Who is under center this time? It’s up in the air for both teams
When asked whether K.J. Costello or Keller Chryst will start Saturday night at Utah, Stanford head coach David Shaw said, “Good question.”
When asked whether Tyler Huntley or Troy Williams will start for Utah, head coach Kyle Whittingham said, “We’ll see.”
Both teams have uncertainty over the starting-quarterback spot, but for different reasons.
Chryst, who started the first four games of the season, has been cleared to play after taking a big hit early in the UCLA game Sept. 23. Huntley sustained an apparent shoulder injury a night earlier and might not be able to play.
Both head coaches are holding their cards very close to the vest. If they have decided who’s going to start, they aren’t saying. This is part of the game football coaches are known to play. For one thing, they don’t want opponents to know for whom to prepare. Shaw said both Costello and Chryst will play but is coy on how he’ll divide up the snaps.
Costello has been excellent in a short time frame. The redshirt freshman came off the bench to lead nine scoring drives against UCLA. In his first start Saturday against Arizona State, he did well again, although the attack revolved around Bryce Love’s spectacular, 301-yard rushing day.
Chryst played poorly in an upset loss at San Diego State, but he generally had performed very well before that. He was 6-0 as a starter after replacing Ryan Burns last year and this year led a rout of Rice and played well in a loss at USC.
Overall, Costello has a better passer rating (143.24 to 121.27) and a better completion percentage (64 to 52). He might not have as strong an arm, but he is more mobile and seems to have a better pocket presence.
Keenly aware of the rising tide of public opinion favoring Costello, Shaw said, “I don’t sway with the wind.” Referring to Chryst’s track record, he said, “I’m not going to throw away all those other great moments” simply because of a bad night in San Diego. Shaw has said he generally doesn’t take away a starter’s job when he comes back from an injury.
On the other hand, he said he runs a “prove-it’’ program. “It’s not what you did yesterday,” he said. “Yesterday gets you to where you are today, but it’s about what you did today. … The moment we don’t play guys based on production, now I’m doing everybody a disservice.” Shaw was asked if he was worried about players picking sides in the quarterback competition. “I hope not,” he said. “That would be unfortunate for those players. All 11 players need to go out there and do their job. There are guys on the team that love each other, guys that get along or don’t get along. When the game starts … everybody has to do their jobs.”
Unlike Costello, Williams is a senior who started all 13 games last year before losing the job to Huntley in training camp.
Like Shaw, Whittingham gave no time frame as to when he would decide the starter.
“If Troy’s the guy, then great,” he said. “We’re not really overly concerned who the guy is because we know whoever the guy is, he’s going to need to get it done.”