IRVING -- The competition for starting quarterback at Texas Tech is so tight that new coach Tommy Tuberville joked that after Big 12 Media Days was over he was going to let the media vote and "pick out a starter."
There was no vote, but the two combatants were both on display Tuesday, all part of the process according to Tuberville.
"They have to be leaders off and on the field, and they have to handle themselves very well. We'll look at everything, from how they handle pregame all the way to how they handle the meeting at the end of the scrimmage," Tuberville said. "That's why I brought both of them, I wanted to see how they handled themselves in front of you and the TV cameras."
Neither Steven Sheffield nor Taylor Potts were aware of Tuberville's reasoning for bringing two quarterbacks to the annual Big 12 football kickoff event. It didn't take long during the one-on-one interviews for the reporters to relay the message to both seniors, though.
"I didn't know that. I guess he didn't want to put any pressure on us. So, I'll have to be real serious now," joked the articulate and upbeat Sheffield, who along with Potts had been prepped by new offensive coordinator Neal Brown before leaving Lubbock. "He called us in his office last week and told us about the tricky questions you were all going to try and trick us with, no not really, just how we needed to handle questions about how someone is not going to win [the job], that someone is not going to be the starter."
Tuberville also made that clear Tuesday, saying, "We will not have rotating quarterbacks."
So Sheffield and Potts will be on display for the next five weeks in an attempt to win the starting job for a team that will continue to throw the ball despite the departure of coach Mike Leach, whose quarterbacks led the Big 12 in passing yards per game in each of the last nine seasons.
Potts was the last of the Red Raiders to hold that distinction, throwing for an average of 313 yards a game in 2009.
Sheffield, who began last season as Potts' backup, also posted some impressive numbers, highlighted by the 370 yards he totaled against Kansas State in one half.
But the two started anew last spring under Tuberville, who hadn't given the edge to either at that time, either.
"They've both been starters in the Big 12. They've both been backups. They've won games," Tuberville said. "They've both been injured."
And the injuries are a big reason why the two are still battling for the job.
Sheffield reinjured his foot a few practices into spring ball and Potts went down the next practice with an injury to his throwing hand.
"It was frustrating, because once he went down with the foot injury I thought maybe I had the chance to go in there and get all the reps, then the next day of practice, toward the end of practice, I get hurt," Potts said. "It's kind of a bummer, but it happens, football is tough and people get hurt all the time and you've got to roll with it."
Sheffield had also hoped to show off his skills to the new regime after earning a start for the first time in 2009.
"It was tough because I was trying to learn a new offense, I was trying to take the spot in the spring," said the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Sheffield. "I thought, I've got to take a step back focus on what I can control, try to gain some weight, watch film and watch the young quarterbacks and what they were doing."
Sheffield and Potts are not best friends, and both used the word "cordial" when describing their relationship. Their styles aren't very much alike, either.
Potts, a 6-foot-5, 218-pounder from Abilene, is a dropback, strong-armed quarterback who appears laid back, while Sheffield admits that freelancing is one of his strengths.
"We're cool, we never walk by without saying something, but we're not texting each other or playing video games," said Sheffield, who played at Austin Connally. "We understand that we are both competing for the spot and it's business and you've got to be professional about it."
Both feel they have an edge with the new staff when it comes to gaining the coveted position.
Tech is looking to throw the ball deeper to stretch the defense while also going to the hurry-up offense under the 29-year-old Brown, whose unit at Troy broke all the school records while he was the coordinator.
Despite their differences, there are a couple of points about the situation that Potts and Sheffield can readily agree on, the first being how much Brown has already meant to their growth.
"Watching film, he picks out fundamental things, where as with Coach Leach it was, 'Hey, throw the ball,' it wasn't looking at any type of fundamentals," Potts said. "Coach Brown, he even put a stripe on our helmet to see where we were looking. He wanted to know as soon as we got the ball where our eyes were, because he wanted to know where we were reading at every point."
The final and perhaps most important aspect as far as Tech, Tuberville and Brown are concerned is that both players are willing to accept the worst-case scenario of not getting the starting nod.
"I'm going to have a lot of fun. I'm not going to let the competition or the game change me in any way," Potts said. "[If] I'm on the bench and don't see a play all season, I'm going to have the time of my life."
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NOTES -- Despite the big numbers Texas Tech quarterbacks have put up, the last time a Red Raider QB was one the three players taken to Big 12 Media Days was in 2002 when Kliff Kingsbury accompanied Leach. ... Whoever gets the quarterback job at Tech will be targeting Detron Lewis, a senior receiver from A&M Consolidated. Both Potts and Sheffield used the word "athleticism" when describing Lewis. Both added he's an NFL-type player. ... Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe was the last to speak Tuesday. He said there is no interest at this time in the conference expanding, noting that he and coaches alike are looking forward to having a schedule in which everyone plays each other once in football and twice in basketball every year. Reading between the lines, he also made it sound as if Colorado's departure from the Big 12 could come next season when Nebraska leaves for the Big Ten. "It's in Colorado's interest to move on along with Utah to the Pac-10. It's our interest to move on. I don't think it helps anybody to linger in a lame-duck status, if you're on their side or our side." ... Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said the main reason his team is moving more to the spread offense is for recruiting. "I felt like the number of players we could recruit to fit the system was greater than the system we had competed with the years before. We recruit Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana and most offenses have a number of wide receivers and [running] backs, but not as many tight ends and fullbacks."
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