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It's a hard feeling for Brandon Cox to shake. Ever since he's been at Utah, the quarterback room always seemed so … full. And he was often — thanks injury or lack of seniority — lingering behind most of the players in there.
These days, Utah's quarterback room has three scholarship players, and of them all, Cox is the only one that was there before January. But while he's one of the contenders to be Utah's starting quarterback this fall, the competition isn't any less fierce.
"It's kind of weird, because it feels empty," Cox said. "But actually it's still kind of crowded."
As the Utes took the field at their indoor facility for the first practice of spring, there was a change under center in more ways than one.
For one, the face will be new: Cox, junior college transfer Troy Williams and Florida early enrollee Tyler Huntley are essentially splitting snaps in bids to become Utah's next quarterback.
There's also the fact that Utah is taking snaps under center, a new wrinkle for the otherwise shotgun/pistol team of the spread offense school. The need for traditional-style snaps comes from Utah's desire for better short-yardage runs and to get more out of play action calls. While many of the blocking schemes haven't changed, co-offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said, there's likely to be more pro style elements to Utah's offense this year — maybe as much as a quarter to a third of snaps if Utah can do it well.
"We'll get through it: I thought for first day, it was pretty good," Roderick said. "It's not like we're going to be under center all the time. We just wanted to add that element to our offense."
Coming off its first 10-win season in the Pac-12 era, the Utes' missing link is a passing game. The team ranked 11th in the Pac-12 last year with 180 yards through the air per game, which was three fewer yards than its running attack averaged.
Out of the three passers competing this spring, Utah hopes to have its man. There's Cox, who is most familiar with the offense and has been limited mostly by his own health. There's Williams, a one-time top-graded prep star who transferred out of Washington and put up big numbers in junior college. Somewhat of a dark horse in the competition, Huntley was the Gatorade player of the year in Florida last year.
All three had their moments on Tuesday: Williams might've had the most zip on his passes, but both Cox and Huntley had plays to show their touch on deep balls in a minute-long span. Cox hit Cory Butler-Byrd for a touchdown down the middle of the field, while Huntley had former Hallandale High teammate Demari Simpkins on the left sideline for a 40-yard score.
But showing some flash on Day 1 isn't the criterion for winning the job. The Utah coaching staff has confidence in each — all three are pass-first players — but will be looking for consistency and charisma throughout the spring and hopefully into the fall.
Said Roderick: "I'd love to see a hard-fought battle go on for a little bit and let us learn who these guys really are."
In the meantime, they're figuring how to relate to one another. Williams said it's fairly easy: He and Cox are both from Southern California and have known each other for a long time, and Huntley is also a transplant from a much warmer state.
Most would assume a junior college quarterback would transfer in with the expectation to win the job. Williams said he doesn't necessarily see it that way.
"I've gotta prove myself no matter what anybody on the outside thinks," Williams said. "I have to prove to everybody what I can do, and show everybody that I'm ready to go."
Cox said the quarterbacks are easygoing in their meetings, and in the end, they have all have the same goal.
"With quarterbacks, it's not really competing with each other as much as competing with the defense," Cox said. "We like to talk and learn from each other as much as possible. We can't all be on the field at the same time."
This spring, they'll each get a shot at it.
Twitter: @kylegoon Utah's quarterback candidates
Three scholarship quarterbacks are vying to take the starting job this spring. All three have minimal DI credentials, but have put up big numbers at the high school or junior college levels:
Brandon Cox, jr., 6-foot-2 • Three career completions for 17 yards, one rushing TD at Utah; threw for 2,697 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior at Pasadena High School (Calif.).
Troy Williams, jr., 6-foot-2 • One start at Washington, 18 for 26 with 139 yards and two INTs; threw for 2,750 yards and 31 TDs at Santa Monica College in 2015; rated No. 1 dual-threat QB by Rivals out of Narbonne High School (Calif.).
Tyler Huntley, fr., 6-foot-1 • threw for 3,636 yards and 42 touchdowns as a senior at Hallandale High School (Fla.); 2015 Gatorade player of the year; threw for 9,053 yards and 106 TDs in HS career.