Derek Mason, MTSU football starts spring practice in good shape at QB

Middle Tennessee State football coach Derek Mason entered spring practice on April 7 with the same luxury he enjoyed the previous two years.

He has a firm grasp of who will be his starting quarterback entering the 2026 season.

Mason and the Blue Raiders entered spring practice the past two seasons with Nick Vattiato having a grip on the quarterback position.

This season redshirt sophomore Roman Gagliano is the front-runner for the position, and he brings experience to the role.

"Roman is the ultimate competitor," Mason said. "His energy is infectious. He smiles, they smile. He competes, they compete. We found a quarterback in Roman that I really believe embodies what I'm looking for in terms of physical, tough and intelligent. He loves to play the game and he's tough minded.

"And he's super intelligent when it comes to the game of football. He knows how to take care of it. Right now I feel really good about where Roman is, but the quarterback room is pretty competitive right now."

Between eligibility and the transfer portal, MTSU will have a lot of position battles that begin this spring.

Among the starters the Blue Raiders lost to the portal were running back Jekail Middlebrook, safety John Howse IV, wide receiver Nahzae Cox, tight end Hunter Tipton and offensive lineman Mateo Guevara.

MTSU football coach Derek Mason talks to players following the team's spring practice on April 7.

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"Everything is wide open," Mason said. "We don't have depth charts, we have position charts. The importance of that is, right now everybody matters. Everybody has an opportunity to sort of show who they are. You get 10 opportunities in pads to show me what we're looking at going into summer. That really sets the table on how we get into fall."

MTSU QB Roman Gagliano made a splash at end of 2025 season

The 6-foot-3, 222-pound quarterback enters the spring with game experience, having stepped into the starting role during MTSU's final three games of 2025 after Vattiato went down with an injury. He gave a spark to the Blue Raiders in what was an otherwise dismal season, winning the team's final two games.

"It was definitely awesome getting back out here with the guys," Gagliano said. "The way we ended last year on a high note was definitely a blast. Last year ended the right way, and I think we kind of flushed all the negative from last year. We're really just focused on rebuilding now with what we've got going."

Gagliano threw for 383 yards (most ever for a Blue Raider freshman) and rushed for 88 yards in his first start at Western Kentucky, a 42-26 loss. He then passed for 268 yards and 260 yards, respectively, in season-closing wins over Sam Houston and New Mexico State.

But he knows the starting job won't simply be given to him.

"At the end of the day, my job is going out here to compete," Gagliano said. "Every snap, every play I get. Us as a team have a lot to prove coming into this year ... 3-9 in back-to-back years, obviously we don't want that. I'm going to make sure to do everything I can that we won't have that. I don't think the standard has changed. Every day it's compete and everything is earned.

"Just continue to work on my leadership, to get the new guys to kind of buy in what we have here and to trust me to do my job so they can ultimately go do theirs. Just from a nitpick accuracy standpoint. Six inches there, six inches there. That's what gets you to the next level and wins you ballgames. So I think it's just the little things for me."

Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at cjoyce@dnj.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Derek Mason, MTSU football has experience returning at quarterback