Eastern Michigan scrambling at quarterback after one leaves, top recruit decommits

McMahon has transferred to Grand Valley State, where he will compete for the starting job on a team that finished second in the hunt for a Division 2 national championship this past season.

Kyle McMahon

McMahon played in seven games last fall, starting six, after Schmitt tore his anterior cruciate ligament against Michigan on Sept. 22 and was lost for the season. But McMahon found himself sharing snaps with true freshman Alex Gillett, who appeared in nine games and  made three starts.

By the end of the season, McMahon had all but decided to finish his career elsewhere.

"It would have been nice to play a fourth year and maybe a fifth at Eastern, but it just didn't work out for me," McMahon said in a phone interview Monday night. "I knew it was just a matter of time and that I had to make a change and do something different.

"Eastern just didn't fit well with me."

McMahon, who made starts during his freshman and sophomore seasons after Schmitt sustained injuries, expected he would see more time after Schmitt was lost for the season.

"Maybe I just expected things to be the way they were my first two years," he said Monday. "Andy was (quarterback) one and I was two. When one goes down, it's time for two. ... But that just wasn't in the cards."

English said Tuesday that while he wishes McMahon well at Grand Valley, he only wants players on his roster who wanted to be there. Part of that expectation, though, includes a willingness to be willing to work for playing time rather than going simply by a pre-established depth chart.

"What shocks a lot of players sometimes is that they've got to compete," English said.  Nobody's just going to step into a spot. Those days are over. Everyone's got to compete now."

English said he did not know McMahon well enough to know if he was a good fit with Eastern's program.

McMahon heads to Grand Valley, which reached the D2 national finals and finished the season 13-2.

He'll play for for first-year coach Matt Mitchell, who took over Grand Valley's program after Chuck Martin left to join Brian Kelly's staff at Notre Dame.

Although McMahon didn't consider Grand Valley before signing with Eastern Michigan out of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, he said transferring to a program with a proven track record and with another good chance at success next season was easy.

Leaving Eastern, however, wasn't as simple. But after meeting with several teammates, English and offensive coordinator Ken Karcher, McMahon left, intent on starting fresh in a new environment.

"It was something I had contemplated after coach (Jeff Genyk) left, but when coach English came in, I thought I would give it a shot," McMahon said. "I thought about leaving (during the season), but I didn't know if I could leave the guys I had played with for two years behind. ... They all understood why I was doing what I was because it was best for me."

Soon after English lost McMahon as a possible quarterback option for next season, he learned last week that his top incoming prospect at the position would not be coming to Eastern.

Williams, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound quarterback that led Miramar High School to the Florida 6A championship, suddenly changed his mind, opting instead to enroll at Memphis.

Williams set a Florida state championship game record his senior year, throwing for five touchdowns in the title game. Williams, who threw for 2,455 yards and 26 touchdowns, verbally committed to Eastern two weeks ago and was expected to begin classes last week, according to a university spokesman.

Instead, though, he de-committed and has enrolled at Memphis, where he will join a crop of quarterbacks vying for playing time with the Tigers.

Under NCAA rules, English cannot comment on recruits until they have signed national letters of intent. National signing day is Feb. 3. As of last week, Eastern Michigan had 11 verbal commitments.

With McMahon's departure and Williams' decision to not enroll at Eastern, the Eagles will have three scholarship quarterback on their roster, English said. Gillett along with 6-foot-6 sophomore Devontae Payne are the lone returners and English expects to sign at least one quarterback in this year's recruiting class.

"We're really shallow (at quarterback)," English said. "We're going to be decent there, but we're going to be young."

Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at jeffarnold@annarbor.com or 734-623-2554. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.