Football: Backup QB Nottingham to transfer

Dec. 15, 2012, 9:55 p.m.
Football: Backup QB Nottingham to transfer
Junior quarterback Brett Nottingham plans to transfer and will not join Stanford at the Rose Bowl next month, a University spokesperson confirmed Saturday. (JAMIE SCHWABEROW/ISI Photos)

Just four months after many expected him to be the next face of Stanford football, backup quarterback Brett Nottingham is transferring.

A University spokesperson confirmed Nottingham’s departure after Saturday’s practice. The junior will not be with the team for the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Nottingham was Andrew Luck’s primary backup last season, appearing in six games with 78 passing yards and a touchdown. But senior Josh Nunes, who was unavailable for much of 2011 with an injury, earned Luck’s old starting job on Aug. 22 to the surprise of many followers of the program, given Nottingham’s apparent edge in an open scrimmage just three days earlier. Nunes’ superior game-management skills and mastery of the Cardinal’s complex playbook — which Nottingham has now turned in — won him the spot over the younger Nottingham’s arm strength.

The emergence of current starter Kevin Hogan, a redshirt freshman, bumped Nottingham down to third in the pecking order late in the season. He is 5-for-8 with 22 passing yards in late-game action this year.

Nottingham has not specified which school he will be transferring to.

Joseph Beyda is the editor in chief of The Stanford Daily. Previously he has worked as the executive editor, webmaster, football editor, a sports desk editor, the paper's summer managing editor and a beat reporter for football, baseball and women's soccer. He co-authored The Daily's recent football book, "Rags to Roses," and covered the soccer team's national title run for the New York Times. Joseph is a senior from Cupertino, Calif. majoring in Electrical Engineering. To contact him, please email jbeyda "at" stanford.edu.

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