AMHERST — The UMass quarterback room is a lot fuller this season than in years past.
With the additions of freshmen Josiah Johnson and Jaret Pallotta, there are now seven quarterbacks in the program this summer. It has created a logjam during team drills when only one quarterback can be on the field at a time to run the offense.
Most of the time, that quarterback isn’t Ross Comis or Andrew Ford, the two signal callers who should take almost all of the snaps each Saturday for the Minutemen. The seniors are some of the most experienced players on the offense and are dispensing that knowledge at every chance when they aren’t actively participating in the drill.
“It’s different having more quarterbacks than in past years, but it’s good,” Comis said. “Andrew and I have a little more rest when we have other guys to take (the reps), and we can help those younger guys out. It’s helpful for everybody, it’s helpful for us and helpful for future generations of the QB room.”
In addition to providing sagely advice on the sideline while waiting for their next repetition, the veterans are using those free moments to improve themselves mentally. Ford said he doesn’t take a play off during practice and keeps himself engaged during the other quarterbacks’ turns so that he can be prepared for the random situational sets coach Mark Whipple sprinkles into practice.
“What I’ve done personally and what we’ve talked about in the quarterback room is you’ve always got to stay ready,” Ford said. “All of us are one play away from a turnover or having to go back in the game, so (it’s) having the mindset of always be ready. For me, whether I’m taking the rep or I’m standing back, I’m treating it like I’m taking the rep and trying to get as many mental reps as I can when I’m not in there.”
Whipple said redshirt junior Randall West and redshirt sophomore Mike Fallon have both impressed this summer, but he was clear about which two quarterbacks he was going to be leaning on this season. The veteran coach confirmed Ford as the starter and said Comis would still see significant action, as well, within the Minutemen’s plans.
The luxury of having two quarterbacks with roughly two years of experience will be most important in the early weeks when UMass has less film to use in its plans and will rely on in-game adjustments to counter whatever changes the defense has made since last season.
“(Ford) seen a lot of things, he’s played a lot of places and done some things. The same with Ross, Ross has been here five years,” Whipple said. “It’s the little things that we can tweak as we go to make sure they can understand some stuff, which will hopefully help us on game day. Not everybody is going to give you what you see on tape, you’ve got to make some adjustments, and we’ve been able to do that a lot better on the run with those guys.”
Comis called this preseason the best UMass has had in his five years in Amherst because of how smoothly things have flowed for the offense in the first two weeks. Much of that can be credited to the wealth of experience the Minutemen have across the board with nine returning starters.
That number doesn’t include players like right tackle Larnel Coleman, tight end Kyle Horn or receivers Jessie Britt and Brennon Dingle, all of whom played in at least 10 games last season and will receive significant playing time this fall. It also fails to account for Comis’ 20 total appearances at quarterback, two fewer games than Ford has played for the Minutemen.
Ford said what has stood out to him during the first two-plus weeks of practice is how quickly everyone has caught on to each other’s tendencies and been able to work as an efficient 11-man unit.
“From week one to week two, we’ve just gotten a lot more familiar with each other,” Ford said. “Whether it’s running backs seeing how the wide receivers are going to block when they get on the edge or our linemen picking up who they’re going to get and the running backs filling in, we’ve kind of figured out how to gel together.”
The offense’s synergy was aided by a larger comprehension of the offense within the framework of a game. Ford said the unit has been more on the same page recently, as the players have begun to grasp the reasoning behind certain play calls and the tempo of play.
“(We’re) able to understand what we’re doing it and why we’re doing it; not just ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do, just go do it,’ but understanding the whys has been big for us,” Ford said. “That’s where I saw the biggest jump for us in these two weeks is we’re understanding why we’re doing what we’re doing. I think that will help us this fall.”