Air Force quarterback wants winning season

Air Force quarterback Shaun Carney would prefer you skip the next paragraph.

The senior from North Olmsted, Ohio, holds the Falcons’ record for career completion percentage (61.8) and owns the three best single-season completion percentages in team history. He’s third in career passing yards with 3,900 (889 behind leader Dave Ziebart), second all-time in passing touchdowns with 30 (four behind Rich Haynie), third in career total yards (803 behind leader Beau Morgan) and ranks in the top 10 in career completions and career rushing yards.

So why does Carney not want to draw attention to all that? Because he’s led the Falcons to only 12 victories in 31 career starts. As far as he’s concerned, three losing seasons as a starter obscure any passing, rushing or touchdown records within his reach.

“I’ve had a lot of questions about breaking records, and I think it’s ridiculous,” Carney said. “Obviously I’m going to break a lot of records if I’m the only quarterback to start for four years. But that means they mean nothing — it’s just been time.”

Time, suddenly, is not on Carney’s side. At 3:30 p.m. today, the Falcons open fall camp. And Carney, who three years ago became the first freshman quarterback in Air Force history to start a season opener, begins his final quest for a winning season.

For better or for worse, quarterbacks are judged more by victories than statistics. It’s why Joe Montana and Tom Brady are considered two of the best quarterbacks to play in the NFL while Dan Marino — their statistical superior — generally is considered a step below them. It’s why John Elway’s career wasn’t complete until he helped the Broncos win the 1997 Super Bowl.

And it’s why Carney — though his name appears with them in the Air Force record book — has not quite reached the status of former Falcon quarterbacks Marty Louthan, Bart Weiss, Dee Dowis and Beau and Blane Morgan.

“If I could change everything, I’d be a guy more like Blane Morgan, who had tons of wins and didn’t set a whole lot of records at all,” Carney said.

Blane Morgan, now the Falcons’ quarterbacks coach, was 20-3 in two seasons as a starter. In 1998, his senior year, Air Force went 12-1 and won the only outright conference title in program history.

What’s been toughest for Carney during the past three seasons is that he was Blane Morgan in high school. In three seasons as a starter at St. Edward, Carney was 24-2.

“I came here a winner, and the past couple years I’ve been a loser,” Carney said. “It was just such a drastic change. It wasn’t what I was used to. ... It’s been a bummer of a college career so far.”

But one season could change that — and Carney finally seems to have the offensive scheme that will allow him to do so.

Perhaps the biggest criticism of former coach Fisher DeBerry’s conservative triple-option-based offense the past few years was that it did not properly utilize Carney — one of the best passers in academy history.

“I kind of felt a little out of place (in the offense) the last couple years because I’m not a speed demon — everybody knows that,” Carney said.

This year, under new coach Troy Calhoun, Carney has a much better chance to flourish. More passing opportunities not only will make good use of Carney’s strong and accurate arm, they will keep opponents from ganging up on the option. And while he might not have the speed of some of his signal-calling predecessors at the academy, Carney is an above-average runner.

“I think (the new offense) takes advantage of what he does best, which is a little more variation,” Blane Morgan said. “He runs the football extremely well, but if he can throw it a few more times, then hopefully that will allow him to run it and allow running lanes.”

Carney’s senior year also should provide him his best opportunity to lead.

“You reach a point as a senior where you know it’s time,” Calhoun said. “A lot of times at the academy you feel like, ‘I can’t really be a leader until I’m a senior.’ ... Well, now you are a senior. I think it’s time for him to grab the reins and truly sit in the saddle and say, ‘Hey, boys, here we go.’”

In the offseason at least, Carney embraced that role. For the past six weeks, despite waking most mornings at 3:30 and then spending upward of 12 hours at the airfield in the academy’s flight screening program, Carney devoted more than four hours per day to football. He lifted weights, watched hours of film and organized seven-on-seven drills for his teammates.

“I came here to win, that’s the reason I chose this program,” Carney said. “And to not have done that, a lot of that’s on my shoulders.

“I’ve got to get us back to the top. And I want to get this program back on track. And that’s the pressure I put on myself is I’ve got to win, I’ve got to find a way to do it.”

His Air Force legacy depends upon it.

Staff hirings

Capt. Mike Thiessen, a 2001 academy graduate, and Maj. Anthony Roberson, a 1989 academy graduate, have been named to the coaching staff by Calhoun. Thiessen will coach the wide receivers and Roberson will be the junior varsity assistant coach.