Dirk Koetter's sudden switching of his starting quarterback from senior Sam Keller to sophomore Rudy Carpenter isn't nearly as simple as the "I-changed-my-mind" explanation ASU's head coach offered following Sunday's practice.
Both Keller and Carpenter received an equal amount of repetitions through the Sun Devils' initial 18 practices of the preseason. All along, Koetter said he would choose a starter after those practices, and he did so Friday night, naming the elder Keller. Koetter then said the team needed to forget the quarterback competition and rally around Keller.
Sometime on Saturday, Koetter reversed his choice, deciding Carpenter would be the starter before announcing his about-face Sunday. In less than 24 hours, a decision that took nearly three weeks to make was scrapped almost instantly.
Koetter offered no explanation.
There are just two things we know for sure surrounding the quarterback flip-flop.
One, there was a mutual meeting between Koetter and about 16 team "leaders" Saturday.
Two, we know Carpenter was considering transferring to another school on Saturday after being named backup the day before, but no one knows for sure if he actually discussed that with Koetter.
Thus, with no answers, all fans, boosters and media can do is speculate.
One widely discussed scenario is that Carpenter approached Koetter with an ultimatum, saying if he wasn't the starter this year he would transfer. Therefore, ASU would lose out on Carpenter's services in 2007 and 2008, after Keller had graduated.
Another scenario is that the 16 team leaders unanimously convinced Koetter that Carpenter should be the quarterback. Why they would choose to speak up after the starter had been named is anyone's guess.
There has also been talk that the players may have informed Koetter about some sort of off-the-field problems regarding Keller - the kind of thing teammates usually keep quiet about each other. Having been unaware of such a problem with Keller, the information may have been enough to change Koetter's mind.
Some hybrid of these explanations makes more sense, because we know a meeting did take place and that the change probably isn't purely football-related, as Koetter has said repeatedly that neither quarterback has clearly outplayed the other.
There is no proof yet of anything. But one thing is for sure. It is absolutely ludicrous that a once-friendly competition for playing time has gotten to this point. If Carpenter threatened to transfer if he wasn't played, that's deplorable. If the team leaders went behind Keller's back to rat him out after an official decision had been made, that's disgusting.
And Koetter, trying to be politically correct in giving two proven players an equal shot at starting, made a mistake. He saw plenty of each player in action last season, and he should have named a starter last spring; leaving no room for a quarterback controversy. Then, the team wouldn't be dealing with this drama nearly a week before its season opener.
