Villanova Football Made the Right Choice in Quarterback Pat McQuaide

Playing in a run-heavy scheme at Nicholls State during his first two seasons as a starter, Villanova quarterback Pat McQuaide didn’t light up the stat sheet, averaging less than 200 yards per game. After losing longtime signal caller Connor Watkins to graduation, however, head coach Mark Ferrante said the Wildcats wanted to add another quarterback to the mix in a young room. 

Ferrante said that McQuaide’s ability to maneuver in the pocket stood out on film, pushing the Villanova staff to reach out. “We felt it was important to bring in a quarterback to just have a little more competition at the position,” Ferrante said. “But we liked the way he moved around. He doesn’t run a ton but he can run and he can get out of trouble.”

Ferrante said that McQuaide was one of a ‘couple’ candidates at the position, and that interviews with the six foot tall, 205 pound southpaw sealed the deal: he described McQuaide as “high energy” and praised his ability as a leader.

“The more we talked with Pat and the more we got to understand what his background was… and then getting to know him as a person, we just decided to go with Pat,” Ferrante said. “And I’m glad we did. he’s been a great addition to our program.”

Fitting In

That gratitude goes without saying. Villanova is one of just four teams remaining in the FCS playoffs, set to host Illinois State in the semifinal round on Saturday, Dec. 20 with a trip to the National Championship game hanging in the balance. 

The Wildcats’ engine remains their ground game, but McQuaide is a big part of why they’re still playing. He’s enjoying a career year, completing 224 of 371 passes for 2,924 yards, 24 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

Ferrante praised McQuaide for how he fits in with Villanova off the field as well as on it, highlighting the work ethic he displayed as practices commenced.

“He came in the right way, he did a really good job. He’s pretty outgoing and he’s pretty vocal. But in the spring semester, during spring ball and then into the summer months I think he stayed more on the quiet side, just to make sure he was coming in the right way and being accepted,” Ferrante said. “And I’m really proud of how he and our other transfers come in here. They don’t come in expecting to play, they come in here willing to compete to earn to play.”

McQuaide still needed to prove himself as more than just a good locker room addition, and he and longtime Villanova backup Tanner Maddocks squared off in practices as the lead candidates for the starting role.

Friendly Competition

Ferrante said that the way that Maddocks helped McQuaide settle in, even as they dueled for playing time, impressed him.

“Tanner helped him. They would come in and watch film together almost all summer when they were here in July. So Tanner probably has a lot to do with Pat’s success as well as far as getting him to learn and understand what we’re doing from the offensive perspective, just ’cause he’s been in the system longer,” Ferrante said.

“I really am impressed with how our locker room embraces those guys. Because you know, there’s guys that have been — I don’t want to say ‘waiting their turn,’ but — hoping for their turn through graduation or something like that, and then you bring in a new guy and that new guy takes someone’s spot that maybe thought they were going to have a spot.”

The competition went down to the wire, with Ferrante publicly naming McQuaide as the starter on Sept. 6, the day of Villanova’s season opener against Colgate.

“He just got the ball out a little quicker than some of the other guys, maybe a little more accuracy than some of the other guys,” Ferrante said. “I’m not going to say we flipped a coin, but we did end up settling on Pat just on spring practice through the summer months and then again in the preseason. Just some of those things, little nuance things that he did as far as he picked up the system really well.”

15 weeks later, Villanova remains alive and in the hunt for their second-ever national championship. Their coin flip decision paid off.