Without a set quarterback, head coach Bill Maskill said he plans to play the three candidates for the position at the Sept. 13, season opener against Missouri Science and Technology at Memorial Stadium.

“There’s so many different things and all three quarterbacks are different,” Maskill said.

Maskill said each player has unique qualities varying from a good arm, athleticism, to experience.

“We’re looking for someone that’s going to make plays,” Maskill said. “We’re looking for leadership, moving the ball and limited mistakes.”

The quarterback is a key position in football, but isn’t much use without the ability to connect with the rest of the team Maskill said.

“We want our players to get better individually,” he said. “When they get better individually then they get better as a team.”

Jake Glover, senior in accounting and returning quarterback who started nine games last season, said he is ready for this season to start so that they aren’t just playing against their teammates. Glover said he feels a little bit more camaraderie this season as he is working mainly on his leadership.

“I’m just trying to set a good example for the guys everyday and show the younger guys how to work,” he said.

Sophomore in kinesiology and red-shirt freshman Hagen Hutchinson said he is working on adjusting to college ball as this Saturday will be his first collegiate football game.

“I’m working on learning the system a little bit better, I’m still a little young and I haven’t played in a college football game before,” Hutchinson said. “You have to put in the work out here on the practice field then you have to preform like that in the game.”

Quade Coward, sophomore in exercise physiology, also works on adjusting to the new ways things are getting done this year and improving his own game.

“We’ve been running a lot of stuff differently than what we did last year and I need to get more sharp on what we’re running this year. We throw the ball more and we’re running a lot more fast pace offense,” Coward said. “Personally, I think that I need to make decisions more quickly and manage the game better.”

Glover, Hutchinson and Coward focus on winning each game, keeping in mind that Saturday is one step toward winning a championship.

“It’s the first step to get to the national championship and you can’t overlook anybody,” Coward said.

This season, the team is young, offering Maskill an additional coaching challenge.

“Right now we’re just making youthful mistakes,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of young players. Maybe they’ve been here for three or four years but they haven’t played a lot,” Maskill said. “One week you might be playing more with a tight end and the next week not a tight end.”

Maskill said he plays different defensive backs each week as well. He said it’s possible that one week he might be playing with five defensive backs and then the next week he might be playing with four.

“It all depends on who’s playing and whom you’re going against,” he said.

Maskill explains that it is all a part of a process, and that there is not one specific strategy he can use but to take it one day at a time.

“I’m concerned about today, today,” he said. “When we get to tomorrow we’ll try to worry about tomorrow.”