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LOGAN — It’s always awkward to be a place holder or to be that guy who is just there for the time, until "the" guy comes back to retrieve his spot at the top.
Welcome to the life of Utah State quarterback Darrel Garretson. Garretson, who took over for the Aggies at quarterback after starter Chuckie Keeton had a knee injury against BYU, went 6-1 as the Utah State starting quarterback, including a victory over Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl. And, he is the quarterback who is receiving the practice snaps reserved for a starting quarterback.
Yet, at the same time, he is merely holding the spot that will likely be reserved for Keeton once he returns from the injury — the spot of the starting quarterback.
Still, it is Garretson who is taking the starter repetitions right now, and he said he worked in the offseason to improve in a variety of areas.
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“(I worked on) knowing the offense,” said Garretson, who threw for 1,446 yards and 10 touchdowns in seven games last season. “Now, I’ve just got to be quicker with it, and more fluid with it.”
Utah State coach Matt Wells, who once played quarterback for the Aggies, said he has noticed the improvement Garretson has made, specifically in certain passing situations.
“I think he’s improved his deep ball really, really well,” Wells said. “I think he’s throwing a lot better deep ball. There’s some stuff in the intermediate quick game we still need to clean up, but he’s done a better job on the deep ball, and I think some of his quarterback run game stuff has improved.”
With Keeton almost six months removed from the injury, Wells said he is beginning to undertake some quarterbacking drills.
“Chuckie had done a lot of throwing on the side and done his rehab with Coach (Dave) Scholz (strength coach),” said Wells March 24 in an interview with KSL’s Rod Zundel. “Over the next two weeks, he’ll start to get incorporated into some throwing drills, but no team work.”
Wells also noted Keeton is progressing in terms of the amount of drills he can physically handle.
“He’s doing a lot of linear stuff, training on the side,” he said. “He just started getting into all the lateral rehab, but mainly from a throwing standpoint, we’re limiting him to a one-step, two-step drops, and then we’ll put pitch count on him for how many throws he’s going to make.”
Still, the question of what will happen to Garretson is out there, and with his successful place-holding for Keeton, some talk has centered on whether or not there will be any type of a competition in fall camp. For his part, Garretson has said his focus is to stay above any such talk.
“That’s (who is the starter) honestly up to the coaches,” he said. “It is what it is. I’m just going to do what they ask me right now, and we’ll go from there.”
Garretson did note, however, that the spring has helped his ability to be a successful quarterback at Utah State.
“It’s still my first spring. I’m still working with the offense and I’m still getting it down, but a little more experience helps me,” said Garretson, who first started for Utah State in the game against New Mexico. “I’ve got to be a little more ahead of the game than I am right now. I need to be quicker, and get the ball out quicker. (I) need to move in the pocket a little bit more, and have a quick release.”
All things removed, Wells said the Aggies are hoping both Keeton and running back Joe Hill, who also suffered a season-ending knee injury, will be ready for summer conditioning.
“The goal for both of them hopefully is to be full speed at the beginning of the summer, in June, and to be able to go through the whole summer program before we get to training camp,” he said.
So, if Garretson has a successful spring and Keeton’s return is sluggish, look for a training camp spotlight to be on the quarterback position.
