Washington Huskies Football: Why QB Nick Montana Should Transfer

As the final college football game of the 2011-2012 season comes to a close, the Washington Huskies' season has already seen tremendous change. Nick Holt and two other defensive coaches have been fired and the defense is seeing a major overhaul. But more change is in the air, or should be in the air.

This year, the offense saw major improvement and Keith Price proved he can be one of the greatest quarterbacks in the nation. Price limped around for most of the season and was still able to dominate with his tremendous arm and accuracy. When Price's knee was healthy, he was mobile and became a more dangerous dual-threat quarterback.

Price put together one of the best offensive performances college football has ever seen. Seven total touchdowns in a bowl game, outplaying this year's Heisman trophy winner and cementing himself as the Huskies' quarterback of the future.

But what does this mean in regards to change?

Think back to spring camp this year when Price was actually in a quarterback competition with Nick Montana, one of UW's prize recruits from the class of 2010. The two competed and ultimately Price was deemed the starter, a fabulous decision that has proved tremendously wise and vital for the Husky offense. When Montana did play, it was either in mop-up time or when Price was out with injury, in both instances he was unimpressive.

Nick Montana should transfer from the University of Washington. Montana will not see the playing time he will want if he stays a Husky. Price will be the starter next year and hopefully the year after that. Price is a fan favorite and replacing him will be more than difficult. Assuming Price stays for two more years, Montana will not be able to play until his senior season at UW, something he certainly will not want after having a heralded and prosperous high school career.

There remains the possibility that Montana may not even be able to play after Price leaves UW. Steve Sarkisian has two highly rated quarterbacks in his class of 2012–Cyler Miles of Colorado and Jeff Lindquist of Washington, who over the summer was ranked as the fourth best quarterback in his class. The strong armed Lindquist and athletic Miles will be competing for starting reps beginning day one at Washington. UW also has Derrick Brown, a red-shirt freshman quarterback who is on scholarship. Montana may find it too difficult to compete with two high-profile quarterbacks after already losing out to Price earlier this season.

Finally, Montana transferring will be good for both his collegiate career as well as for the University of Washington. While having five scholarship quarterback's on the roster may seem like a good thing (and it certainly isn't too bad a problem to have) it takes away a scholarship that could be used for other positions (defense, defense, defense). More importantly, with Montana at UW, incoming quarterbacks Cyler Miles and Jeff Lindquist will not be able to take the reps they need to reach their full potential as Husky quarterbacks.

For Nick Montana's sake, the Huskies' sake and the sake of the new incoming quarterbacks, Nick Montana should transfer. Montana still has the potential to be a great quarterback and a smaller D-I school or even a lower profile D-I AA school might serve Montana well. Who knows where he may go or what he may turn into, but great recruiting and the development of Keith Price has given the Huskies a great problem to have.