UTSA football coach Jeff Traylor said that star quarterback Frank Harris would be a game time decision for Saturday’s non conference matchup with Tennessee earlier this week. However, the Road Runners have apparently made a decision before kickoff.
Backup quarterback Eddie Lee Marburger will start in place of the injured Harris inside Neyland Stadium Saturday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported Friday night.
Marburger started in place of the veteran Harris, who is battling turf toe, last week in the Road Runners home loss against Army. Despite the loss, Marburger played well. The sophomore signal caller completed 17-of-25 passes for 239 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in his first career start.
While Marburger is the only quarterback that played in Harris’ absence last week, Traylor mentioned the possibility of playing third string quarterback Owen McCown as well.
“We had planned on playing Owen Friday (against Army),” Traylor said. “We didn’t know we were only going to get the ball for 50 snaps, so it was hard to do that. But if Frank can go, he’ll be the quarterback. If he can’t, Eddie would probably start and you’ll see Owen some in the game. We hope.”
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McCown — the son of longtime NFL quarterback Josh McCown — transferred to UTSA from Colorado over the offseason and has yet to play a game for the Road Runners.
The veteran Harris has been the heart of the UTSA program under Traylor leading the Road Runners to consecutive Conference USA championships and the program’s first ever top 25 ranking.
Harris threw for 4,059 yards and 32 touchdowns in last season’s 11-3 campaign that saw UTSA reel off 10 straight wins after narrow losses against Houston and Texas to open the season.
Kickoff between Tennessee and UTSA is at 4 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Dave Neal, Derek Mason and Taylor Davis are on the call for SEC Network.
