UW Huskies, WSU Cougars face similar quarterback decisions as camp begins
Washington head coach Jimmy Lake and Washington State’s Nick Rolovich will enter training camp on Friday with the same pressing question.
Who will be the starting quarterback?
The cross-state rivals have found themselves in a similar position when it comes to filling the position. Both are replacing a single-year starter — Jacob Eason for UW, Anthony Gordon for the Cougars. Both have multiple options on their rosters, but neither has a player who has taken any meaningful snaps for their respective teams.
Oh, and they have to make this decision in less than a month, without the benefit of spring practice. Due to the shortened time frame, both Lake and Rolovich were asked during Pac-12 media day on Wednesday when they believe the starting quarterback announcement should be made.
“It’s really going to be more of when it feels right that that person has earned that job,” Lake said. “I would go with every position with that answer, not just the quarterback position. Those guys are going to get their reps. I don’t worry about reps. They are going to get a bunch of mental reps.
“But as soon as somebody takes control and they are able to operate our offense and make plays in practice and they are able to lead our team and it feels right then we will make an announcement at that time.”
The Pac-12 season will open on Nov. 7. Ideally, Rolovich said he would like to name the starter two weeks before the first game. But, he added, the end deadline is really Nov. 6.
“I don’t know that I have necessarily a plan that we’ve got to get a starter by this time,” Rolovich said. “When it’s time to announce a starter, I think we should feel comfortable to do that. We want to get guys all types of reps.”
“Even if they’re with the No. 1 O-line, but still how do they do with the No. 2 O-line and give them all sorts of opportunities to show what they can do with all different groups of personnel they get to work with. … With three guys getting the majority of the reps, at some point early in camp I think we’ll have enough evidence to name a starter.”
UW will have a four-man competition for the starting job between graduate transfer Kevin Thomson, sophomore Jacob Sirmon, redshirt freshman Dylan Morris and true freshman Ethan Garbers. Sirmon is the only player who’s thrown a pass for a UW. He played in a total of five games last season, completing 2-of-3 passes for 19 yards.
Thomson is easily the most experienced player overall, but he’s new to the Huskies’ roster. He transferred from Sacramento State, where he was the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2019.
Washington State has four quarterbacks on the roster in redshirt sophomore Cammon Cooper, redshirt freshman Gunnr Cruz and true freshmen Jayden de Laura and Victor Gabalis, who is a preferred walk-on. None of the Cougars’ potential starters have taken a snap in a college game.
Rolovich said he expects Cooper, Cruz and de Laura to split the majority of the reps.
“It’s probably a fairly unique situation,” Rolivich said. “But they’re working. They’ve all got things they need to work on to get better as a group, but even some of the stuff now I see a lot of improvement from when we first got to see them and I think (quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann) has done a really good job mentoring them and bringing them along.
“I think the offense gives these kids is an opportunity to be effective with it in their own skill set and mentality. Some concepts some guys might like to throw, some might not be as comfortable with it and that comes down to us understanding that. And the guy who’s playing, put him in the best opportunity to be successful, which will then lead our team to be successful.”
Both Lake and Rolovich left open the possibility of playing more than one quarterback in the season opener.
That’s something former head coach Chris Petersen also mentioned when he named Eason the starter last season. Petersen said back-up Jake Haener would play in the 2019 season opener against Eastern Washington because “he should” and “he deserves it.’’ Haener ended up transferring.
“If it doesn’t feel right and we don’t feel like our starter is ready to go that first game, then we may have multiple guys play,” Lake said. “That would be the same answer for any position.”
Rolovich even said the Cougars could go game-to-game deeper in the season. He pointed to his time at Hawaii. While Cole McDonald was Rainbow Warriors’ starting quarterback in 2019, Chevan Cordeiro played in 12 of 15 games and started three times.
“The one thing I think we’ve shown as an offensive staff is we’re going to play the guy we think is going to win the game for us,” Rolovich said. “We caught a lot of stuff for playing Chevan Cordeiro when Cole McDonald was having a great season for us. I just felt that week, versus that defense with what was going on with our team, Chevain was going to give us the best chance to win.
“It’s a hard conversation and it’s nothing that Cole did. Cole did wonderful things for us in the offense for multiple years at Hawaii. At least we have a track record, if a guy’s not getting it done for us, we’ll pull him. That fosters competition not only through training camp but through the whole season.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
