Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OGDEN — In the eyes of Weber State’s Brady May, a new season can be likened to a puzzle.
The players, the coaches, the schemes — they represent the puzzle pieces in this analogy. Simply put them together, bit-by-bit, and just like that: a masterpiece to behold.
If only it were that simple. The difference with football, he explains, is the puzzle is constantly changing, the pieces too. In some ways, it’s more like a rubix cube.
“That’s the way it is,” May said after opening fall camp at a sun-splashed Stewart Stadium. “You gotta rebuild, you know. You gotta put new pieces into the puzzle, the ones we’ve obviously lost from last year. And just kind of learn how to mold together and establish a new identity with the new guys.”
Heading into the 2018 season, the puzzle that May and the rest of the Wildcats must piece together is the offensive system, overhauled from 2017. At issue is replacing the production from their lost keys — such as quarterback Stefan Cantwell, tight end Andrew Vollert and wide receiver Drew Batchelor — in coordination with learning and adjusting to a brand new playbook.
With so many moving parts, suffice it to say that newly hired offensive coordinator Dave Schramm has his work cut out for him in his first season. Hired in January, Schramm has spent the offseason installing his spread offense, which, during his time at Fresno State, had previously produced brilliant seasons from former Fresno State and current Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
Needless to say, the players are excited about what Schramm’s offense brings to the table.
“Coming from out of spring, we weren’t too familiar (with the offense),” wide receiver Rahsid Shaheed said. “But after a long offseason, we got familiar with it. Practice is getting a lot better and we’re learning more and more every day. It’s coming out nice.”
Dating back to spring camp, one of the major question marks surrounding Schramm’s offense has been who will be under center come August 30th. As of now, the depth chart at quarterback consists of six names, though only three appear to be contending for the starting job at this point.
On Wednesday, the majority of the reps were split among senior Rathen Ricedorff, sophomore Braden Miles and freshman Kaden Jenks.
The only upperclassmen of the group, Ricedorff, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound quarterback, appears the most likely to secure the starting job come Week 1, though head coach Jay Hill declined to comment on the specifics of the team’s quarterback battle.
“I won’t even be willing to comment on that for at least another week or two,” he said. “I wanna see those guys compete. And I wanna see them when they have a good day and when they have a bad day, and I want to see how they respond to them. The only way that happens is continue to grind them through the next nine, 10 practices.” Dillon Anderson is studying literary journalism as a student at the University of Utah. You can follow him on Twitter @DillonDanderson.
