Just Biding His Time: Cadet, Mountaineers' backup QB....

[Appaholic]

...says he understands, accepts role

Travaris Cadet has a well-practiced understanding of patience.

He was a highly rated quarterback at Miami Central High School, he signed with Toledo, he was redshirted and had to sit out the 2007 season.

When Toledo's offensive coordinator, John Shannon, left for a job at Marshall, Cadet moved as well -- to Pearl River Community College in Mississippi. He wound up biding his time again, recovering from a sore ankle and playing in just two games.

He arrived healthy at Appalachian State this season, and few who have watched him play would doubt that his time is coming.

Cadet gave a timely preview in the season-opening game against East Carolina, taking over in the third quarter and filling a void left by star Armanti Edwards, who was sidelined with a foot injury from a now infamous lawn-mowing accident. Cadet, a skilled runner, pumped life into a sluggish offense and led a comeback from a 24-point deficit that fell short.Then Edwards returned and Cadet was relegated to waiting again.

Cadet, finally getting a chance for more work at quarterback after a string of close games that precluded any second-half substitutions, provided a reminder of his running ability last Saturday. He rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries in mop-up duty of a blowout win over Georgia Southern.

Edwards was glad for some time off. And Cadet was glad to play.

Through it all, he hasn't complained.

"Life is about patience," Cadet said. "And I've got a great quarterback in front of me. It's not like I have somebody that's not good in front of me. It's Armanti. He's a two-time All-American, a two-time national champion.

"I'm not frustrated. A lot of people might think I'm frustrated playing behind him, but I'm not. I'm patient. I'm not rushing."

Coach Jerry Moore said he is impressed with Cadet's attitude, especially given the sparkling debut against East Carolina.

"He could have been a tough nut to deal with every day," Moore said. "It could have been, ‘Why don't I get an opportunity to play?' But he's not been that way. Travaris is our backup quarterback, and he knows his role. He never pouts. He's one of the most unusual players I've ever been around. I'm not stretching it at all….
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009 ... ian-state/

Older article, but just ran across it....

[bobbythekidd]

Sounds like a quality kid. We know he can run, any news on how good his arm is?

[Skjellyfetti]

Sounds like a quality kid. We know he can run, any news on how good his arm is?

He hasn't had a lot of chances to throw the ball in game situations. Usually been in the game protecting the lead and running it. He definitely needs to improve his passing in the Spring and Summer though.

[ASUMountaineer]

Sounds like a quality kid. We know he can run, any news on how good his arm is?

I'm guessing it's pretty good just based on his signing at Toledo. They have always liked to throw it around, Like Jelly said, we haven't seen him throw a lot because he hasn't needed to. At ECU he had a few good tosses, and some not so much. With practice and some game experience now, I would assume he's improved. We might get to see for ourselves this coming weekend with AE questionable.

[JConnolly]

I'm not saying anything bad about Cadet, but I think a better replacement for Edwards would be Jamal Jackson(#12). I saw him warming up before the game on Saturday, and he looked pretty good. He was like AE 2.0. They're physically similar, same weight, but Jackson is 2 inches taller, both lefties. He also has a pretty good arm from what I saw in warmups. You would need to change absolutely nothing on offense for next year, and maybe not lose a step. Cadet was pretty good in the game, but Jackson looks like the best bet to take over for Armanti Edwards.

[ASUMountaineer]

I'm not saying anything bad about Cadet, but I think a better replacement for Edwards would be Jamal Jackson(#12). I saw him warming up before the game on Saturday, and he looked pretty good. He was like AE 2.0. They're physically similar, same weight, but Jackson is 2 inches taller, both lefties. He also has a pretty good arm from what I saw in warmups. You would need to change absolutely nothing on offense for next year, and maybe not lose a step. Cadet was pretty good in the game, but Jackson looks like the best bet to take over for Armanti Edwards.

Yeah, we've heard a lot of good things about Jackson. There will be a battle no doubt. The ting about Cadet is we have to get him on the field someway, somehow. If you've every watched someone play and said, "that guy is just a baller" then you've experienced what we have with Cadet. The guy just goes in and plays, and plays well. At ECU we saw he has the ability to take over a game. He doesn't have to be a QB to do that. As much as I think it doesn't work well, we could be looking at some type of 2 QB system next year...who knows?

[Skjellyfetti]

I'm not saying anything bad about Cadet, but I think a better replacement for Edwards would be Jamal Jackson(#12). I saw him warming up before the game on Saturday, and he looked pretty good. He was like AE 2.0. They're physically similar, same weight, but Jackson is 2 inches taller, both lefties. He also has a pretty good arm from what I saw in warmups. You would need to change absolutely nothing on offense for next year, and maybe not lose a step. Cadet was pretty good in the game, but Jackson looks like the best bet to take over for Armanti Edwards.

Jamal Jackson will be a good QB as well. He's being redshirted this year so we have not seen anything of him in game. He'll be competing with Cadet for the starting job in the Spring and Summer. From my understanding Cadet is a better runner and he is a better passer... but, again, I've never seen much of him except warmups and this rivals video (might have to have an account to view it, I dunno). There's one play in it that really reminds me of Armanti's "Houdini" play against Samford :

http://rivals.yahoo.com/video/recruitin ... ebfcff973f

[DukeJack]

So I guess this guy has passed over Presley as the heir apparent? Wasn't he a freshmen?

[Appaholic]

So I guess this guy has passed over Presley as the heir apparent? Wasn't he a freshmen?

Pressley is playing WR more. He was back-up QB & started at ECU, but was ineffective through 2+ quarters. Moore placed Cadet in game & he took it over......Pressley pretty much lost the future QB job that Sat.....