Jacksonville, AL – Big plays, quarterbacks stand out, and Rodriguez sees no pecking order as evidence that he has good options at QB.
By Joe Medley
Rich Rodriguez says he’s not worried about a lack of pecking order among quarterbacks 11 days and one scrimmage into fall camp.
“Everybody says, ‘if you have two, you don’t have any,’ and what the hell kind of comment is that?” Rodriguez said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “If I have three we can win with, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing, as long as the pecking order is not determined because they’re bad.
“It’s just the opposite. The pecking order is not determined because they’re all pretty good. Shoot. Right now, I feel confident we can put four quarterbacks out there and have success.”
Returnee Logan Smothers and transfers Tyler Huff and Zion Turner wore the blue non-contact jerseys during Saturday’s scrimmage, and Huff took the first live snaps.
All had their moments.
Smothers hit a 30-yard touchdown pass to Mackey Award watch list tight end Sean Brown, and Turner hit a 35-yarder to tight end Jacob Barrick.
“Right now, I feel confident we can throw four quarterbacks out there and have success, definitely three,” Rodriguez said. “We have three with some starting experience in Division I, so that’s a luxury.
“I don’t know how many programs that have three quarterbacks that have started Division I games against Division I teams, so we’re in a good situation there.”
Other offensive highlights included Jalen Likely’s 40-yard touchdown run.
Freshman quarterback A.J. Watkins hit a deep pass to tight end Jaxon Shuttlesworth to set up first and goal, but the defense made a goal-line stand.
This and that
—Rodriguez saw encouraging things for an undersized defense. Then again, he saw “some softness,” which he called “really embarrassing.”
“We’ve got to get that fixed in a hurry,” he said. “We should never have a guy being soft. We’ll get that message across. We’ve got to get that fixed, because that’s not who we are.”
—The first work with live officials revealed holding on both sides of the ball, Rodriguez said.
“We had a couple of false starts,” he said. “Presnap penalties are embarrassing, so we’ve got to get that fixed, as well,
“We need the officials out here more often. They do a great job. We’ve got some stuff to clean up, and our guys are pretty conscientious, so we’ll work on it.”
–Rodriguez said other cleanup points.
“Our problem on defense is we ducked our heads too much when we’re tackling,” Rodriguez said. “Offensively, we held onto the ball too much. Our quarterback had some time, and they were just dancing around back there instead of finding hte open guy quickly or taking off.”
—Kicker Garrison Rippa, who hit all four extra points and both field goals against Louisiana in the New Orleans Bowl, including the game winner from 27 yards in overtime, split the uprights and hit the filming lift on a try Saturday. Redshirt sophomore Julio Macias missed three tries, one wide left and two wide right.
“Rip’s kicked really well,” Rodriguez said. “He’s gotten stronger and more confident. Our backup kicker has been nursing an injury and slowly coming back, so there’s a concern with that as well, but Rip, his leg is looking as strong as ever, and he’s had a really good camp.”
