There has been no clear separation between the three quarterbacks vying for the starting job at Arizona. Gunner Cruz, Will Plummer and Jordan McCloud have all had opportunities to work with the expected starting unit, and each has had a mixed bag of positives and negatives through four practices.
Overall the coaching staff has seen progress from all three players but doesn't appear to be much closer to naming a starter than it was when camp began last Friday. Jedd Fisch and his staff had hoped to be making some more progress at this stage with the UA head coach originally planning to begin the process of narrowing down the options after the fifth practice Wednesday evening.
At this point that plan could be changing.
"I don't know, I'm not sure exactly who I would give 35% to," Fisch joked this week about his plan to give each of the players competing for the job a third of the practice reps. "Right now we'll have to figure it out, evaluate it and see what it looks like."
The Wildcats had a day off Tuesday, but will now practice for five consecutive days. At the end of the upcoming stretch Arizona will need to have some direction being less than three weeks out from its opener by the time it comes to an end Sunday.
Fisch likened the stretch to "moving day" in a golf tournament meaning there should be more clarity on the situation by the end of the week.
The message from Fisch and the rest of the staff has not changed when it comes to the quarterback position. Finding the player who is the most consistent and is able to get the team in the end zone will most often will be the choice.
"Consistency moving the football," Fisch said about what will create separation in the competition. "Consistency of we go no-huddle and we hit three or four passes. We have a team period and the ball doesn't get on the ground. Seven on seven there's really no excuse to throw incompletions. The good teams don't throw a lot of incompletions, there's no pass rush.
"So, we gotta evaluate that and see what that looks like. Go drive down and score a few touchdowns back to back to back."
Not having a clear frontrunner by this point could be seen as concerning for Arizona, but the coaches are not viewing it that way just yet. The Wildcats have yet to wear full pads in camp, that will happen Wednesday, so in many ways the team has yet to truly hit its stride just yet.
"Great competition. All three guys have shown really cool attributes, have had really great plays and have all had things they need to work on," offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll said. "They've done a great job learning, commanding, taking control of and now let's see who can really push forward and take the job over.
"... We're just getting started. A couple days from now it hopefully will start to show itself a little bit."
Fisch has been pleased with the progress from the group so far, but the hope is that the coming days will bring about the separation he and the staff is looking for from the quarterbacks.
"They definitely kind of know what's going on a little bit more, so they're playing quicker," Fisch said. "The ball's coming out of their hands a little faster. Still, someone needs to separate themselves. Someone needs to figure out whatever that competitive edge is to find a way to be a difference maker. To just say, 'You know what, I don't want to be maybe the one.' Or, 'I don't want to be in the mix, I want to just find a way.'"
Arizona continues camp Wednesday evening at the Dick Tomey Practice Fields with a scheduled start time of 7:15 p.m. MST.
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