The Roundtable: Would you want to add Stidham to the roster?

Transfers have become an every day occurrence in college athletics, specifically college football. That now includes at Baylor, where sophomore quarterback and former Texas Tech commit Jarrett Stidham has decided to move on to another school. So, in this week's edition of the Roundtable, the RedRaiderSports.com staff discusses and debates this question:

Will McKay: Hooo boy. There are so many layers to this when you consider the history between the two parties. Primarily, and to put it bluntly, he left the Red Raiders high and dry without a quarterback commit for the 2014 class extremely late in the recruiting cycle when, to that point, it had essentially been a no-question situation that he was ready to roll and enroll at Tech in the spring.

But, feelings aside, you at the very least take a phone call from what's one of the most talented young signal callers in the country. He has real, valuable Big 12 playing experience on top of that to boot.

The real lingering question in the back of my mind, and in the coaching staff's, is whether Pat Mahomes has the type of year to leave early and head to the NFL, which at the very least is a real, tangible possibility. It's not some out-there thought. That's got some weight to it.

If he does leave, you go from having one of the most dynamic veterans under center in the country to starting a redshirt freshman in Jett Duffey with little depth behind him in 2017.

So, my answer is yes. I take him. While you wonder how both he and and Duffey would handle a quarterback competition, and you ponder the chemistry, you take a talent of his level that, would be either a redshirt sophomore or junior depending on how the in-conference transfer rule would effect him.

You take him. End of story.

Chris Level: Yes. Yes. Yes.

I know some still have hurt feelings over this and that is understandable but when a quality signal caller has interest you'd be a fool to turn him away. You can get into the potential team chemistry issues or what it does to Jett Duffey but I'm taking that phone call, yessir. What if Mahomes leaves after this season and you've only got Duffey and Xavier Martin on campus? Again, I'm taking that phone call.

Aaron Dickens: It's not that much of a stretch to think that in the span of six months Texas Tech's quarterback situation could go from one of the most enviable in the Big 12 to one of the most uncertain. If Patrick Mahomes decides to forgo his senior season of eligibility, as things stand now, the Red Raiders will head into the 2016-17 offseason with two scholarship signal callers on the roster: Nic Shimonek and Jett Duffey. No matter how confident Kliff Kingsbury might be in Shimonek and/or Duffey, I can't imagine he would turn up his nose at adding a bona fide, proven Big 12 quarterback to the roster.

Kingsbury knows better than most how quickly a team's quarterback situation can turn from feast to famine. Texas Tech went from having three capable Big 12-caliber quarterbacks on the roster during the 2013 season -- Michael Brewer, Baker Mayfield and Davis Webb -- to just one the following spring. Mahomes arrived on campus that summer and took over as Webb's backup by default.

The hiccup to this whole scenario -- aside from the question of whether or not he would actually be interested in joining the Red Raiders -- is a conference rule that would force Stidham to forfeit a season of eligibility if he chooses to enroll at a Big 12 university following his stint at junior college.

Matt Clare: From a talent perspective, yes. From the "a ton of people will read this story" perspective, yes.

However, I have to say my answer is no. Sure, Stidham is talented and would improve the position depth at quarterback should Mahomes leave early for the NFL draft. That doesn't come close to covering the history between Stidham and Texas Tech though, and he isn't your usual quarterback transfer. Stidham chose to break his long-term commitment to Texas Tech in late 2014, leaving the coaching staff to scramble for a couple of weeks and essentially taking the air out of what was an impressive class for the Red Raiders at the time.

I'm not suggesting the coaches hold a grudge or should base their decision on this detail alone, but consider what went into Stidham's decision. He wants to be 'the guy' and correctly viewed Mahomes as a big time road block to him getting onto the field quickly at Texas Tech. That mindset has not changed, and now Stidham is leaving Baylor after Seth Russell returns for another season at quarterback for the Bears. Most everyone around college football, including myself, expected Russell to tear it up last season and eventually enter the NFL draft.

To be fair, there are several other factors that most likely contributed to him leaving Baylor - namely the rape scandal.Chalk it up to the "we may never know" approach. I believe adding Stidham into the quarterback room would certainly improve the talent level, but sometimes it is better to continue moving forward without looking back. That is exactly what I expect the Texas Tech coaching staff to do in this situation.

Drew Kohnle: Would I welcome Stidham with open arms if he expressed interest to come back? Simply put, no. There’s nothing wrong with Stidham as a quarterback, in fact, he has already proven he could play at the Big 12-level (something that his 1,265 yards, 12 to 2 TD/INT ratio, and his 68 percent completion percentage as a true freshman can attest to), and he still has plenty of untapped potential as a QB.

Stidham, the former number 97 overall player in the country, may express remorse for his actions in the fall of 2014, and the argument could be made that he was “just a kid” back then, but the fact still remains, he is not someone I would want on this Tech roster for many reasons unrelated to his football ability. Stidham had his chance to prove he wanted to be a Red Raider, and he made it very clear this was not where he wanted to be while also burning pretty much every bridge in his wake in the process.

Jett Duffey, the former Mr. Texas Football and the heir apparent to Mahomes – whenever he leaves – has done everything the right way since committing and signing with the Red Raiders and has proven on numerous occasions that he wants to be here. He should be rewarded for his actions. And, just like Stidham, Duffey has plenty of potential as a quarterback and is someone I would be more than happy to hand the reigns to if Mahomes bolts for the NFL.

I'll take the on-the-field talent and character over the guy with question marks in pretty much every off-the-field area.