San Jose State football kicks off its 2024 season in less than a week and the Spartans have found themselves in a quarterback predicament.
The three quarterbacks competing for the starting job include frontrunners Emmett Brown and Walker Eget with Xavier Ward not far behind, according to first-year Spartans head coach Ken Niumatalolo.
SJSU’s quarterback battle among three inexperienced candidates to replace last year’s starter Chevan Cordeiro has been undecided since the spring.
Niumatalolo said SJSU is not ready to name a definitive starter for next Thursday’s season-opening game at CEFCU Stadium against Sacramento State (7 p.m. PT, TruTV) but the competition has gotten tighter.
“If somebody goes in there and has a hot hand, obviously we’re gonna keep going (with him),” Niumatalolo said at practice Thursday. “Maybe if things aren’t going as well, we’ll have trust in another guy to get in there because the battle has been that close.”
Niumatalolo even proposed the idea of playing both Brown and Eget, but would prefer to start with a clear QB1.
However the depth chart shakes out, offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann wants to keep the Hornets in the dark until they take the field.
“If (Niumatalolo) would like to roll with somebody from the get-go and announce it, then we’ll do that,” Stutzmann said. “If he doesn’t mind too much about it I wouldn’t mind waiting till we take the field and in the first series everybody finds out.”
He said this competition will likely go down to the wire.
“They’re kind of across the spectrum,” Stutzmann said. “One guy is very athletic, there’s another guy that’s a little bit more of a pocket passer, and then you got another guy that’s right in the middle, that’s kind of got a little bit of both.”
The athletic QB he’s referring to is Ward, who has some understanding of Stutzmann’s offensive scheme. Stutzmann coached him as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Washington State in 2021. Ward has not appeared in a game at either stop in his career.
Eget is the pocket passer Stutzmann mentioned, with his size, big arm and smarts being the biggest standouts. Eget has appeared in four games at SJSU, completing just one pass in nine attempts for 8 yards.
In between those two is Brown, who Stutzmann called “cerebral.” His advantageous traits are his mobility and his quick, compact delivery according to Stutzmann. Brown’s sole stat line from Washington came against Northern Colorado, going 2 for 4 for 14 yards and an interception.
The trio certainly lacks college playing experience, but Stutzmann suggested the difference in styles is an advantage, at least.
“It gives us a little bit of weapons in our back pocket,” Stutzmann said.
Stutzmann has a track record of playing multiple quarterbacks in a season, noting that he may played three in a game multiple times as Utah Tech’s offensive coordinator in 2022.
“It’s just a matter of trying to find who’s doing well that day and who’s playing better,” he said.
Eget, a junior, has been with the Spartans his entire collegiate career.
Brown and Ward are both transfers new to SJSU. Brown came from Washington State in the spring and Ward came from Sam Houston State in the summer.
Spartans transfer quarterbacks have fared well in recent years.
Cordeiro was the bonafide starter for SJSU in the 2022 and 2023 seasons after transferring from Hawaii.
Before Cordeiro was Nick Starkel, a transfer from Arkansas who led SJSU to its first Mountain West Conference championship in 2020.
But this is a new staff, looking for the right quarterback to lead Stutzmann’s “Spread and Shred” system.
All three QBs have known each other predating college, training with quarterback mentor Danny Hernandez in Southern California.
“It’s a healthy dynamic in the quarterback room, nobody has any malicious intent,” Ward said.
The trio have a relationship off the field, watching film with each other on their own in order to make corrections. Brown and Eget are among a group of Spartans who golf together.
Stutzmann said he sometimes wishes he’d see the three quarterbacks be harder on each other, but ultimately prefers the relationship they have.
“Even though we’re competing, all three of us, it’s more fun off the field than it is on the field,” Eget said.
Quarterback is the most important position in Niumatalolo’s opinion, but choosing the right one is simple.
The key traits of a quarterback are moving the ball downfield and being a great leader, according to Niuamatalolo. Those tenants will guide his decision on the starter, but he isn’t showing his hand just yet.
“Probably right now, we will keep it for when we get to game day,” he said of the choice between Brown and Eget. “Both of those guys roll with the ones so it’s not like a big deal.”
