Replacing Kellen Moore & Robert Griffin III Tough Tasks At Boise State & Baylor

Ever hear of Conner Kent? Conner Kent, or Kon-El in his native Kryptonian, was Superboy.

DC Comics introduced Superboy in 1993, a year after its “Death of Superman” series. The Superboy series was not a winning follow-up to DC’s, and all of modern fiction’s most famous hero.

Art Briles is faced with the unenviable task of replacing Superman. It wasn’t Doomsday that took Robert Griffin III away from BU, like the alien beast did Superman from Metropolis. Rather, it’s Roger Goodell, who will call RG3’s name in next month’s NFL Draft. And Briles cannot simply reintroduce his Man Of Steel through a convoluted plot line.

Briles must find a way to mold one of the boys taking the field in spring practice into a new Superman.

Quarterback competitions are cliches of the spring season. Baylor’s may not be the most intriguing — Stanford is seeking a replacement for its own heroic play caller with a five-man competition. But how BU replaces Griffin might be the most important spring decision.

The singular impact RG3 had on the Bears last season was profound. It won him the Heisman, and BU 10 games. His departure leaves a monumental void in the BU offense.

Of course, Superman sometimes needed to rely on his friends. If Waco is the Hall of Justice, then Terrance Ganaway is the Flash and Kendall Wright, Green Arrow. They too have checked out.

Building the restructured offense around a capable quarterback is the first step to competing in a very deep Big 12. Nick Florence has applicable job experience. He was the Bears’ starter in 2009 during Griffin’s injured-plagued sophomore campaign. He completed a solid 62 percent of his passes, but was intercepted nine times while scoring just six.

Florence’s top competitor is Bryce Petty, a sophomore with more prototypical quarterback size than Florence (6-foot-3, 225 to Florence’s 6′, 200), but lacking the experience.

An Associated Press report from the Bears’ opening day of spring ball quotes Florence as saying he “hasn’t been handed the job, and wouldn’t want to get it that way.”

His diplomatic language may not provide much insight into Baylor’s quarterback race, but it’s a lot more than anyone will hear from Boise State.

Chris Petersen faces a similar challenge as Briles. Kellen Moore settled in as BSU’s starting quarterback in 2008, the same year Griffin first debuted at BU. Moore never gave up those controls in four years, along the way amassing the greatest win total for a starting quarterback in college football history.

Four are in line to replace the Bronco legend: Grant Hedrick, Jimmy Laughrea, Nick Patti and Joe Southwick. Media covering BSU will speak to none of them, per a mandate from Petersen.

If the animated parallel in Waco is that of a depleted Hall of Justice replacing Superman, than Boise is a Fat Tony episode of The Simpsons, featuring Johnny Tightlips.

Southwick and Hedrick both took snaps last season, in eight games apiece. Southwick threw 10 times as many passes, completing nearly 80 percent of his 30 attempts and scoring a touchdown. The redshirt junior would seemingly have the inside track, but like Griffin’s successor at Baylor, he would take over for an inexperienced offense: Tyler Shoemaker, Doug Martin, DJ Harper, Nate Potter are all gone.