With quarterback position in question, Rams should start Hill

Head coach Mike Bobo and his young Colorado State team should be 2-1 in a matter of days. And yet, the game of musical chairs going on with the quarterbacks may linger into week 4 against Minnesota.

“The bottom line is we can’t run our full complement of offense with anybody right now,” Bobo said during his press conference Monday.

Let’s recap the QB play from the first two games.

Against the University of Colorado, the incumbent Nick Stevens finished 6 for 20 for 31 yards and two interceptions. The second-team All-Mountain West from 2015 didn’t see the field against UTSA. Redshirt senior Faton Bauta came in to relieve Stevens against the Buffs and put together the lone scoring drive for the Rams. Bauta earned the start in week two by going 6 for 9 for 32 yards and a touchdown.

Fast forward to UTSA, where Bauta went 5-11 for 74 yards by halftime. After failing to get anything going in the third quarter, Bobo threw true freshman Collin Hill into the fire. Hill made a pair of nice first down throws but was otherwise mediocre in his limited play against the Roadrunners.

While no quarterback has yet to distance themselves, we have to consider where each is at in their college careers.

Stevens is a redshirt junior and could very well choose to transfer at the end of the season. Bauta, a redshirt senior, will complete his brief time at CSU before we know it.

So why not let Hill, who could very well be the future of this team, start gaining valuable experience as the starter now? Those against the idea might say that he’s young and inexperienced but it’s not like the rest of the team is full of established upperclassmen.

Plus, take into account the impact the incoming class of 2017 is expected to make. Wouldn’t it be ideal for all those freshmen to be led by a guy with some legitimate experience in Hill, who will still be just a sophomore?

Let’s move back to the present, where your guess as to who starts under center for the Rams is as good as mine.

“We will have competition this week,” said Bobo. “We will compete at practice and make a decision later in the week.”

The real head-scratcher is Bobo isn’t looking for a guy to throw the ball 40 or more times. In a perfect world, he wants his quarterback to run the offensive effectively, get in the right run checks and hit open receivers when they have to. That just hasn’t been the case.

“We haven’t thrown the ball the way we expect to throw the ball here,” he said. “Especially when you’re trying to be balanced and you’re under center and you’ve got a run game, then you’ve got to complete a high percentage of passes and we haven’t done that.”

Bobo went on to explain that in practice, there have been way too many balls on the ground because of accuracy issues. This week, he’s looking for someone that brings stability to the offense.

“You want consistency at that position,” said Bobo.

Whoever’s number is called Saturday, the second-year head coach wants them to perform.

“Right now, we have no confidence offensively,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to get that this week.”