Falk on A-list of FBS quarterbacks for leadership, accuracy
Soon after arriving in Pullman following his late January hire as Washington State’s new inside receivers coach, JaMarcus Shephard saw quarterback Luke Falk’s leadership skills as the Cougars toiled through winter workouts.
He was impressed.
“Big shout out to Luke Falk, that young man is a tremendous leader,” Shephard said during his first spring practice. “You can’t get a better quarterback than what we have here at Washington State. Luke is teaching me things about the offense as we’re going through film together.
“He’s consistent on and off the field. He is the epitome of what you want at the quarterback position as far as taking control of the offense, the players and even the coaches as far as relaying things back and forth the way that is necessary to make everything click.”
Falk’s intangibles are overshadowed by his equally impressive physical skills as a starting quarterback in the Pac-12.
Last season, Falk completed 448-of-645 passes for 4,566 yards, a school record 38 touchdowns and eight interceptions, a TD-to-interception ratio of nearly 5-1.
With Gabe Marks and River Cracraft returning to the Cougars, together with the expected development of younger receivers such as Kyrin Priester and Tavares Martin and the arrival of heralded freshman Isaiah Johnson, the potential explosiveness of the WSU passing attack is off the charts.
“I couldn’t have walked into a better situation,” Shephard said. “It’s kind of scary because our guys know the offense really well. When I got here, I was playing catchup. Coach Leach has an idea of what exactly he wants done. You can see it every day. It doesn’t waver. I expect success this year. It’s going to be explosive. We are going to be pedal to the metal from the first play to the last play.”
Falk led the nation in passing average (380.5 ypg) and was third in total offense at 370.9 ypg. His dazzling completion percentage of 69.4 percent was second nationally only to Western Kentucky’s Brandon Doughty, who was drafted in the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins in late April.
Shephard coached receivers at Western Kentucky for two years before taking the WSU job.
His departure leaves Falk, who should be drafted much higher than Doughty because of his superior size (listed at 6-foot-4, 214 pounds), as the nation’s top returning quarterback in completion percentage.
Less than three months before his junior campaign kicks off, NFL folks are already raving about Falk, a former walk-on and the active career leader in FBS for passing yards per game (356.9) and second in total offense per game (346.7).
Two weeks ago, NFL.com tabbed Falk as college football’s most accurate quarterback for 2016, claiming college coaches “will be kicking themselves” for overlooking Falk during the recruiting process.
UCLA’s Josh Rosen was No. 3 in the ranking. Falk and Rosen lock horns Oct. 15 when the Bruins visit Pullman for a highly-anticipated matchup between two quarterbacks widely recognized as the Pac-12’s best.
Falk ranked No. 29 on ESPN’s list of the top 50 college football players for 2016, and landed at No. 5 on CBSSports.com’s subjective list of the Top 10 quarterbacks “we’ll be talking about” entering the 2017 NFL Draft (Note: If Falk declares for the draft and foregoes his senior season).
“It’s likely you know more about Falk’s sisters than his game,” Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com said. “In Mike Leach’s pass-heavy offense, Falk led the country in passing yards per game. No one came close to throwing as much (644 passes). Falk is one of eight starters back on offense in 2016. With that much firepower, the Cougars are a dark horse favorite in the Pac-12 North. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Falk has the look of a future NFL QB.”
