Finding the Field in College Football: How Both Avery Davis and Phil Jurkovec Found it in Different Ways
If you watched the Notre Dame Vs Boston College game, you were sure to hear about how Eagles’ current quarterback Phil Jurkovec was on the Irish the last two years. ESPN beat that storyline to death on Saturday during the game, taking about it almost every time Jurkovec was on the field. Jurkovec took the route of transferring to find playing time.
Current Irish wide out Avery Davis took a different path than Jurkovec to find the field. Davis, like Jurkovec, came to Notre Dame to play quarterback; but after finding himself deep on the depth chart, Davis switched positions. In his sophomore season he switched to running back, then his junior year he opened camp at corner back before moving to wide out, where you can find him this year. So for those keeping track at home, that’s quarterback to cornerback to running back to wide out – just to find playing time.
These are both very different paths to finding playing time, but neither one is a bad route to take. Jurkovec may have seen the writing on the wall with Ian Book ahead of him and then a high recruit coming in next year, along with a deep quarterback room. He took the path of transferring to play right away…where Davis wanted to be at Notre Dame and was going to do whatever it took to find the field.
There are people who knock Jurkovec for leaving South Bend, but as an Irish fan I find no reason to be mad. I think it makes college football better when these highly recruited players who don’t see playing time a year or two in transfer. You get more talent on more teams, which is great for the sport. This is not the NFL – there are only 4 years for these guys to find playing time. I respect both of these guys for doing what they needed to do to find success.