For the first time in his career, Chuck Shelton put red shirts - meaning "don't touch" - on quarterbacks for Saturday's scrimmage that signalled the end of Utah State two-a-days.
"We're to the point where I don't think our quarterbacks have anything to prove," said Shelton. "They must continue to improve."That's hard to do if you're hurt, so Shelton made certain they weren't.
That's not to say he was all that happy with them. The offense failed to score the first half, although it did put up 17 points in the second half.
Named the starter for Saturday's season opener with Utah at Romney Stadium, quarterback Kirk Johnson, who's looked good for two weeks, didn't get things moving the first half, when he alternated with Lex Stoehr. Johnson ran the first offense against the second defense, and Stoehr second offense vs. first defense the first half.
Ron Lopez, the promising junior-college transfer, was to get the most scrimmage time. He got little last week because he'd been with the program only a week.
Lopez, however, didn't play much until midway through the third quarter. Partly it was because of a sore arm and partly because of the first half.
"We wanted to get a few plays out of Kirk in the first half, and then we were going to rest him for the day," said Shelton. "I wasn't satisfied, so I decided to put him back in the third quarter and let him have some plays."
A lot of those plays the second half were handoffs to dueling JC transfer backs Roger Grant and Floyd Foreman.
Both had done well the first half. Grant went 15 yards on the first play of the game, and Foreman amassed 81 yards on his first four tries.
Grant carried on seven of eight plays to start the third, hauling a scoreless offense to a 59-yard scoring drive. His seven carries netted 62 yards (there was a penalty), and he scored the first TD from 3 yards.
For the game, Foreman had 10 carries for 112 yards, with a long of 42; Grant had 15 for 114 yards with a long of 18. Getting into the act, too, was second-team workhorse D.C. Coleman with 14 tries for 53 yards and a 7-yard TD.
"That's what we expected of them; that's what we recruited them for," Shelton said of Grant and Foreman. He added, "They really picked up the scrimmage."
Lopez threw 8 for 13 for 84 yards and no interceptions. Johnson was 4 for 7 for 45 yards and no interceptions, and Stoehr was 10 for 15 for 78 yards.
Part of the offensive problem, said Shelton, were four injured potential starters in the line. All four are tackles - Charlie Smith, Ernie Howren, Rich Tylski and Mike Vivoli. That created inconsistencies, Shelton said.
On the positive, "The defense was certainly well accounted for," Shelton said. Andrell Cooper and Stephen Robinson made interceptions.
Penalties were less a problem than last week but still evident, particularly offensive holding. Shelton said his coaches would work hard on that this week.