Who’s Hornets’ starting QB?

Rock, paper, scissors.

That’s how Chelsea coach Chris Elmore picked his starting quarterback for the spring game. And even as August rolled around, the Hornets’ second-year coach still wasn’t sure who would get the opening call on the first Friday night of the season. 

Junior Chase Wilson and sophomore Matt Marquet are in a dead heat and though the coach said he’s not inclined to play two quarterbacks, if one doesn’t separate from the other, he just might do that.

Wilson played some safety last season and Marquet was the JV quarterback. 

“I told them going into spring, ‘I don’t know who the best guy is, but we’re going to find out through spring and summer,” Elmore said. He gave them equal reps through the spring practice. 

“There really wasn’t a difference. We went into the spring game and I really thought I’d be able to make the decision,” Elmore said. “They have a little thing where if I don’t tell them who’s in for a drill [at QB], they’ll ‘rock, paper, scissors,’ for that. Got down to the spring game and it really didn’t matter to me who started the game, they’re so close, I said, ‘Look, guys, I can’t make a decision, y’all rock, paper, scissors.’ So they did it and everybody laughed.”

Elmore said he’s not a proponent of a two-quarterback system. The only reason he’s still considering it is because he doesn’t feel forced to make a choice. 

The two are similar style quarterbacks, and although that doesn’t provide a change-of-pace advantage with one who runs well and one who passes well, for play-calling Elmore said it means he can call the game the same way no matter which QB is in. He expects his quarterbacks will be running the ball a bit, making it even more important to have another one ready to go. 

Marquet may be the slightly better passer but for what Chelsea likes to do, Elmore said, Wilson is more than adequate in that department. And they both run well, he said.

“In the spring game, I never had to think about who was in the game when making a play call,” Elmore said. “Sometimes you get locked in as a play-caller wanting to call a play and then you can’t call that because the wrong guy’s in the game.” 

If nobody separates themselves, the Hornets will go into that first game with Briarwood Christian with Wilson and Marquet splitting time. “We’ll see how the game develops and somebody may get the hot hand and I’ll say in the third quarter, ‘Hey, Chase you’re the guy,’” Elmore said. “But both of them can run the ball very well, and I think we’re going to be running them a good bit. And that’s why I probably haven’t pressured myself to make a decision, because I think we’re going to need to have two guys to make it through the season.” 

Chelsea is blessed to have another quarterback coming up through the ranks with a lot of ability. “(Sophomore) Josh Gregg is just about as good as they are, he’s just not as fast as they are right now. But as far as the little stuff, managing the offense, he does it as good as they do,” the coach said.

“I think it’s a good situation that they competed and challenged each other because they know at this point it could be any of them. I’ve got confidence in any of them. We’re not going to hit the panic button because we haven’t named a starter. We’re going to let someone emerge and go from there.”

Whichever quarterback gets the call, he will have a good group of receivers to throw to. Elmore said it’s the “biggest, strongest, fastest group of wide receivers I’ve ever had the chance to coach. We think that will relate to not only to us being able to catch the ball well but to block on the perimeter, which is a huge part of our offense and they understand that and take pride in doing it.”

Chelsea will play a spring jamboree game at Mountain Brook on Aug. 22. The regular-season opener is at home against Briarwood Christian on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m.