Courtesy of Norfolk State Athletic Communications


NORFOLK, Va. – The coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of not just all collegiate spring sports seasons, but also all off-season practices and team workouts for the time being. That includes spring football practice and intrasquad scrimmages.

In lieu of reports from spring practice, NSUSpartans.com will instead give a breakdown of each position grouping for Spartan football in the coming months. This week concludes the breakdown of the offense with a look at the quarterbacks.

It's been 25 years since Aaron Sparrow electrified crowds at the old Foreman Field across town, setting every major passing mark in school history. His 8,758 passing yards, 617 completions and 79 touchdowns have stood since the Portsmouth native played his last down in 1995.

No Spartan has come close to threatening those marks since. But senior Juwan Carter could change that in 2020. Carter is 68 completions and 1,999 passing yards from Sparrow's hallowed records, a testament to the Richmond native's longevity and improvement since coming to Park Avenue in 2017.

Carter is the top returning quarterback in the conference after a breakthrough 2019 season. He passed for 2,631 yards and 23 touchdowns, both of which led the MEAC and rank among the top four single seasons in school history. The 23 touchdown throws are the most by a quarterback in NSU's Division I era.

Carter, who also ran for six more touchdowns, earned second-team All-MEAC honors – NSU's first all-conference signal-caller since Chris Walley in 2011.

"We just want "Pootie" to take the next step in his development from a leadership and overall consistency standpoint," quarterback coach Aaron Corp said. "He played fairly well last year, but there's always something you can improve on. He knows that as well, so I'm not concerned about him staying motivated."

From many standpoints, having a senior with 31 career starts is a luxury for a quarterback coach. No more so than from a mental approach, Corp said.

"That makes it easy as a coach when I don't have to be on him a bunch when he's making mistakes," said Corp, who played the position collegiately and professionally. "He knows when he doesn't do what he's supposed to do, and he corrects it."

The Spartans also return one of last year's reserves in Sebien Stone. Stone, who joined the team last summer after a productive career at Tallwood High in Virginia Beach, gained valuable practice repetitions in 2019, serving as the backup for several contests. He saw his first career action in a win at Howard, but retained his redshirt since he played in fewer than four games.

"Sebien is a glue guy for us," Corp said. "He does everything he's asked, and I'm looking forward to getting back out there and working with him again."

NSU also added two recruits who should be big pieces to the quarterback room moving forward. Jonah Fitzgerald transferred mid-year from Old Dominion, where he spent the last two seasons. He played in two games in his tenure with the Monarchs after a stellar high school career at Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke. Fitzgerald, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining, passed for 6,732 yards and 56 touchdowns in high school and was all-state in both football and basketball.

"Jonah is accurate and throws a good deep ball," Corp said. "He worked his butt off in winter workouts with us. I liked what he did in high school and am looking forward to seeing what he can do on the field in our system."

The other new addition is another transfer, Kyler Davis from Fork Union Military Academy. Davis played on the prep team at FUMA last year after a decorated high school career in his native Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was first-team all-conference as a senior at Seventy-First High School, passing for 1,977 yards, running for 999 and accounting for 30 total touchdowns.

"We started recruiting Kyler a little later," Corp said. "But we're glad we got him because he gives us a bunch of options. He's accurate and athletic."

The Spartan quarterbacks will have the keys to a potent offense. The unit as a whole performed well in 2019, notching the highest single-season scoring marks for all games (28.9 ppg) and MEAC games (31.8) since NSU moved to Division I in 1997. That included three games of at least 40 points and another with 38.

The top two rushers, three leading receivers, top two tight ends and four starting offensive linemen return from that unit. That's key regardless of who is under center, Corp said.

"I tell them, just do your job. You don't have to be Superman for this thing to be successful," Corp said. "It's OK to check the ball down or run if you have to. We have so many playmakers, just get the ball in their hands and things are going to happen.

"So that's a good thing from our standpoint, not having a ton of pressure. Just stay consistent, be ready to lead and keep things going in the right direction."