On opening night publishing The State Press for the fall 2006 semester, we here at the sports desk received a challenge.
Around dinnertime Sunday, the section was planned out, with full coverage on the ASU football team and what we thought was the conclusion to a quarterback controversy between senior Sam Keller and sophomore Rudy Carpenter, especially after coach Dirk Koetter named Keller the starter at the team's scrimmage Friday.
Then we get a call from media relations, saying a major announcement would be coming at football practice Sunday evening. Rumors began to swirl that Keller quit the team. Possible reasons included a team rules violation, a mutiny of sorts by players who approached Koetter asking for Carpenter and even that Carpenter threatened to quit himself Saturday, forcing Koetter to go with a two-quarterback system, thus infuriating Keller enough to leave.
After attending Sunday's practice, we left with more questions than answers. Koetter announced that he simply "changed his mind" and that Carpenter would be the Sun Devils' starter. He added Keller is still on the team, was simply given the night off from practice after receiving the news of the change and may be weighing his options on transferring.
With both players still on the team, the sports desk decided to a run "point-counterpoint" opinion piece on which of the two quarterbacks should start, as originally planned.
One thing is certain. The chances of a coach changing his mind on the starting quarterback just two days after a long-awaited decision that took 18 practices to resolve are slim to none. There's more to this juicy story, and we will do everything in our power to bring it to you in following issues. Stay tuned.
Chris Drexel is the State Press Sports Editor. He can be reached at drex1_phx@hotmail.com.
