Judging by Wednesday morning's practice, it's status quo regarding the starting quarterback job for the Morgan State football team. Graduate transfer Chris Andrews (Wagner) remained with the first offense, while sophomore Khalil Trotman and freshman DeAndre Harris split time with the second unit.
But interim head coach Fred Farrier acknowledged that the scales may be tipping in favor of Andrews opening the season as the starter against Holy Cross at Hughes Stadium in Baltimore on Sept. 3.
"Khalil is doing everything that we're asking him to do," Farrier said after practice. "What we're doing is we're trying to see how much Chris can handle things and push forward.
"Chris is a graduate transfer so we only have one year with him. So there's no future plan after 2016. So we've got to see if we can get as much from him as we can right now. We've got to get him coached up and see if he can be the guy to get us going. He's going to make mistakes."
The 6-foot-1, 235-pound Andrews had a few nice passes, including a slant pass to senior wide receiver Cornelius Middleton that set up a 28-yard field goal by sophomore Alex Raya. But Andrews also overthrew a couple teammates and floated a ball toward freshman wide receiver Torrance Little Jr. that was intercepted by sophomore cornerback Corvon'Tra Revell.
The 6-2, 200-pound Harris was the next quarterback under center rather than the 6-1, 190-pound Trotman. But Farrier said the coaches wanted to give Harris some reps with the second offense to get a more thorough assessment of what he can do.
"What we're trying to do is see how he responds with a better group of kids because at times when you throw the third quarterback in with the threes, all of the other kids don't really know what they're doing," Farrier said. "So even when we're trying to give an evaluation, there are so many mistakes made and so many other kids that when you put him in there, he's not getting any quality work because the other kids are making so many mistakes."
Other notes and observations:
**Speaking of Raya, the San Bernadino Junior College transfer converted a 50-yard field goal that helped the offense win a mini-contest in which the unit had one play to move into field-goal territory. The offense's reward was watching the defense (and the coaches) complete five up-downs. The 5-11, 180-pound Raya is replacing Chris Moller, who handled all kicking and punting duties last season, and Farrier said he has no reservations about asking Raya to kick in the regular season. "He's kicked in junior college for a year," Farrier said. "So he's got some game experience. So that part doesn't bother me. It's just him getting used to our holders and our snappers so that rhythm and that timing can get down."
**Redshirt senior cornerback Delonta Hall and senior wide receiver Ricky Fisk did not practice due to hamstring ailments. Senior wide receiver Thomas Martin, sophomore wide receiver Landen Malbrough and sophomore guard Adrien Allen also did not participate because of injuries Farrier declined to specify, and senior RB Herb Walker Jr. was absent to deal with additional coursework. While the injury list is longer from a week ago, Farrier preferred to take a more optimistic approach. "The good thing about it is none of them are season-ending injuries," he said. "They're hamstrings, they're quads and groins and sore shoulders. They're just things that we would prefer to be preventive now and not let it get out of control."
**Farrier elected to move morning practices from 8 a.m. to 6 a.m. for two reasons. One was to avoid heat-related illnesses more prevalent later in the day. The second was an increase in production from the players in the cooler (relatively speaking) temperatures. The change in the schedule means players have to choose between sleep and free time after meetings end around 9:30 p.m., according to junior defensive tackle Jai Franklin. "We go back to our rooms and maybe get in one game of NBA 2K or Madden and then we'll just go to sleep around 11 o'clock or 11:30," he said. "So usually all the guys are getting a good amount of sleep. Not as much as we would want, but we're getting a good amount."
**The defense had the more consistent showing Wednesday. In addition to Revell's interception, freshman linebacker Rico Kennedy and redshirt sophomore linebacker Jordan Cry registered what would have been sacks, and sophomore outside linebacker Malachi Washington swatted down an Andrews pass while rushing off the left edge of the offense. Kennedy also had enough of redshirt senior running back Lamont Brown III's jersey behind the line of scrimmage to record what would have been a loss of yardage on a running play.