STATESBORO — As an option quarterback, Georgia Southern’s Jerick McKinnon surveys the defense and tries to make the right play.
When dealing with the media, McKinnon seems to take a similar approach.
So after being asked if he felt snubbed by league coaches when failing to make either first- or second-team All-Southern Conference in a preseason vote, the senior looked to make the perfect pitch.
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” McKinnon said after practice recently. “It doesn’t affect me in any way. All I can do is elevate my game and be the best player I can be.”
If he elevates any more, he’ll have the last laugh on the Southern Conference coaches who voted for the league’s preseason teams.
McKinnon was the best Football Championship Subdivision player in the country in the second half of 2012.
He finished the season with 1,817 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns despite starting only 10 games at quarterback in the Eagles’ run-first offense.
In three playoff games, McKinnon ran for 655 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
He had 316 yards and two scores against Central Arkansas.
He had 109 yards and two touchdowns against Georgia.
McKinnon will begin this season among 20 players on a watch list for the Walter Payton Award, the equivalent of the Heisman trophy for FCS players.
He garnered third-team preseason All-America honors from Phil Steele.
This time next year, the likable Marietta native probably will be in an NFL camp.
He deserves to be on the Southern Conference’s preseason first team somewhere.
You get the feeling Eagles coach Jeff Monken might agree — if he gave any thought to preseason teams and polls.
“I think about those all-conference teams as much as the paper they’re written on,” Monken said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
But Monken has thoughts on what McKinnon means to Georgia Southern.
“When a guy rushes for 1,800 yards at quarterback, it’s difficult for me to understand how the guy isn’t recognized as one of the best players in the league,” Monken said. “You have some kids in the league who are pretty good at that position. ... When it comes right down to it, people don’t value the fact that a quarterback can run for 1,800 yards. That doesn’t trip anybody’s trigger.
“Just because we don’t throw it every down doesn’t mean we don’t have a good quarterback.”
Team comes first
A year ago, GSU tied for first in the Southern Conference regular-season standings and advanced in the playoffs farther than any league team.
The Eagles were picked to finish first in the conference this season.
But when it came down to handing out preseason honors, GSU placed only five players on either the SoCon’s first or second teams.
Only three teams in the nine-team league had fewer representatives.
Monken noticed.
“Evidently, we have a lot of teams in this league that have a lot better players than us,” Monken said. “We’re going to have our hands full. We’ll have to play our butts off to beat those guys because they’ve got better players than us. ...
“And you know what? It doesn’t matter who has the best players. It’s who has the best team. I tell our guys that all the time. I don’t care who has the best players and I’m not saying we have the best players. Maybe we don’t. Maybe they all have better players. But I hope we have the best team. That’s all I care about.”
Of course, it’s all subjective. In McKinnon’s case, his 1,817 rushing yards are dimmed by a surprisingly low 597 passing yards, and maybe you think of the passing abilities of an Aaron Murray or an AJ McCarron when you think of top collegiate quarterbacks.
But at Georgia Southern, pass is considered the “P” word. McKinnon has never thrown more than seven passes in a game in his career.
So when someone is voting for a quarterback, what exactly is he looking for?
In the playoffs last season, McKinnon ran for 171 yards and four touchdowns against Old Dominion. Monarchs quarterback Taylor Heinicke threw for 421 yards and three touchdowns. Who had the better game?
Monken might point to the scoreboard. Southern won 49-35.
“I think (McKinnon’s) a great player,” Monken said. “I wouldn’t trade him for anybody else in the country, at any school, in any conference, including our own conference. I like our guy. I’ll take him.”
And what does McKinnon think of it all? He treats the subject like another potential tackler to juke.
“All I’m going to say is we’re looking forward to the season and I’m going to leave it at that,” he said.
Donald Heath is a sportswriter for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at 912-652-0353 or donald.heath@savannahnow.com.