UCF quarterbacks coach Danny Barrett can certainly relate.
As a collegiate quarterback at Cincinnati and later as a pro in the Canadian Football League, Barrett dealt with hand injuries, very similar to the one Justin Holman suffered in the opening series at Stanford.
On top of that, it was the starter's injury that led to Barrett's opportunity at UC during his sophomore year of 1980, so he certainly knows what Bo Schneider was going through when the young freshman was forced to learn on the run as Holman's replacement.
Barrett would go on to have a standout career for the Bearcats, earning Honorable Mention All-American honors as a senior and later was inducted into the Cincinnati Hall of Fame.
"I went in as a backup my freshman year," Barrett recalled. "My sophomore year they moved me to defensive back because they felt like the other guys were local guys they wanted to try and draw fan interest, so they moved me to defensive back. I started at free safety for two games. The starter got hurt, then I started the third game at quarterback. Then I got hurt, I tore ligaments in my right thumb. I can remember it like yesterday. I couldn't start at South Carolina. That was the year George Rogers won the Heisman Trophy. But I started the rest of the year with my hand all splinted up. I told them I didn't want to have surgery until the end of the season because I waited too long for my opportunity. It's a long story. My career has been like that. Again, when I'm talking to our guys I can relate real stories of this position so they buy into it and realize that things happen for a reason. You've got to be ready to go."
Barrett, who enters his fifth season on staff at UCF but first as quarterbacks coach, says he actually had a talk with Schneider and Tyler Harris earlier last week to make sure they were ready to go in case Holman did have to leave the game.
"You never anticipate losing your starter after the first series, but injuries are part of the game," Barrett said. "It's funny because I had a conversation with Bo and Tyler earlier in the week and trying to make sure we were on the same page for where we are as far as the scenario. I was telling those guys, 'You have to prepare yourself as if you're the starter.' Those were my exact words. 'You're one play away or two plays away from being on the football field.' It actually worked out like that. I think mentally they were ready to play and execute the game plan. Unfortunately things didn't work out the well we hoped on the trip, but we make no excuses. We need to execute better. Not only at the quarterback position, but offensively as a whole. And we will."
Schneider, who beat out Harris for the backup job with a stronger preseason, played the rest of the first half and the third quarter before Tyler Harris finished the game in the fourth quarter. Schneider completed 7-of-19 passes with one interception, while Harris was 7-of-15 for 96 yards including a late 36-yard touchdown pass to Tre'Quan Smith.
"First of all (the positive) for Bo, the ability to keep his composure," Barrett said. "He didn't have some early success. All of a sudden we get a drive going, he's making the reads, he's making the throws, he's making the checks at the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately we had a fumble on that drive that took us out of the momentum that we had gained. He kept his composure. They were coming after him the whole game with different stuff up front. You look at that and realize he has what it takes to get it done. Now we need to be able to execute better. A couple throws I know he wished he had back, but that comes with experience.
"With Tyler being able to get out there, the one thing for himself is being able to finish. He kept saying on the sideline to the offensive guys that we were not going to leave there without a score on the board. We were able to do that. You build on those positives. Both of them had very meaningful reps. Again, both guys have to prepare themselves like they're the starter and they will."
We'll never know if a Holman-led UCF offense could have put up enough points to potentially beat Stanford. George O'Leary revealed earlier in the week their secret game plan was to employ a no-huddle, fast-paced offensive attack. You wouldn't have mistaken UCF for Oregon, however.
"It wasn't going to be a wholesale change, believe me," Barrett said. "We are who we are. Here, we're built on establishing the run but also allowing Justin's ability to move around and to help out, take some of the pressure off the offensive line. Not so much a no-huddle attack, but having him involved in the run game. That was a small phase of it. We want to get back to doing the things we do best, that we're physical, being able to eat up the clock, ball control. We've got to get our running game going. That's the bottom line. We have big backs that can run the football. We've shown that over the years. Now we've shown some continuity and guys healthy up front, so we should be in good shape. The quarterbacks should be able to take their reads and throw strikes. We've seen the young receivers can get it done. But now it needs to be the whole group doing it collectively."
While Schneider and Harris will be relied upon these next few games, Holman is still expected to return at some point this season. O'Leary gave a two to four week timeframe, though much of that will depend on how quickly the hand heals. As far as that goes, Barrett knows exactly what Holman will be going through.
"You improvise, you find a way," Barrett said. "They molded a splint to my hand. I had torn ligaments in my thumb so I couldn't grip a football like you should. They molded a splint and I developed a way to do it. You figure it out. It wasn't as tight as you wanted. I also dislocated my finger at the joint and had to put a splint on that, but I'm playing pro ball so you've got to do what you've got to do. You find a way to get it done. Injuries are part of the game. As long as you play this game, you're going to be hurt or injured. If you're hurt, you play. If you're injured, you can't go. That's the mentality you have as a football player. You know that when you start in Little League and your parents are trying to tell you, 'Don't play football.' You say, 'Mom, Dad, it's going to be okay.'"
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