Colorado football coaches have found an answer to their depth problem at quarterback for spring practices, and they didn’t have to look far.
Mike MacIntyre has added Trent Sessions to the roster. Sessions, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound sophomore, is joining the team as a walk-on after working as a member of the equipment staff last fall. He is a former high school quarterback from the San Diego area at Rancho Bernardo High School.
“Destiny sent me to this school,” Sessions recently posted on his Twitter account.
In another tweet, Sessions said, “It’s good to be back doing what I love.”
Sports information director Dave Plati confirmed Sessions has been added to the roster. Head coach Mike MacIntyre and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren were looking for another quarterback to add to the mix this spring after Connor Wood announced last month he was giving up the sport.
Wood’s decision left CU with only two quarterbacks on the roster for spring practices. Sefo Liufau returns as the likely starter for 2014 after taking over the starting duties from Wood at midseason last fall. He will be a sophomore next season. Jordan Gehrke, redshirted at CU last fall after playing one year at a junior college in 2012. Gehrke will be a third-year sophomore next season.
Five quarterbacks have left the CU program either to transfer to other schools or give up the sport entirely since the start of spring football last year. A sixth completed his eligibility last season.
It was important to add another quarterback to the roster this spring to absorb some of the throwing load and not wear out Liufau’s and Gehrke’s arms.
“I told them to get their arms in shape cause they’re going to get a ton of reps,” Lindgren said about Liufau and Gehrke in an interview last month. “Obviously it would be nice to have a couple more at this point, but at the same time I think it will be really beneficial for Sefo and Jordan. Those guys are two young guys and they will benefit from all the reps. We’ve just got to keep them healthy.”
Sessions’ father, John, said in a phone interview Monday that his son approached the football coaches about joining the team on his own. He said he had a clue his son might be considering getting back into it when he was drinking protein shakes throughout his time at home at Christmas.
John Sessions said his son told him he already has a good feel for the offense just from watching so many practices last season as a member of the equipment staff.
Trent Sessions has played quarterback for every football team he has been a part of going back to when he started playing Pop Warner football at 6, his father said. He said his son received some attention in recruiting during his junior and senior years in high school but he only received Division III offers.
“Since he was 10 we’d have people come up and go, ‘Your kid is going to college,'” John Sessions said. “We were like, ‘Uh, OK.’ He’s always played over his head. He’s a good guy, a smart guy.”
The North County Times named Sessions its first-team All-County quarterback after the 2011 season. He was also named the Defensive Player of the Year in lacrosse.
Trent Sessions chose to attend CU and pursue a business degree, in part, because his grandmother and uncle are CU alums.
John Sessions said his son comes from a blue-collar, hardworking background. He is a cabinet installer and his wife, Isabela, is a preschool teacher
Contact BuffZone.com Writer Kyle Ringo at ringok@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/kyleringo.
