By Denny O'Brien
©2008 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.

Things didn’t turn out the way Rob Kass planned last year. If they had, he would have entered fall camp as the undisputed starter at quarterback following a season in which he led East Carolina to a Conference USA championship.

Toss in a few new passing records and all-league honors and you have an ideal scenario for a quarterback possessing lofty aspirations. But in the humbling game of college football, a player’s career and the ideal rarely make each other’s acquaintance.

For Kass, that became apparent just days before his first scheduled start under center for East Carolina. An off-the-field incident led to a one-game suspension, meaning he’d miss the much-anticipated season opener at ninth-ranked Virginia Tech.

When he finally got his turn, Kass displayed a powerful right arm on intermediate routes and soft touch on the deep ball. He also showed the type of inconsistency that can be expected with any first-year quarterback.

Kass set out to improve his consistency during the off-season.

“After we reviewed last season, Coach (Todd) Fitch, Coach Holtz and myself all sat down and just looked at all of the incompletions that I had and all of the errant passes that I had,” Kass said. “What led to that?”

“We did that with each individual quarterback," Kass recalled. "For me personally, everything came down to my feet. It was because my feet weren’t set.”

Kass spent much of spring practice and summer conditioning trying to improve his footwork, as well as the other areas of his game. He did so while competing with Patrick Pinkney for the coveted No. 1 quarterback spot.

It was a battle that was narrowly won by Pinkney in the spring, though a renewal of that battle was never ruled out. Kass has approached fall camp with the mindset that the job remains up for grabs.

“Emotionally, obviously being a competitive person, you want to be the guy out there,” Kass said. “You want to be the guy taking all the reps. You want to be the guy taking all the snaps in a game situation.

“But physically, emotionally, and mentally, we all have to be prepared to be that guy. But if you’re not that guy, and you’re sitting back, you have to observe and you have to learn from what the other guy’s doing.”

It certainly presented a challenging scenario for opposing defenses, and it proved a productive one for the Pirates offensively. The two-quarterback system led to a unit that produced 31 points per game, and Kass and Pinkney combined for 2,522 yards passing with 20 touchdowns and only eight interceptions.

There was no consistent pattern that was used for rotating the two, other than the fact that the game’s flow and the opponent’s deficiencies often dictated which quarterback took the reigns. As a result, Kass said both he and Pinkney had to be prepared at a moment’s notice.

“Offensively, we all prepare like we’re going to be the starter,” Kass said. “We all prepare like we’re going to take every snap. You have to be mentally prepared to go in there and play an entire game.

“I think Coach Holtz and Coach Fitch do a great job on the offensive side of the ball in preparing us for a game situation. Now on the other hand, defensively, (opponents) have a lot to prepare for. Some of the things that I don’t do so well, Patrick does well. Some of the things that he doesn’t do so well, I can help exploit that. We feel like the combination of us together has presented defenses with a lot of problems.”

For Kass, it was his right arm that was responsible for most of the damage to defenses. At 6’4”, 250 pounds, he isn’t the most fleet afoot, but he does possess the stature and arm strength of a classic pocket passer.

It provided a much-needed change of pace during the second half of a crucial C-USA victory over Houston. He completed 6-of-12 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown against the Cougars, a performance that propelled him back into the starting role against Central Florida.

Against the Knights, he had one of his finest outings as a Pirate, throwing for 201 yards and three touchdowns. It seemed to solidify his place as the Pirates starter, though a slight stumble against UAB put Pinkney back into the mix.

It was a week later when ECU exploded against Memphis for 641 yards offensively with Pinkney operating a spread attack. The same approach was utilized in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl when the Pirates amassed 476 yards of offense against Boise State.

Pinkney used that postseason performance to propel himself up the depth chart during the spring. And though Pinkney might have the inside track for the starting job, Kass isn’t conceding the position just yet.

“Obviously, we’re not playing a game tomorrow,” Kass said. “As a competitive person, I’m going to work every single day to be the guy.

“Come Virginia Tech, I want to be that guy to go out there and lead the team up and down the field. But if I’m not, I’m going to sit back and observe and learn, and when I get my opportunity I’m going to go out there and make the most of it.”