Today's list comes off the line from blue-chip QB recruit Dayne Crist who was sold on Notre Dame after coach Charlie Weis had told him no one could make him a better player than he could.
That got me to thinking about who are the best QB coaches working in college today. I tried to focus it on past work as well as on production, more than just who can make a guy an NFL QB. In some cases it was a coach taking over and a QB showing dramatic improvement. I also tried to factor in guys who did well despite not necessarily being surrounded by an abundance of talent. As you'll see each has their pluses and minuses:
1. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina: The Ol' Ball Coach has been working wonders with QBs for a quarter-century: His first big success was Duke's Ben Bennett, who completed his career as the NCAA's all-time leading passer with 9,614 yards. Then in 1990, Spurrier took a guy who didn't exactly have a cannon and turned Shane Matthews into the "SEC Player of the Year" in his first season as a starter after he set 11 single-season UF records including most passing yards with 2,952. In 1993, Spurrier took a guy with even less of an arm, Danny Wuerffel and groomed him into a guy who fired 22 TD passes to set a new NCAA Div. I-A record for most TD passes by a freshman QB. In 2001, another protégé, Rex Grossman led the nation in pass efficiency, and he also set an NCAA mark for most TD passes in his combined freshman and sophomore seasons. The one knock on Spurrier is that he hasn't cranked out NFL stars, but you can't knock his impact in the college game.
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Bruce Feldman
