The Huskies' opener is a week away, and then the team takes the field for the first time under Bob Diaco to face BYU next Friday, redshirt sophomore Casey Cochran will be under center.
This Thursday, quarterbacks coach Don Patterson talked about what he expects from Cochran and senior backup Chandler Whitmer.
"The players will tell you that they have great confidence in both of those guys," Patterson told the New Haven Register's Jim Fuller. "I think Chandler and Casey, it has been a very good competition, it has been a very smooth competition. I think they understand, because we talk about it, but we as a group of quarterbacks we are a team within a team and our job to make sure that this team has great quarterback play regardless of injury which means they all have to be able to play and all have to fulfill their role. If you happen to be third team then your mentality has to be that you are two plays away and stranger things have happened. You have to get ready for the game, that is the hard thing to do if you are a second or third team quarterback, because there is a lot of preparation and yet you may not get on the field.
"I think it is not secret because I know Bob mentioned that Chandler is going to play against BYU so there is no doubt about it. How much, we don't know, it depends on game situations. We obviously had a lot of confidence in him and even more important than what we think, I think the players have a lot of confidence in him. I know there are fans who wonder if he deserves (to play) but he has to be able to take snaps to be able to play better than he played for us in the past and I am confident in saying 'yes, I am confident that he will play better than he played in the past.'"
For Patterson, the quarterbacks's job, while not necessarily easy is pretty straightforward.
"The first thing you have to do is not beat yourself. It sounds simple but the University of Alabama always has a quarterback that doesn't get Alabama beat and that is the first thing we have to do is not beat ourselves," he said. "Every ball we ever throw in practice is charted, they can tell you but they have thrown 15 picks out of 852 passes here in camp, that is pretty good. One interception every 60 snaps."
We'll find out shortly if the Huskies can carry that practice performance over to the games.
