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Posted by djfather
August 20, 2007

Tulane junior Scott Elliott will be under center when the Green Wave takes the field Sept. 8.NEW ORLEANS - One of the big questions heading into the 2007 season for the Tulane University football team was an obvious one - Who is going to start at quarterback for the Green Wave when they open the year against Mississippi State on Sept. 8?
First year head coach Bob Toledo can now scratch that list of questions off his list to be answered as he named junior Scott Elliott his starter prior to Monday's practice at the Westfeldt Practice Facility. Based on his play during the spring and the first eight days of preseason drills, Elliott won the job over sophomore Anthony Scelfo, redshirt-freshman Kevin Moore and true freshman Joe Kemp.

"It's not like he has a lot of experience, but we wanted to make a decision," Toledo said of his new signal caller. "We wanted to do it within the first 10 practices, and that's about what we did. (Elliott) needs a lot of reps now to get used to what we're doing and to get comfortable with the first group. He has proven from spring practice and 10 practices this fall that he is worthy of it.

"Somebody really had to beat him out and that didn't happen. I think (all the quarterbacks) improved, which makes me feel good, but nobody really played better than him. Because he's the older guy and because he has the most experience, we're going to go with him. The other two guys will get an equal opportunity to continue to work, and we'll see how they progress."

A fourth-year junior from Bay City, Texas, Elliott has played in 13 games during his Tulane career, including three starts as a redshirt-freshman in 2005. He has completed 61-of-122 passes for 647 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions. As the Green Wave's part-time starter in 2005, Elliott completed 52.2 percent of his passes (48-of-92) for 515 yards, four scores and four picks.

Elliott is now what has become a highly coveted position as the previous four starting quarterbacks at Tulane have all gone on to sign NFL contracts. Shaun King - who set an NCAA Division I-A record with a 183.32 quarterback rating in 1998 - started the trend as a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1999, Patrick Ramsey (Washington, 2002) and J.P. Losman (Buffalo, 2005) were both first-round picks, and Lester Ricard signed a free-agent deal last spring with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The announcement of Elliott being named the starter was originally made on Sunday during the "Let's Talk Tulane Football" party at Boomtown Casino on the Westbank of New Orleans, and while Elliott has been playing with the No. 1s for most of preseason practice, Monday was the first day he took the field with full knowledge that he would be the team's starter.

"(Elliott) really has a pretty good grasp of the offense," Toledo said. "He understands what we're doing and he's not going to make many bad plays. The thing that I'm on him about constantly is that he has to make routine plays. When guys are wide open, he's got to complete those passes because that is the West Coast Offense."

In addition to the news on Elliott, Monday's practice was another action-packed day as the Green Wave went through a multitude of drills - including what Toledo calls "sudden change." With the teams doing primarily individual drills, Toledo blew his whistle, announced "sudden change" and the team assembled along the sideline as they would in a game. The defense kept the Green Wave offense out of the end zone on this particular occasion, but Toledo vowed to use the drill several more times throughout the preseason.

Tulane also welcomed back a handful of players who had missed time due to nagging injury during Monday's practice. Rejoining the team on the field were wide receivers Jeremy Williams (shoulder) and Brian King (toe), as well as cornerback Charles Harris (mononucleosis).

The Tulane team returns to practice on Tuesday, Aug. 21, with its second two-a-day practice of the fall. The Green Wave will take the field in the morning at 9:30 a.m. for an 18-period practice before returning to the Westfeldt Facility at 3:35 p.m. for a 24-session practice. The two-a-day is the first of three double shifts Toledo has scheduled as Tulane will go twice again on Wednesday and Saturday.

The Green Wave open the 2007 season on Saturday, Sept. 8, when Tulane takes on Mississippi State at 6 p.m. in the Louisiana Superdome. Season tickets remain on sale through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office.

Tulane names starting quarterback - Sports - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com

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