“It’s definitely something I’m going to be proud of,” Manuel said. “I’m going to go in and work hard and learn the offense from coach Marrone. Whatever guy wins the starting job on Day One, that’s going to be the guy.”
As we all should know by now, the Buffalo Bills shocked some of the football world by drafting Florida State quarterback, E.J. Manuel, in the first round. The pick was controversial due to the fact Manuel was the first quarterback taken in a draft class deemed week by some reporters.
However, Bills fans are very excited about the arrival of E.J. to Buffalo and you may ask, why? The 23 year old had a successful time as a Florida State Seminole, finishing his career there with a 25-6 win-loss record as a starter. In his senior season, he led the Seminoles to 12 wins for just the third time in program’s history. His personal stats included coming second in total passing yards in a season with 3,392, trailing Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke’s record of 4,167. He threw for 23 TDs and 10 INTs on a 68.0% passer rating and rallied a 156.0% QB rating. To top it all off, he finished the season with an Orange Bowl victory over Northern Illinois.
This kid’s strengths include work ethic, leadership, and blue-chip physical characteristics. The only thing he must work on is his consistency.
With the free agency signing of Kevin Kolb, there might be a quarterback competition between him and Manuel due to Kolb’s lack of success as a starter for previous teams. The only question is, can E.J. be the one to guide the Bills out of their playoff drought?
