Marshall Faulk said Tuesday that Ashton Strother is ahead of Wyatt McCauley in Southern’s quarterback battle, giving the senior the edge after the program’s spring work and a showcase he said mattered in the evaluation.
Faulk made the assessment while at the Zurich Classic Celebrity Shootout at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, where he teamed with Tyler Shough to win the charity golf event by holding off teams featuring Chris Berman and Matt Flynn and Justin Reid and Pete Werner. He said he had to review the film before speaking authoritatively, but when he did, he was direct: Strother was the one in front right now.
Southern held its spring showcase on April 4, and Faulk said it played a significant part in the decision-making process. He said he watched Strother, McCauley and Dillon Compton through the spring, while freshmen Vashaun Coulon and Mario Litmer were not with the team yet. That left only part of the quarterback picture in front of him, and Faulk said the missing pieces matter because more competition is still coming.
“Right now, Ashton did a great job, and I would put him ahead of Wyatt right now,” Faulk said. He added that Strother’s edge came largely from experience. “You know, Wyatt’s a redshirt freshman and Ashton’s a senior,” he said, calling the comparison “kind of unfair.”
Faulk, who has said he likes to identify a starter early, stressed that the race is far from settled. There are four months before the season kicks off, and he said the staff will keep the job open to the best player regardless of class. “We’re gonna put the best talent that we have out there on the field to try to win games,” he said, adding, “We got a couple other guys coming in in the fall” and “There’s just more competition to come.”
For now, the scoreboard in Southern’s quarterback room favors Strother. The more important test comes when the rest of the competition arrives in the fall and Faulk has to turn a spring read into a decision that lasts into the season.