Jacob Sirmon and Central Michigan Incumbent: 'It's a Fierce Competition'

Jacob Sirmon is 2,175 miles from home in the Seattle area, but the quarterback finds himself in familiar surroundings. A landscape he knows all too well. A competition that certainly is not new to him.

Two years ago, Sirmon came up third to Jacob Eason and Jake Haener, in that order, for the University of Washington starting QB job. Eason now plays for the Indianapolis Colts, Haener for Fresno State.

Ten months ago, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound sophomore from Bothell, Washington, and two others lost out to Dylan Morris.

Today, Sirmon plays for Central Michigan and he's battling incumbent redshirt freshman Daniel Richardson for the first-unit job. So far, so good. It's been fairly intense.

"They're not backing down from each other," Chippewas offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay said. "It's a fierce competition, every rep. And they're watching what each other does. They're also learning from what the others mistakes are."

Sirmon, who played in a pair of UW seasons, brings just 6 Husky game appearances, 4 passes and 2 rushes to this engagement.

Richardson, a Miami native who likewise has a couple of seasons in at Central Michigan, counts 7 appearances, 102 passes and 15 carries, capping them with 4 touchdown passes and a scoring run.

Yet Sirmon acts like the more veteran player of this Chippewas twosome as each tries to gain the trust of coach Jim McElwain to run his offense.

"At this stage in my career, I've seen a lot and I've been around a lot of coaching staffs and players," Sirmon said. "And I'm really impressed with what coach [McElwain's] done, with his history, his philosophy, what they're doing with the offense. The opportunities here that are available for me and this team, I'm really excited about being a part of this team and seeing where we can go."

Speaking with the media at the start of fall camp, both Barbay and McElwain outlined their expectations for the eventual starting quarterback. Among the traits required are not turning the ball over and moving it down the field.

"When it comes to watch video of practice, this sounds pretty simplistic but it's the truth, can they throw completions to our guys and not the other team?" McElwain said. "To me, at that position, know where you're going with (the ball) and be accurate where you're going with it."

A week into camp, things are far from settled. All indications are that the opening-day starting job is currently up for grabs between Sirmon and Richardson.

"Right now, I don't have any way to say that's the one," McElwain said. "And yet, I feel like we're a lot stronger than we've been at that position."

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