Bushnell to start again at QB for Vandals
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 years, 2 months AGO
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | November 7, 2012 7:00 PM
Logan Bushnell will start at quarterback for the second straight week for Idaho on Saturday, when the Vandals (1-8) travel to BYU (5-4).
Interim Idaho coach Jason Gesser said Bushnell, a senior, would get 60 to 65 percent of the reps in practice, and junior Taylor Davis would get the rest of the reps.
Last week, they split reps in practice. Bushnell played most of the time in the 42-13 loss to San Jose State, and Davis got in for a couple of series in the second quarter. Gesser said Davis would again play a few series in the first half this week.
Bushnell, who also started the season opener vs. Eastern Washington, completed 14 of 29 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown, with one interception. Davis was 3 of 8 for 11 yards.
"At the end of the day, he just needs more game-time reps," Gesser said of Bushnell, who had not started a game in college until this season. "Even though he is a senior, he hasn't had those game-time reps. There were about 6 or 7 plays (against San Jose State), if he gets the ball out and sees things a split second sooner, we score 28 to 32 points, and it's a completely different ballgame. And he knows it."
Gesser on the field: As quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, Gesser was in the press box for the games, calling plays. As head coach now, he was down on the field Saturday.
He said he could see the overall picture better upstairs, but down on the field he could spot little intracacies he couldn’t see upstairs, such as how a cornerback is shading a receiver, etc.
“To be honest, I felt way more comfortable on the field calling plays on the field than I did in the box,” Gesser said. “I am able to talk to the players, I’m able to talk to the receivers, the linemen ... I can talk to the quarterback face to face.”
He said cornerbacks coach Torey Hunter moved upstairs, secretary/special teams coordinator Patrick Libey came downstairs. Offensive graduate assistant Kevin Small went upstairs and was Gesser’s “eyes” upstairs.
Farquhar up for Groza award: Idaho senior kicker Trey Farquhar is one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which honors college football’s best kicker.
Farquhar is 12 of 15 on field goals, 15 of 15 on PATs this year. He kicked a career-high four field goals earlier this season vs. New Mexico State.
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