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OGDEN — Weber State quarterback Billy Green is starting to distance himself from his competitors in the race to be atop the depth chart.
Green completed 5-of-7 passes for 80 yards in Weber State’s final scrimmage of fall camp Saturday, and in the process has established himself as the No. 1 starter as the team concludes week two of training.
Weber State coach Jay Hill said Green is the top quarterback for the Wildcats as of this moment.
“As of right now, I definitely see him as the starter,” he said. “We haven’t announced that yet, but I definitely see him as the front-runner for that spot. … He manages the offense well, and rarely does he make a mistake to where he puts us in a compromising situation.”
Overall, Hill said Saturday’s scrimmage was filled with both highs and lows for the team.
Weber State coach Jay Hill indicated BYU transfer Billy Green will be the starter at quarterback for the Wildcats.
“I thought it was better competition and execution today,” he said. “We are still making mistakes and having too many penalties and mental mistakes, so we have to continue to work on those things. But, as a whole, I think we took another step forward. Our first team players made good progress but we need more improvement from our second team. We just need to keep making improvements.”
Hill also said the second team’s toughness is an area that concerns him.
“(The second team players are) the ones mainly getting the penalties,” he said. “They were the ones making the mistakes in the two-minute drills, not getting lined up fast enough. The sense of urgency with a lot of the (second team) is not where we need it to be. The (first team) I see getting better and better; the (second team) has got to step it up this last week.”
As far as the offense goes, Green said improvement is evident with the group.
“It was a good day; the offense came out and played well,” he said. “There were a lot of guys that stepped up today, like (running back) Kellen Copeland and (wide receiver) Braden Corpus making a big catch in the two-minute drill. A lot of guys stepped up, played well. There’s still some things we need to clean up obviously, but I’m really happy about today.”
After the practice, the Wildcats were exactly 12 days from their season-opener versus Arizona State, and Green said he has begun in-depth film study of the defending Pac-12 South champions.
“We’ve been watching some Arizona State film,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty good idea of what they’re going to do, so we feel confident going into the game. We feel well-prepared, and we feel that we can go in there and really compete.”
While Green’s play may have been a highlight, it was not the focus of camp practices. Instead, it was the running attack that saw most of the reps, and Hill said he expects the Wildcats to base their offense around running the football.
“If we’re running it successfully, we're not going to throw it,” he said. “That’s how college football should be. It’s like Oregon, everyone think they’re spread out and they throw it all over; you’re watching Oregon game-plan, if they can run for 500 yards, they’re going to run for 500. (So), if we can run it, we’re going to run it.”
