If having the quarterback position set coming out of spring practice provides an advantage for this fall, the Wyoming Cowboys, New Mexico Lobos, Fresno State Bulldogs and Nevada Wolf Pack will be a step ahead for the 10-team Mountain West football season.
Coaches from those four schools have their QB starter for the 2012 season penciled in, and Tuesday talked about their quarterback situations during teleconference aimed at summarizing spring football practice for the MW teams.
Wyoming coach Dave Christensen remains impressed with Brett Smith, who came on last fall as a freshman and led the Cowboys to the New Mexico Bowl. Fresno State and Nevada will be new to the Mountain West in the fall, but Fresno coach Tim DeRuyter and Nevada’s Chris Ault have settled on their quarterbacks. DeRuyter liked what he saw in junior Derek Carr, younger brother of former Fresno State star David Carr, and Ault says sophomore Cody Fajardo still is No. 1.
“We inserted him (Fajardo) during the season last year and never looked back,” Ault said. “There are two advantages in having your quarterback coming out of spring: He can gain a better mental understanding and concentrate on what he has to do over the summer and the other players know who to feed off for leadership.”
New coach Bob Davies at New Mexico needs any help he can get to bring up the downtrodden program. Davies has senior B.R. Holbrook, who has off and on experience with the Lobos, at the top of his depth chart. But Davies said his overall roster is pretty bare.
“I came in with my eyes completely wide open and I know this is going to take some time,” said Davies, who last coached 10 years ago at Notre Dame. “I was a little shocked at how low the numbers are. We practiced with just eight offensive linemen.”
Colorado State coach Jim McElwain wasn’t ready to put sophomore-to-be Garrett Grayson in the driver’s seat at quarterback. Neither was Air Force coach Troy Calhoun with Connor Dietz, who is playing within an extra semester that was granted to make up academic and military requirements that were missed when he was injured.
First-year Hawaii coach Norm Chow hasn’t seen any of his three quarterback hopefuls step up in spring drills. UNLV coach Bobby Hauck still is deciding between between junior Caleb Herring and sophomore Nick Sherry.
San Diego State coach Rocky Long faces his biggest challenge in finding a replacement for departed quarterback Ryan Lindley. Long also lost talented tailback Ronnie Hillman to the NFL after his sophomore season.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
