AUBURN, Ala. — Quarterback Tyrik Rollison’s Auburn career might be over before it ever really began.Wanting to be closer to home and have an opportunity to play immediately, Rollison plans to transfer to Sam Houston State at the end of the spring semester, his father, Michael Kelly, told various news outlets Wednesday.
“It’s a go,” Kelly told ESPN. “He was just unhappy there. I think that’s the reason they went out and got another quarterback.”
The reports came after Rollison hinted at a new start on his Facebook page earlier in the day, posting a message that read: “MOVING ON FROM AUBURN...I APPRECIATE EVERYONE WHO IS SUPPORTING ME.’’ The status update was later removed.
Rollison’s father said his son plans to finish the spring semester at Auburn before transferring, presumably allowing Tigers coaches an opportunity to convince the quarterback to change his mind.
Auburn coach Gene Chizik did not release a comment Wednesday. An Auburn athletics spokesman did not confirm or deny the report.
A 6-foot-4, 194-pound former U.S. Army All-American from Sulphur Springs, Texas, Rollison was considered the jewel of Chizik’s first recruiting class.
He came close to earning the backup job to Chris Todd last August. Although he redshirted, with the backup duties going to the more experienced Neil Caudle, Rollison figured to be a major player in the quarterback competition this spring.
That never happened. In early December, Rollison was suspended for an undisclosed violation of team rules. He did not practice or travel for the Outback Bowl.
“We have high standards that we have set and fully expect our team to meet,” Chizik said in a press release at the time. “When these expectations are not met, I will make decisions based upon what is best for the entire football team and the Auburn Family.”
Chizik said Rollison returned to the team in good standing last month, but Auburn’s quarterback situation had changed, with the Tigers adding five-star junior college transfer Cam Newton in late December.
Chizik declared the quarterback race “wide open” just days ago, but Newton, a 6-foot-6, 247-pound dual-threat quarterback who once backed up Tim Tebow at Florida, is the presumptive frontrunner in the competition.
In addition to Newton, Auburn has three other quarterbacks on the roster — Caudle, a senior, sophomore Barrett Trotter and redshirt freshman Clint Moseley. Onetime quarterback Kodi Burns will remain at wide receiver and be an option in the Wildcat formation.
Rollison also considered Texas Tech as a destination, according to ESPN, but did not want to sit out a year as required by NCAA transfer rules. Sam Houston State competes in the Football Championship Subdivision, a level down from the Football Bowl Subdivision, meaning Rollison would be eligible to play right away.
Sam Houston State is best know for being the landing spot for former Oklahoma quarterback and prized recruit Rhett Bomar, who was dismissed from the Sooners in 2006 after being paid for work he never did at a car dealership owned by an Oklahoma booster. Bomar was a fifth-round NFL pick by the New York Giants in 2009.
Located in Huntsville, Texas, Sam Houston State is less than four hours from Rollison’s home in Sulphur Springs.
11 comments:
Good luck in the future Tyrik!
When Auburn signed Newton, I wrote in saying how concerned I was about team chemistry with the signing of Newton given there were so many QB’s in camp. The departure of Rollison could be a sign of bad chemistry or it could be a sign that Auburn did not see Rollison as the QB of the future. With AU looking hard at two (or maybe more) high profile QB’s in 2011 along with Moseley getting most of the accolades it is quite possible Rollison made the very mature decision to move on to a place where he can showcase his talents.
In any case, hats off to Mr. Rollison whose signing last year got the ball rolling for the credibility of the AU recruiting program and best of luck to him. Also, a tip of the hat to coach Chizik and his staff for the way they are managing the roster.
Moseley has gotten some accolades but most think it is a Trotter / Newton battle headed into the spring.
I think long-term, Moseley will be a guy who gets a serious look. But it won't be this year.
Short-term, it's Newton with Caudle and Moseley battling it out for the backup position.
This is just speculation, though.
I wouldn't sleep on Trotter yet either. He should be fully recovered from his ACL injury last year and able to truly compete. I think he'll be a reshirt soph. this year so he has three years left to play.
I'll have to disagree, Andy, and say it's Trotter/Caudle fighting for the backup role with Trotter more likely to win it. We'll see.
I actually meant to write Trotter on that previous response when I was talking about this year's backup job.
But long-term, I think Moseley might be the guy.
Andy, any vibe throughout the year that there might not have been much confidence in what we could look forward to from Tyrick? I can understand the kid's decision as he would potentially be sitting for another 2 years & even then who knows if there wouldn't be someone else who could have taken the #1 spot.
Kinda sucks before we got Cam I really thought that Tyrick was going to be 1/1A with Caudle going into Spring, but after that Outback bowl maybe that changed people's opinion on him, who knows. Good luck to him again I understand the decision, hopefully Cam makes CGC look good after all of this.
Couldn't it be something as simple as the fact that Rollison didn't do so well academically and that made him really homesick?
Robert Cooper not on scholarship anymore?
cooper was moved to tight end last season
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