If the South Alabama coaching staff gets its wish, Jaguars fans won't hear a lot about freshman quarterback Trey Fetner this season.
Coaches want to redshirt the 6-foot, 195-pounder from Woodland High School.
That plan, in part, will be determined by the health of starter C.J. Bennett, an incoming freshman a year ago and playing as a redshirt freshman this season. Myles Gibbon is listed as the Jags' No. 2 quarterback, but Fetner has moved to the No. 3 spot and is pushing Gibbon for the backup role.
If Bennett stays healthy throughout the season, no decision needs to be made and Fetner will likely be redshirted. That's just fine with him, he said.
"I'm going to do whatever these coaches need me to do to win," Fetner said. "That's one of the reasons I came to this program. It's very successful. If they want to redshirt me, that's what I'm going to go with. I'm honored to be here, and I'm honored to get the opportunity to play here."
Fetner, who produced more than 2,500 yards of total offense and 35 touchdowns as a senior at Woodland, had other options. South Alabama already had offered a scholarship for the 2011 recruiting class to Kolt Peavey of Bolivar, Mo., and thus asked Fetner to join the program as a walk-on. Other schools were interested in Fetner, but his interest was with the Jags.
"I prayed about it, and I turned it all over to God," Fetner said. "I talked to my family about it. I went on a lot of visits -- I went to West Alabama, Air Force, Army, Alabama, Auburn -- and this is about the only place I felt like I was at home. I have a good relationship with (head) coach (Joey) Jones and (offensive coordinator) coach (Greg) Gregory, and I just felt like these were the guys who were going to give me a fair chance."
Gregory said it was easy to see Fetner would fit in well with the Jags' program, but the trick was convincing him this was the right place for him, especially because he was being asked to join the team as a walk-on.
"We knew he was a good quarterback coming in," Gregory said. "He had come to our camp last year and really threw the ball well. We had four scholarship guys in here who had offers from other schools, and he's really the only one who could really throw the football. But we didn't have a scholarship available. Kolt Peavey had already committed, so I just recruited him like a scholarship player and told him that if he competed well he'd have a chance to get a scholarship."
That was enough for Fetner.
Enrolling in June, Fetner was able to go through summer workouts and take part in voluntary 7-on-7 drills with his new teammates. When he took the field in August for preseason practice, he had made positive steps toward learning the Jags' offense and the other players with whom he would play.
"By being here all summer, he's hanging around C.J. and C.J. knows our offense inside-out and he picked up a lot of that," Gregory said. "He's not quite as far along as C.J. was last year at this time, because he didn't function in that type of offense in high school, but he's getting there pretty fast."
In preseason practices -- especially in the Jags' first scrimmage on Fan Day at Ladd-Peebles Stadium -- Fetner demonstrated his arm strength and accuracy and showed some signs of having grasped the South Alabama offense.
"I feel comfortable," Fetner said. "I still have to improve on making my reads and going through progressions and everything like that. It's a big step from high school, but I'm looking forward to the coming years and looking up to guys like C.J. Bennett and Myles Gibbon."
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