Football coach Pat Hill will do something Saturday that he said he hasn't done since his first year at Fresno State: allow his quarterbacks to get hit in a scrimmage.
No quarterback on the roster has started a college game so Hill wants to see how they react when a lineman breathing down their neck actually has the green light to sock them.
"There are so many young offensive linemen [the quarterbacks] are going to have to scramble a little bit and that's good because you see what they do under pressure," Hill said.
Saturday's scrimmage at noon inside Bulldog Stadium will be one of the first live tests for many young linemen, but the leader of the group, senior center Joe Bernardi, said they will rise to the occasion in face of pressure and prepare for the scrimmage as if it's a game.
"If they're going to be able to hit the quarterback, we better block," Bernardi said.
It's a worrisome situation for Hill, but he says he's anxious about injuries during every practice. After all, players have been hurt before without contact. He said other college programs do the same with quarterbacks who haven't had much experience and points to the pro game as well, as the quarterbacks are vulnerable in preseason games there, if only for a few snaps.
"They know they're going to be live and they're excited about it," Hill said of his quarterbacks. "It's different when you're sitting back in the pocket and you have time."
Hill, who said the spring has been dedicated to experimentation, said he will continue to inject option plays into the offense. Ebahn Feathers' abilities at quarterback seem the main reasons for the package's existence in the offense -- "He does things we've never been able to do before," Hill said -- but Hill added that both Ryan Colburn and Derek Carr, the leading candidates to start this fall, can run it as well. All quarterbacks have practiced option plays this spring.
"We have a whole new dimension," Hill said. "We're experimenting with some new things and and it has opened up some new areas for us and it's going to be exciting."
Hill expects to run 80-100 plays today.
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