JONESBORO — Chad Voytik will get the first two series at quarterback in Arkansas State’s season opener on Friday night, and Justice Hansen will get the third.
After that, coaches said Monday, is still up in the air as ASU prepares to play Toledo on Friday night at Centennial Bank Stadium.
“They both deserve to play,” offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said Monday. “We’re excited about the possibility of having two really good quarterbacks, and that’s just what we feel right now is the best for us as an offense and as a team moving forward.”
Voytik, a graduate transfer from Pittsburgh, and Hansen, a sophomore from Butler County Community College, have competed for the starting job since the beginning of camp. After four weeks and two major scrimmages, both of which Hansen started, coaches decided that the separation between the two is so slim that both deserve snaps Friday.
It’s a possibility head coach Blake Anderson and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner didn’t consider when camp began but eventually settled on after the two played so closely during the two scrimmages.
Both Anderson and Faulkner have said the two quarterbacks provide the same strengths — capable arm with an ability to run — and shown positive decision-making, which has made it hard to decide between the two.
“We can run the exact same system and they’re both comfortable with it, and they both protect the football,” Anderson said. “At that point it’s let them both get reps, let's see how they respond to live football, and then we’ll just keep monitoring the situation.”
A release of the first depth chart Monday revealed few surprises:
• Senior Chris Humes, who has played safety his entire career, will make his first career start at cornerback Friday. Humes played some cornerback during spring practice and fall camp, and defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen said Monday that he partly has settled there based on the progress of two other players competing for the job. Nehemiah Wagner and Brandon Byner, both listed as No. 2 on the depth chart, have competed for the job all camp.
"We weren't extremely happy with the progression of our guys at the corner position," Cauthen said. "We can better ourselves at corner by putting Chris out there."
• Junior Caleb Caston is listed ahead of junior Ja’Von Rolland-Jones at defensive end. Rolland-Jones led the Sun Belt Conference with 8 1/2 sacks last season.
"Ja'Von will be out there," Cauthen said. "But Caleb has given us the msot consistency throughout camp of doing what we asked him to do and play within our defense."
• Nickelback Trent Ellis-Brewer and free safety B.J. Edmonds are the only two true freshmen listed on the depth chart, but Cauthen said cornerback Jeremy Smith will also play.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.