In the hours leading up to Saturday’s nonconference homecoming game against Fort Lewis (5-3), University of Northern Colorado coach Kay Dalton isn’t sure who he should be more worried about: his quarterback or the opponent’s.
From what he’s seen of Fort Lewis quarterback Matt Gutierrez, it might be the latter.
“He looks pretty dangerous,” Dalton said. “They throw the ball a lot, and he’s got a really high touchdown rate and a low interception rate (24 touchdowns to three interceptions), so he must be pretty darn good.
“He’s a guy that scrambles around a lot. We’ve been working on a lot of scramble drills, so those receivers don’t free up on us. But I don’t think they have much of a running game, which is good for us, I think.”
Gutierrez, who led the Skyhawks to a 28-22 upset of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference leader Nebraska-Kearney last week, has completed 139-of-221 passes for 2,203 yards. The Thornton High product paces the Skyhawks’ rushing attack, leading the team with 375 yards and three touchdowns on 122 carries.
But as much a concern as Gutierrez is to Dalton, a greater concern could be his own quarterback, Nick Hager. The senior will be making his first start since suffering a dislocated shoulder in the second quarter at Portland State on Sept. 24. The Bears were 2-1 before he got hurt and are now 2-4.
“I’m very excited to have him back,” Dalton said. “I wouldn’t play him if I thought he wasn’t ready to play. I hope he’s a little more careful about all that running that he likes to do. That eliminates some of the threat that he has, but I told him to play like in the pros and when he gets in trouble to slide down.”
If Hager struggles, the Bears will go back to redshirt freshman T.J. Swanson.
“Nick’s just a good leader,” Dalton said. “The other kid’s still learning.”
Hager said he’s eager to play again, especially since he’ll be going against an old Rocky Mountain High School teammate, Fort Lewis safety Richard Johnson.
“He’s a decent player,” Hager said. “They’ve got some decent players on defense, but we can’t worry about who we’re playing. We’ve lost three straight, so at this point we’re just worried about ourselves.”
Hager said his arm isn’t at full strength, but he’s not worried.
“I can make all the throws I need to make,” he said. “I’ll be fine. Coach wants me to think about sliding, but when I get out there, I don’t think that much. I just play.”
Footnote
Former UNC coach Joe Glenn, now the coach at Wyoming, will be recognized as an honored alumnus at halftime Saturday. Glenn was the coach at UNC from 1989-1999, leading the Bears to Division II national championships in 1996 and 1997.
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
