A Quick Lookahead For Nevada Football Following Spring Camp

(Credit: Nevada Athletics)

Nevada football capped off its spring camp with its annual spring scrimmage last Friday, which this year was held at Churchill County High School in Fallon. Now that spring practice has come and gone, let’s look at a few quick notes from that and what to look for heading into summer.

QB competition still in its peak

It’ll be another year of intense competition in the QB room between three players. Carter Jones and AJ Bianco return for the Silver and Blue, while UCLA transfer Luke Duncan is right in the middle. Prior to spring camp starting, head coach Jeff Choate said the QB depth chart would start how it ended last year, with Jones atop and Bianco right behind him.

Jones, now in his sophomore season, didn’t participate in the Fallon scrimmage due to a minor elbow injury in a previous practice. So, it was Bianco vs. Duncan, with the veteran Bianco collecting the win in the 17-0 Silver victory over Blue.

On paper, things didn’t look good for Duncan’s case. He was picked off three times and struggled with some red-zone reads, failing to get his side on the scoreboard. All three interceptions were tipped passes that just fell into the hands of defenders, and Duncan still had some good offensive reads, including clean passes to Jaceon Doss and Kolan Babalola.

Bianco was making strides downfield, which included a deep pass to transfer Donnie Cheers. Bianco found Cheers two more times after that and kept it clean in the turnover department.

Similar to last year, the QB1 spot will be a big question mark until the season gets closer. Even then, it’s hard to see if they’ll truly be a “QB1” after Choate committed to only one quarterback last year but turned to a carousel toward the end of the season.

Young defense making plays

It’s felt like the Pack’s defense has kept them in games over the past few seasons, and a young defensive unit showed great promise through spring. We mentioned the three interceptions made in that spring scrimmage, one that was nearly returned for a score.

While Bianco didn’t turn the ball over himself, he wasn’t left comfortable in the pocket. Redshirt freshman edge Kam Brown got to the veteran QB twice for sacks, while senior linebacker Jeremy Naborne-Owens collected a sack on Duncan.

DB Josh Scott had himself a clean pass breakup from a Duncan pass up the middle. These players were from both the Silver and Blue sides, but a shutout obviously gives the defensive side its flowers.

Running back room showing promise

Nevada hasn’t had a 1,000 yard rusher since 2016, and while that doesn’t mean the Pack haven’t had talented RB rooms since then, finding a consistent one has been a challenge.

The past few years have seen a boost in the rush department thanks to QBs such as Brendon Lewis and Chubba Purdy. Nevada’s lead running back last year, Caleb Ramseur, has graduated, so now guys such as Herschel Turner have more room to break.

Turner started that off strong in the scrimmage with a huge early run, pushing off a few defenders before getting pushed out of bounds. Transfer Janerious Jackson had himself a game as well with two red zone touchdowns, which would go on to be the only touchdowns scored in the spring scrimmage.

Nevada doesn’t have that strong dual-threat QB option as it did with Purdy and Lewis, so the running back room should get much more involved (especially if Jones or Duncan is the starting QB).

The Wolf Pack will continue to practice throughout the summer before the season begins on September 5 against Western Kentucky at home.