Hill or CartaSamuels? Find out this Saturday

FORT COLLINS» After opening up the position to competition in the week, Colorado State’s starting quarterback Saturday night at San Jose State is …

“I have a pretty good idea, but I’m not going to announce it to anybody,” coach Mike Bobo said Wednesday. “Both will play in this game. Today’s practice was a competitive practice and working on some situations.

“I’ve talked briefly to our staff about it, what we are kind of thinking, what we’re going to do in this game. I have a pretty good idea after this practice. I still want to watch the film.”

The Rams enter the game 14 on the season and rather uneven on offense. They rank 10th in the Mountain West in scoring at 22 points per game but sit third in passing at 320.8 yards per contest, trying to lift up a rushing attack averaging less than 100 yards an outing.

Washington graduate transfer K.J. CartaSamuels has started all five games to this point, with Collin Hill appearing in four. CartaSamuels has the school passing record to his credit (587 in the loss to Hawaii), but the position is more than that to Bobo.

It’s getting it all to click together, which hasn’t happened. Nick Stevens made it work as an experienced quarterback the two years prior. CartaSamuels is new to the system, and Hill is still working his way back from a pair of ACL surgeries.

So, in the bye week, Bobo put every position on the field in question, which CartaSamuels admitted was kind of tough.

“Yeah, I mean it definitely is,” he said. “You wish you would be in your spot you’ve been in since the beginning, but I’ve just gotta do what I’ve got to do and keep playing the way I can play and just keep doing my thing.”

Which he thinks is pretty well. He said he wasn’t told to work on anything specifically, adding he doesn’t feel like he has to change anything, just keep playing.

CartaSamuels has completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 1,461 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. He is far from the biggest issue for the offense, but Bobo wants a spark.

“I’m just trying to find some rhythm on offense. We haven’t been in rhythm, and that’s not all on the quarterback at all,” Bobo said. “There’s a lot of good things K.J. has done, and there’s a lot of good things Collin has done in situations.

“There’s not like we have something going great we’re messing with. We’re not very good offensively right now, but I do believe we’re going to get there. We’re going to play two quarterbacks this weekend and we’ll go from there.”

Hill has completed just 12of32 passes this season for 143 yards, throwing a touchdown and an interception in the fourth quarter of the loss to Illinois State, his only real extended appearance this season. He hasn’t started a game since Oct. 8, 2016, when he tore his left ACL for the first time in his third collegiate start.

He feels he’s played “OK, nothing special,” but he did gain some confidence from seeing extended action in the last game.

Hill threw for 1,098 yards and eight touchdowns with just two interceptions, completing 58.1 percent of his attempts as a true freshman. He also rushed for 49 yards and a touchdown. After redshirting as he rehabbed last year, Hill retore his ACL right before the start of spring practice.

Not knowing who is going to start is not an issue, they both said, even if that decision doesn’t come until game time.

“Honestly, I don’t really look into it a ton,” Hill said. “I do that on purpose. I have to work to not focus on that, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to go out and get a little bit better each day and the results will take care of themselves. Whether I play or not, that’s not my decision. I’m just going to worry about the things I can control.”

Besides, after waiting to get back on the field, it’s not high on his pecking order of things to worry about.

Finding a guy ready to seize the job tops the coach’s list.