Gundy Won’t Name Backup QB, but QB3 Could be More Important

Nothing has been decided, offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich said Wednesday before the Spring Game, but the backup quarterback spot will be locked down, “sooner rather than later.”

The obvious choice is redshirt junior Taylor Cornelius, who has been Mason Rudolph’s backup for two seasons and went 5-9 for 77 yards and a TD on Saturday in the Spring Game. But Yurcich said all of the throwers are coming along. He said it’s critical to name a No. 2 because the reps in practice need to be delegated.

“It’s an ongoing battle right now,” Yurcich said. “A lot of competitiveness, and that’s fun to see those guys compete, but there’s a lot of learning to be had.”

Rudolph said Cornelius, one of his best friends, is the veteran guy. Cornelius has played in four games, which is three more than the other three realistic candidates John Kolar, Keondre Wudtee and Jelani Woods have combined.

“Really strong arm, pocket-passer, but he’s athletic enough to make plays on his feet,” Rudolph said of Cornelius. “Cerebral guy. Really smart. He came in the summer after me, so he’s been here a while. He really has a good feel for the offense.”

Coach Mike Gundy has said that Woods will likely redshirt. Rudolph said he, too, is making strides but his head is still spinning at times. So that probably leaves Cornelius, Kolar and Wudtee. Kolar and Wudtee combined to go 2-8 with two interceptions in the Spring Game.

Gundy said Rudolph’s reps have been cut significantly and given to Wudtee because they have a good understanding of where Cornelius is at. The good thing about those three and Rudolph is that they aren’t carbon copies of the same quarterback.

Wudtee played football, basketball and ran track at Parkway High School in Bossier City, Louisiana. Kolar ran for more than 500 yards as a senior at Norman North. Cornelius racked up more than 9,000 passing yards in three seasons out of Bushland, Texas, with 88 touchdown passes. And Woods is 6-foot-7 with 235 pounds of weight on him.

“In the spring you try to throw a lot at ’em and see what they can absorb, see where their boundaries at,” Yurcich said. “I think we’ve found that out with a lot of them, and now it’s kinda time to rein it in and really adjust our teaching to what we’ve learned about each individual.”

Gundy said he hoped he could have named a backup by the end of the spring but can’t. Yurcich said there is no timetable for naming the backup. At the latest, a No. 2 will be named midway through fall camp, Gundy said.

The other wrinkle here is that the backup QB might not play as much as the QB designated to play the J.W. Walsh role. That sounded on Saturday like it might be Wudtee (although he rushed three times for just -4 yards on Saturday).

So you could have a scenario in which you have a QB1 (Rudolph), a QB2 (Cornelius) and a special-package short yardage QB who also serves as QB3 (Wudtee). There is still a lot to sort out, but Gundy sounded on Saturday like Cornelius is the man to beat at QB2.

“I thought Taylor (Cornelius) played well,” said Gundy. “The defense was a little loaded on the orange. The two ends on the orange team were a lot more mature, put a lot of pressure on the black team. We had a hard time, black had a hard time controlling those guys, but I thought Taylor did a good job. The other guys that were inexperienced looked inexperienced to me. I thought number 14 did well.”