Nutile still a factor in Owls' QB competition
Quarterback Frank Nutile has walked up and down the hallways of Edberg-Olsen Hall for the last three years now. But whenever he’s walked those familiar hallways in recent months, there’s a new nickname that follows him.
“Frankie Juice.”
“That’s one of Coach Collins’ nicknames right there,” Nutile said. “He started saying it and it caught like wildfire. So now when I walk around the facility, I hear ‘Frankie Juice’ this and ‘Frankie Juice’ that. It’s a great nickname he gave me, and I like it a lot.”
While Nutile enjoys his catchy new nickname, there’s another moniker he’d much prefer to have -- Temple’s starting quarterback for the nationally televised season-opener on Sept. 2 at Notre Dame.
And therein lies the conundrum for Nutile. Even though he’s been on North Broad Street longer than Anthony Russo, Logan Marchi and Todd Centeio, the Don Bosco Prep grad by no means has a head start on the rest of the competition.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite, as all four are currently locked in the same spot and will have the next several months to convince Geoff Collins, offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude and the rest of the staff that he’s the right guy.
And Nutile is comfortable with that.
“I think it’s a really good competition,” the 22-year-old said. “I think, every day, the four of us are big-time competitors and we’re pushing each other every day, which is helping all of us get better. I think, going into the summer, it will be very interesting and it will be fun.
“I’m very confident going into summer. I think this will be a great competition with the three guys we have. You saw [during the Cherry and White Game] everyone can spin the ball and everyone is a good leader. So it’ll be good going forward.”
Nutile came to Temple prior to the 2014 season and had a chance to win the No. 2 job behind Phillip Walker that year, but tore his right ACL during a summer practice and redshirted as the injury forced him to miss the entire season.
A year later, healthier and more mature in 2015, Nutile earned the No. 2 job behind Walker, appeared in three games and completed all three passes he uncorked, including a 10-yard strike to running back David Hood in the Owls’ 49-10 demolition of Tulane that October.
Last season, Marchi backed up Walker on the depth chart. Nutile still appeared in three games with zero completions as the Owls’ No. 3 quarterback.
Even with those personal highs and lows, Nutile was able to learn for three valuable seasons under Walker, who holds the program record for passing yards (10,669) and touchdown passes (74).
“P.J. is probably the best quarterback to ever come through here,” Nutile said. “A winner, a competitor and a great leader. I think my last two years here, he really did a great job showing me all that and showing me how to watch tape. I think I’m in a good spot, and so are the other three guys with how he led the way for us.
“It’s been kind of crazy because P.J. was really the guy for the last four years and the leader of the room. So right now, we’re all doing a good job trying to take that role. It feels good being the older guy and having some experience and getting ready to go here.”
Now with all the experience and three years alongside the most prolific quarterbacking mentor in Temple history under his belt, Nutile finally holds his destiny in his very own hands. No longer is he totally blocked at the position. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.
But that light is also eclipsed by three young guns climbing the same ladder for the prize that hangs above.
Russo, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Archbishop Wood alum, was recruited by Les Miles and LSU after decommiting from Rutgers and before signing with Temple as part of the Owls’ 2016 recruiting class.
During Saturday’s wet and rainy Cherry and White Game, Russo was efficient, going 7 for 11 for 77 yards. His best ball was a back-shoulder throw on a deep sideline wheel route to Jager Gardner out of the backfield.
The 6-foot, 192-pound Marchi, a redshirt sophomore who appeared in five games last season as the Owls’ No. 2, is a wild-card in the race. He went 4 for 10 for 92 yards Saturday, but didn’t necessarily help himself, conditions or not, with two picks, including one into triple coverage.
Centeio, the 6-foot, 205-pound true freshman out of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida grabbed the crowd’s attention Saturday, going 9 for 13 for 110 yards and touchdown, a pretty fade to Marshall Ellick in the corner of the end zone. He also showed a sense of awareness with heady checkdowns and scrambles.
But the experienced vet of the group made a statement of his own. Nutile only went 2 for 6, but one was a 37-yard strike over the middle on a slant to Freddie Johnson, who took it to the house for a touchdown. Later in the afternoon, Nutile let his feet do the talking as he took a draw 16 yards untouched up the gut for a rushing touchdown.
“Today was a good day,” Nutile said after the Cherry and White Game. “It feels good, after the whole spring and 14 practices, to come out there and make some plays with the guys and just have some fun. So it was a great day today.
“I think I played pretty well. There’s obviously some stuff I could have capitalized on. I’ll get with [Patenaude] and watch the film and see what I need to do better and go from there and keep rolling into the summer for the competition.”
Nutile’s head coach was thrilled with the touchdown run, but is still far away from naming a quarterback competition winner.
“There are plenty reps to go around,” Collins said after Saturday’s spring game. “Everything we do with our program, everybody is playing. … The reps are there. They’re going to get plenty of time to work with all the different receivers.
“There’s so much that goes into [the decision]. Everything we talk about is practice. Everything we talk about is leadership, how they approach the offseason. So it’s an ongoing process in the offseason and throughout the preseason and even throughout the season.
“It was clean, the optics were good today and we got to see the guys really spin it out there.”
If there’s anyone on the Owls’ roster used to spinning it while waiting patiently for his turn, it’s Nutile.