Paul Peterson is an oddity on the Boston College football team, but not for all the reasons you might think.
It's not because he is a Mormon and a former missionary who spent two years walking the streets of Nicaragua. It's not because he's from Salt Lake City or that he once played ball for a school called Snow College in some place called Ephraim. It's not even because he's one of 10 siblings, or that he's a 23-year-old junior.
It's this: He's the only married player on the team.
"Everyone think it's weird," Peterson says. "They tease me about it. They ask questions. It's always about being married, not being Mormon."
While on his mission, one of his companions showed Peterson a picture of a female friend who was attending Snow College. After returning from Nicaragua, Peterson
introduced himself to Meagan Davies, and six months later they were married — the quarterback and the school's head cheerleader.
There are, of course, other so-called weird things about the BC QB.
Peterson The Married Man will start at quarterback for BC in the San Francisco Bowl against Colorado State. Not bad for a guy who wasn't able to transfer to Boston College until August, which meant missing all of spring practice.
That's like cramming for a final an hour before the test without attending class.
Despite several eye-opening performances during preseason scrimmages that wowed media and teammates, he started the season on the bench behind another junior, Quintin Porter. He saw only spot duty in each game until Porter was briefly sidelined with an injury in the ninth game, against West Virginia. After playing well in relief and nearly pulling out a victory, he started the final two regular-season games and led the Eagles to wins over Rutgers and 12th-ranked Virginia Tech. Against the Hokies, he threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns on the road, including the game-winner with 4:40 left.
"It was awesome," he says. "It was so loud. I was trying to make a checkoff at the line of scrimmage, and I was screaming and could barely be heard."
Teammates have already begun calling him "Pistol Pete." Reporters claim his size (6-0, 185) and mobility evoke memories of Doug Flutie.
Peterson has thrown for 900 yards and eight touchdowns in just 122 attempts this season.
Only a year ago he was playing against New Mexico Military Institute (450 yards, six TD passes). In 10 games last season he threw for 2,982 yards and 35 touchdowns, but recruiters weren't exactly knocking down his door. Peterson made his own highlight video and mailed it to schools around the country; BC responded first, and signed him sight unseen as Porter's backup.
"They were very honest with me," he says. "They told me that Porter was the heir to the throne and that I'd be coming in as second string."
Now he's the starter, and with both players returning next season it has the makings of a quarterback controversy. "It's going to be interesting," Peterson said. "It will all come down to spring practice."
Or maybe the San Francisco Bowl.
Peterson's family will attend Wednesday's game, which should be enough to boost attendance. Peterson is the sixth of 10 children (seven boys). His father, Tom, was a star running back at Orem High who played a season for BYU and then served a mission and never returned to the game.
His older brother Charlie played quarterback at BYU. Brothers Josh and Jake also have played for Bingham High, as did Paul, who earned second-team all-state honors two years in a row.
Unrecruited by Division 1 schools, he spent one fall at Snow College as a "grayshirt," which meant watching games from the press box while future Oklahoma star Josh Heupel guided the offense. After his mission, Peterson took over the team and earned junior college All-America honors. Who knew he would have to travel to the other end of the country to get a chance to play Division 1 — another oddity in his brief stay at BC.
E-MAIL: drob@desnews.com