In his first year as starter, Hempel will look to carry on the success of past Harvard quarterbacks

Uncertainty abounds when it comes to the 2013 Harvard football team.

The loss of key players such as NFL draft pick Kyle Juszczyk ’13, a running back whom Crimson coach Tim Murphy called “one of the best to come through Harvard” in Treavor Scales ’13, and pass rush specialist John Lyon ’12 has left gaping holes for the team to fill.

But perhaps there lies no bigger—or more pressing—question mark than at quarterback.

For the first time since 2009, Harvard is starting a quarterback who has never taken the first snap in a game. That task falls on the shoulders of junior Conner Hempel, who recently earned the starting position after battling with senior Michael Pruneau throughout the preseason.

“During camp, [Conner] and Mike were competing every day, and the two of them just got so much better during the competition, and our offense really improved because of that,” said senior tight end Cameron Brate. “Every day, they really had to bring it—they were fighting for their lives during camp. But we see it every day during practice. [Hempel] has all of the tools to be a great quarterback.”

Last season Hempel moved up to the number two slot on the depth chart when Pruneau sat out the entire season with a torn ACL. Hempel saw action in three regular season games and started the spring game, earning valuable experience in the current system.

“The bottom line is, ultimately, you make a combination of analytical and gut decisions,” Murphy said, before naming the starter. “Neither guy has really done anything that says they’re really the guy, so you just have to keep evaluating.”

Following last Saturday’s game at San Diego, Murphy should be pretty pleased with his decision.

It would be reasonable to think that, in addition to starting his first collegiate game, Hempel would be daunted by the added pressure of filling the shoes of Colton Chapple ’13, the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year and the leader of the highest-scoring offense in program history.

Despite playing just the first half in some of Harvard’s games last year, Chapple set multiple school records in his final season as signal-caller, shattering the mark for most passing touchdowns in a season with 24 scores while amassing over 3,000 yards of offense.

But none of this seemed to faze Hempel, who made his case for the job in his first career start, connecting with seven different receivers for 345 yards through the air and four scores. The junior would have tied the Harvard record of five touchdowns had junior wide receiver Seitu Smith not fumbled the ball out of the end zone early in the third quarter.

The Union, Ky., native looked like a veteran on Saturday, remaining poised even after being forced out of the pocket to make passes down the field or scramble away from defenders to elude sacks even when pass protection broke down.

“It’s great, especially from a receivers[’s] standpoint, having such a versatile quarterback who can keep the play alive and get the ball down the field,” sophomore wideout Andrew Fischer said.

Aside from living up to Harvard’s recent success under center, Hempel, who was named Ivy League Co-Offensive Player of the Week, will be asked to compete with an experienced group of starting quarterbacks in the conference.

Cornell’s Jeff Mathews, entering his fourth year as a starter, is the only quarterback from the Football Championship Subdivision on the 2013 Johnny Unitas Golden Award watch list, an honor previously bestowed on NFL standouts Andrew Luck and Eli Manning.

Defending Ancient Eight champion Penn returns fifth-year senior Billy Ragone, who rallied the Quakers past the Crimson last year to upset the favorites and clinch the title. Brown, Harvard’s first Ivy League test, also brings back a three-year starter in fifth-year senior Patrick Donnelly, who led the Bears to a 45-7 obliteration of Georgetown in their season opener.

Princeton, which dealt the Crimson its only other 2012 loss, brings back signal-callers Connor Michelsen and Quinn Epperly, both of whom were instrumental in the Tigers’ late-game heroics to pull off a comeback win over Harvard last season.

Dartmouth boasts the 2012 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Dalyn Williams, while even the typical underdogs of the Ancient Eight—Yale and Columbia—have quarterback transfers from Clemson and Stanford, respectively, vying for the starting spot.

“There’s nothing we can do about the other guys, but there’s no question that this is going to be a very unusual and challenging year for defenses in our league,” Murphy said. “It’s going to automatically give those teams some credibility and production, and some swag, some confidence.... I don’t think we’ll face an average quarterback all year.”

But for Hempel, his relative inexperience compared to some of the other play-callers in the league is, if anything, just a motivating factor as the season progresses.

“I can’t really tell yet [how I’ll stack up in the league],” Hempel said. “It’s only been game one against a non-Ivy League opponent. That being said, San Diego was a great team; I definitely think I have the potential to compete with the top quarterbacks in the league. I’m just going to try to continue to get better and better every day, and I think that’ll come as the season goes on.”

And perhaps, while Hempel attempts to carry on the legacy of quarterback at Harvard, it’ll be the words of his former roommate, Chapple, that motivate him most.

“Colton texted me before the [San Diego] game wishing me luck, and I told him how thankful I was for his support for the past couple of years,” Hempel said. “I told him how I wanted to follow in his footsteps, and he told me that he wants to see me make my own footsteps.”

With the entire Ivy League season ahead of him and fueled by redemption after watching the Ancient Eight title slip away last year, Hempel should have plenty of time to make those footsteps and, if all goes well, leave his own mark on Harvard football history.

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @LinSamnity.