Randolph a cool Crusader

WORCESTER - When quarterback Dominic Randolph led Holy Cross on a game-winning drive last Saturday against Harvard, there was no inspiring, cinema-worthy speech from him in the huddle.

It's not that he doesn't have great oratory in him, it's that Holy Cross doesn't huddle.

Through two games Randolph has thrown for 635 yards and six touchdowns in coach Tom Gilmore's no-huddle spread offense. In the Crusaders' second year with the system, the pass-happy offense is taking off, culminating in the final-minute drive against the Crimson.

"It's one of those attacks where [Randolph] has options," said Gilmore, whose team opens Patriot League play tomorrow when it hosts Georgetown.

"And if he can read the defense, we're going to be able to move the ball. It might not be a home run ball all the time, but it's one of those things that we can nickel and dime people as well as we can throw downfield, so it is very difficult to defend."

At the center of the scheme is Randolph, a 6-foot-3-inch junior with the calm demeanor necessary to pilot the frenzied attack.

"If you're hurried and you're real frantic, you're not going to work well in that type of offense," said senior wide receiver Ryan Maher. "And [Randolph] being the way he is really works well - his attitude, his personality."

But the signal-caller wasn't the reason Gilmore decided to install the spread offense in spring 2006. Gilmore wanted to get more of his talented and athletic wide receivers on the field at the same time, and Randolph was an obscure freshman sitting third on the depth chart.

Gilmore can be forgiven for not seeing Randolph's potential at the time. Few did.

Randolph wasn't even the starting quarterback for his high school team, St. Xavier in Cincinnati. He was stuck behind Rob Schoenhoft, who now is the backup QB at Ohio State.

As a senior, Randolph switched to wide receiver so he could get some playing time, but he knew he still had quarterbacking in him. He attended Holy Cross's football summer camp before his senior year, impressing coaches with his skills under center.

"Had we not had that up-close and personal contact with Dom, had he not taken that initiative [to come to the camp], none of this would be happening right now," Gilmore said. "I guess it was meant to be."

Fate still would have to wait, as Randolph played on the scout team in his first year and entered spring practice last season as the third of three quarterbacks vying for the job as Gilmore installed the new offense. Both his competitors - a junior and a senior - had more experience.

By the end of spring practice, Randolph had reached the level of his older counterparts. By the middle of preseason camp, the job was his.

The cool, poised Randolph had found an offense that suited his strengths perfectly. It also makes the Crusaders difficult to stop in the Patriot League.

Last year, the Crusaders attempted 421 passes, over 100 more than anyone else in the league. They were the only Patriot team to throw more than it ran. It adds up to an attack conference opponents don't normally see.

"It catches a lot of defenses off-guard," Randolph said. "A lot of times we're out of breath, but usually they're even more tired because they have to run in and sub everyone and sometimes they're not even lined up when we're ready to snap the ball."

A starting quarterback at last, Randolph threw for 2,237 yards and 19 touchdowns in nine games, easily leading the league in TDs and passing yards per game. But there was room for improvement, mostly with his patience in checking down to a play's third and fourth options.

"[On occasion] had he just taken that shorter throw and moved the chains instead of trying to go downfield, we would have been better off, and I think he's doing that now," Gilmore said.

"He's really bought into that. It doesn't have to be a touchdown pass every time he touches the ball."

So when Randolph took the field last Saturday with 1:19 to play, no timeouts, and the ball on his own 23, Gilmore was more worried about his play-calling than his quarterback. And even without a huddle, Randolph bred the same confidence in his teammates.

"He makes everyone around him calm," Maher said. "He puts us all at ease."

Randolph smoothly led a six-play touchdown drive that ended with a 40-yard bomb to Thomas Harrison with 19 seconds left, securing a 31-28 win and evening Holy Cross's record at 1-1.

"It's like a walk in the park for him, and that's scary," Gilmore said.

"And that has nothing to do with what we're doing or who we're playing against. It's Dom Randolph and he's that comfortable in those situations. He didn't get rattled at all."