Friday Features: UWF’s rookie program gets boost from veteran QB
By Maurice Patton
Pete Shinnick has been pleased – but not surprised – with the performance of his quarterback through the first two games in the history of the University of West Florida football program.
The Argonauts’ coach was pleased as Kaleb Nobles threw for 503 yards and six touchdowns in last weekend’s 45-28 victory over Missouri S&T to earn Gulf South Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors, following a 229-yard, two-TD effort in the season-opening 45-0 win against Ave Maria.
He’s not surprised, because Nobles previously threw for six scores – the seventh-most in league history – during his tenure at perennial GSC title contender Valdosta State.
In two years at Valdosta, before a groin injury forced him to redshirt last year, Nobles played in 23 games and started six. He threw for 2,009 yards and 19 TDs in a two-year career highlighted by his coming off the bench to spark the Blazers past previously unbeaten and third-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Division II playoffs.
“To have a guy that understands football has been a big plus for us,” said Shinnick, named West Florida’s inaugural coach in January 2014 after a nine-year stint at North Carolina-Pembroke – where he revived that program following an absence of 50-plus years.
“The fact he’s started games in our conference and won games in our conference, that’s been a huge bonus for us. His dad (Buddy) is a great high school coach. He’s got a brother that coaches. It’s a great family. We feel very fortunate to have him.”
After graduating from Valdosta State last December with a degree in health care administration, Nobles decided to consider gridiron options elsewhere. His availability dovetailed well with the Argos’ need for a veteran signalcaller heading into their inaugural campaign.
“I spent four years at Valdosta, had a great time, made some great friends – but I felt like I needed to move on,” said Nobles, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining. “I’d heard a lot about coach Shinnick. We played them at Pembroke in 2013 and I was able to go back and see some things they did on offense. I’d heard great things from folks that knew him.
“I’d heard a lot of awesome things about the (UWF) program, how excited the schools was to have football, that it wasn’t going to be a typical first-year program. It was a no-brainer. I’m blessed to be here.”
If the first two games are any indication, the program and the player seem tailor-made for each other.
“He understands how to look at defenses, he understands what this conference is all about, how good we need to be and what it’s going to be like,” Shinnick said. “We had some freshmen we liked, but one never got here and the two others had some injuries. We felt at the end of (last) fall we had to have a quarterback that could help us. We identified three or four guys, and Kaleb ended up being the guy we went with.
“He’s very capable. He’s learned our system well and run our system well. He’s made some very nice plays that I don’t know that other people would make. He’s put us in the right situations we needed to be in.”
Speaking of situations – there’s a fascinating one approaching for Nobles. After the Argonauts travel to North Carolina for a non-league matchup with Chowan this weekend, they head into GSC play against his former school.
“It’ll be fun. I’m definitely excited,” he said. “But we want to be 3-0 and not 2-1 going in. We’ve got Chowan next. We’re trying to take care of them first. But it’ll be weird being on the opposite sideline, looking into the home stands. I think I’ll be able to tone it down and calm down.”
Shinnick is counting on that being the case.
“It’s one of the things we talked about when we recruited him,” the coach said. “He’s got his degree and a lot of great memories, but this is a new chapter.
“We knew (Valdosta State) was on the schedule, we knew we were playing there. Let’s do what we’ve done the previous three games that’s been good, and let’s build on that.”
Nobles has no intention of allowing his return to his old stomping grounds to be a distraction.
“I went to an established program,” he said. “It’s not every day you get to go and be a leader for a program that’s never played a game. A lot of guys here are either redshirting or redshirt freshmen, not a lot of experience. It’s definitely exciting to be able to come in and use my past experience to help these guys get ready for what we’re going to face every week.”
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