The Cardinal Countdown: 6 Days Until Kickoff

#6 Evan Conley

Class: Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-2/207

Position: Quarterback

Hometown: Marietta, GA

Twitter: @Econ11_

Thoughts: I covered Evan initially back on my Early Signing Day post, but I’ve got a few updated thoughts from that time. Evan came into the program with limited expectations from a fans standpoint for the 2019 season. I think most of us viewed him as a nice grab to add some depth to the QB room but never expected him to come in as a true freshman and start this year. While I still completely agree with that I did get a funny feeling in my gut when I re-read the last line from my post back in December (and no, it wasn’t the beefy Frito burrito I had for lunch)

I think Conley will be taking plenty of snaps for the Cards in the future.

Obviously the staff went after him hard, as a prior App State commit they know what he can do and how he fits in the system. While I still point to Puma as the man right now do not be surprised if we see Conley get some reps this year. Maybe it’s under the four game limit….and maybe it’s not. I think back to the anonymous coaches survey that Athlon did a few weeks back when another coach said he thought Conley would be the man later in the year, and I think back to Deion Branch attending practice a few weeks ago and telling ’Ramsey & Rutherford’ that Conley was playing very well, looking impressive. It’s hard to ignore the outsiders sometimes, especially when they tend to align with what you were already thinking.

If you ask me to put an over/under on games played for Conley, I’m sitting at about 4.5 right now. Keep him under the 4 game limit or with talented QB depth coming next season do we let the dog run? Time will tell.

Sweet Tweet:

Lots of folks thought this tweet was related to signing day but in reality Evan had never had an orange vanilla swirl ice cream cone before. Big day. I remember my first time to, bud. Live it up big man.

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#6 Cornelius Sturghill

Class: Grad Student

Ht/Wt: 5-11/194

Position: Defensive Back

Hometown: Memphis, TN

Twitter: @boomane_6

Thoughts: I’m still waiting on verification from the University but I’m pretty sure we have to call Cornelius “Doctor” Sturghill this season. My man has been in school for about 7 years now, arriving on campus in 2014. Cornelius has appeared on the countdown with more consistency than ED commercials on sports talk radio, and I’ve have no problem getting up to discuss this guys career.

Sturghill, for those who may have forgotten, has dealt with more injuries than Michaelee Harris, and just so happened to get shot in a drive by shooting back in 2016 as well. NBD. The speedster Sturghill has athleticism dripping from his fingers and has waited patiently to get his chance in the secondary after getting back to 100%. In 2018 Sturghill was a starter for eleven games but made appearances in all twelve. While no one in the secondary was exactly setting up residence on ‘lockdown island’ Cornelius did play well and impressed me on a few different occasions in one on one coverage. His play was also good enough that the staff had him pinned as a starter back in January and he has kept that job for the last eight months.

Best of luck to Grandpa Sturghill as he wraps up his career at Louisville and then immediately slides into his role as a practicing OB/GYN, because when called on…..he delivers. And he just really, really, really, like babies.

Sweet Tweet:

Cornelius retweeted this one below from Eli Rogers because….they were on the same team back in 2014!!! Sturghill legit suited up with Eli Rogers, Devante Parker, and Lozo. Yes I know how calendars work, but this still blows my mind.