. Lanning and Running Back Michael Warren led the Cyclones to a surprising 25-0 win over the visiting Longhorns. This was not the same type of Texas team of previous years, but Iowa State dominated them.
Lanning started the rest of the season, however the Cyclones didn’t win another game and head coach Paul Rhoads was fired.
They hired a fantastic prospect in the coaching ranks, Matt Campbell, as their new head coach. Campbell looks like an up and coming coach.
Iowa State had also picked up a Quarterback transfer from Georgia in Jacob Parks.
Joel Lanning began the 2016 season as the starter and Parks slowly took over.
The coaching staff decided to give Lanning a trial at an Inside Linebacker position. In the Spring, Lanning moved into the starter’s spot at Mike Linebacker. Lanning says he will still practice and possibly play at Quarterback. He will be a senior this season and it will be obviously his last shot at impressing if that is his goal. Lanning is up to 235 pounds and he’s always been a strong runner. We still see some two way players, but none of them play both Quarterback and Linebacker at the same time.
Old school Linebackers like Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jack Lambert, hate Quarterbacks. When asked about rule changes protecting Quarterbacks, Lambert said something along the lines they should put dresses on Quarterbacks. Now, something like 40 years later, we have Quarterbacks moving to Linebacker.
Why stand on the sidelines when you have a shot at playing and helping the team at another position? You only have one shot at playing football. Take my word on that. Get out there and play and not everyone gets to be the Quarterback. Is that a shot at Tim Tebow?