For the entire month of October, San Jose State coach Brent Brennan constantly rebuffed questions about the availability of quarterback Nick Starkel as he recovered from an injury suffered at the end of September.
Now that Starkel returned to action last week by splitting reps with his former backup Nick Nash, the question is who will take the reins Saturday (7:30 p.m., FS1) against Utah State?
Not surprisingly, Brennan kept his answer as vague as possible this week.
“We can feel confident that someone named Nick is going to be lined up at quarterback,” Brennan said. “They’re both are going to play, excited to see them play. I think Nick Nash has made great strides over the last month and it was really fun to have Nick Starkel back.”
The Spartans (5-5, 3-3 Mountain West) are “still a work in progress” according to Brennan with a pair of home games left in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Utah State (7-2, 4-1) sits atop the standings in the Mountain Division and is one of the favorites to replace the Spartans as the conference champion.
“This is an incredible challenge for us,” Brennan said. “These guys are very, very explosive offensively.”
Here are a few keys to victory as San Jose State seeks one more win to become bowl eligible:
Find the right Nick for any situation
Starkel is a traditional pocket passer, while Nash is a versatile dual-threat option.
“The whole playbook is open to both of them, but they’re just different people,” Brennan said, “so you’re going to choose to do different things with both of them, right?”
What about a trick play in which both QBs are involved?
“If I could get a formation where I could get all five of our quarterbacks on the field at the same time, I would do it,” Brennan said.
Starkel admitted to feeling a bit jittery at the beginning of last week’s 27-24 loss at Nevada, but he finished with three touchdown passes during his long-awaited return.
“That’s all I was praying for when I got injured,” Starkel said. “That’s my goal, that’s been my mission. I’ve been really focused on that, focused on rehab … as well as keeping my mind sharp so I could come back and play with these guys because they’ve given all for this team. And there’s no way I could just sit out there and not play.”
Corral the No. 1 threat through the air
Utah State wide receiver Deven Thompkins isn’t an imposing figure at 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 155 pounds.
Yet the diminutive dynamo leads the nation with 1,314 receiving yards. He’s caught 72 passes for eight touchdowns. The Spartans defense is sixth in the Mountain West, allowing 222.2 yards per game, but they did give up 314 last week to Nevada. Tompkins racked up 215 yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Logan Bonner in the Aggies’ win last week over New Mexico State.
“He’s just so dynamic,” Brennan said. “His ability in speed and space, after the catch, they obviously do a good job of putting the ball in his hands.”
Rely on the veterans
San Jose State held an opponent to fewer than 100 rushing yards for the fourth time this season, including last week when Nevada only managed 53 yards on 30 carries.
Linebacker Kyle Harmon is an impact player with 104 tackles, which is tied for second-most in the FBS. Safeties Jay Lenard and Tre Jenkins also provide plenty of run support.
Brennan credits experience for the physicality of Spartans’ defense.
“With the extra year of eligibility with the COVID situation, everybody is more mature,” Brennan said. “You have guys that are stronger, they’re older, have played more football. You’re not having to fit and fill with younger, less experienced players as you would in a normal season.”
With two games left – and hoping for a third in the form of a bowl – those veterans approaching the end of their collegiate careers have extra motivation to finish strong.
“Yeah, absolutely, there’s real, extreme urgency from our seniors and our upperclassmen,” Brennan said. “I think that this has been an incredible journey for those guys. Some of those guys played the year before I got here, so there’s been a lot of hard stuff, a lot of good stuff, a lot of bad stuff and a lot of amazing stuff that they’ve been through.
“So they want to end it on a good note. They want to leave here feeling like they made the program better, like they had a real impact on the current and future success of the program. So I’d say there’s extreme urgency from those people.”
Trust in each other
San Jose State intercepted two passes by Nevada quarterback Carson Strong, an NFL prospect, but still managed to lose the turnover battle for a seventh time this season.
A fumble return for a TD and a pick-six contributed to the loss in Reno, as the defense only allowed one touchdown.
But there’s no visible sign of a fracture within the locker between the struggling offense and staunch defense.
After Saturday’s loss, Starkel described an exercise from the prior night in which offensive and defensive players physically leaned on each other to build connectivity.
“It was just the visualization and putting it in our psychology that, ‘Hey, look, we’ve got each other’s backs,'” Starkel said. “And seeing that defense out there today just have our back gives us confidence and it helps us to stay grounded and stay together.”
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