The Exodus of Elway

There are very few pictures of Jack Elway in an Arizona State Sun Devils uniform. There have been none of him while playing Pac-10 football for ASU.

There will be none in the future, either.

Somewhat expectedly, Elway, the son of Denver Broncos legend John Elway, announced today that he’s leaving the Arizona State football program.

He’ll stay in Tempe to finish his degree, but will not be playing football.

Whoever that says that they didn’t really see this coming probably hasn’t been paying quite as close attention to his situation as others. I don’t blame those in the least, because there hasn’t been much to follow.

Jack spent the 2008 season as the QB for the scout team and, from all accounts, did so rather unimpressively. From what I was told throughout last season, Elway didn’t make a ton of progress on the practice field on stepping up his game from the prep to college level.

He then almost immediately got lost in the shuffle in the aftermath of Brock Osweiler’s commitment and subsequent excitement about him possibly playing early in his career. It was safe to say that going into the start of Spring Practice last week, Elway was the 5th quarterback on the ASU roster behind Danny Sullivan, Samson Szakacsy, Chasen Stangel and Osweiler.

Even earlier this week, we pointed out that Elway did not take a snap in the Devils first scrimmage of the Spring despite the fact that he had no known injuries.

The fact of the matter is, I just think Jack’s development had reached a peak and there was no way he would ever be at the level to be the starter for a Pac-10 team.

At the same time, I commend Elway. A lot of college athletes, and for that matter, pro athletes, don’t listen to their bodies or their feelings. HC Dennis Erickson said that Jack was just “tired of football and wanted to do something else.” So many athletes play the game well past their prime, when their passion for the game has eroded or long past the time when their bodies said “no more.”

I also disagree with the notion that some people carry that Jack couldn’t emerge from his dad’s shadow. John played for Stanford from 1979-82, in a different era of Pac-10 f00tball. In fact, as most of you probably know, the elder Elway never even led the Cardinal to a bowl game despite winning POTY honors in 1980 and 1982. I never tried to compare Jack to his dad and I don’t know anyone who actually did either. If Jack had played at Stanford and left the team, you could possibly make that argument. You can’t in this situation.

Regardless, we wish Jack all the best as he remains a Sun Devil to complete his college career.

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