Mason Petrino finished last season as Idaho’s starting quarterback, and presumably is the incumbent heading into this fall.

However, Vandals coach Paul Petrino, Mason’s dad, has continually made it a stated goal to have all three quarterbacks — Mason Petrino, a senior; Colton Richardson, a junior, and Nikhil Nayar, a redshirt freshman — ready to go when the 2019 season begins Aug. 31 at Penn State.

“They’ll all take equal reps ... it’ll be that way throughout the spring,” Paul Petrino said Monday, after the first of the Vandals’ 15 spring football practices, as part of interviews released by the athletic department. “I think it’ll show itself (who the No. 1 QB is), but most importantly, we’ve got to get them all ready to play. Most the Big Sky teams last year had to play with more than one quarterback.”

Mason Petrino started the final 10 games last year for Idaho, which finished 4-7. He completed 199 of 333 passes (59.8 percent) for 1,933 yards and 15 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He also ran for 245 yards — third on the team — and three TDs.

Impressive numbers considering he’s been affected by a shoulder injury the past two seasons. Petrino said Monday his shoulder is the strongest it’s been since two years ago in fall camp, when he originally hurt it, and it showed on his throws Monday.

“My shoulder’s getting more healthier,” he said. “Just the whole offseaon of getting stronger and putting on weight, and rehabbing the heck out of it. My shoulder and my wrist have gotten stronger.”

Last year, most of his throws were short passes. This year, he’s hoping a stronger shoulder will lead to more throws to the “second level” and “third level” of the defense.

Richardson, from Lewiston High, started the season opener at Fresno State but only appeared in five more games after that, due to a combination of injury and concussion. He threw for 434 yards and five TDs last year, completing 30 of 58 passes. He was intercepted four times.

He missed the final three games due to injury.

“I always have a chip on my shoulder,” Richardson said. “You can’t not have a chip on your shoulder playing quarterback. You’ve got to go into every season wanting to prove more people wrong.

“I’m hoping to be injury free ... I am right now. Last year was kinda bad, with concussions and my wrist, and hopefully I can stay healthy.”

As a freshman Richardson appeared in the last two games, starting one.

“Right now I’ve got to lose weight, and make myself faster,” said Richardson, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 254 pounds. “I can get out of sacks and tackles, that’s not a problem. I’ve got to extend those plays and throw downfield, or be able to run the ball. It’ll help my team if I’m able to do that.”

Nayar saw action last year for a few plays in the season finale at Florida, completing one pass for 3 yards. Due a new NCAA rule enacted last year for players who see action in four or fewer games in a season, he can still count that as a redshirt season.

“Right now I just know the playbook a whole lot better, and it brings a lot more confidence to my game,” Nayar said. “Early last year, I was just trying to figure out defenses, and now I know all the defenses, I can make checks. It’s going to help exponentially.

“Mason knows the playbook better than anyone on the team. That’s what I need to be able to do. As a quarterback, everything revolves around us. Once I master that playbook, than everything is going to be easy. And Colton just has a huge arm, and is a great pocket passer.

“I love throwing the ball deep, like Colton. I like running around a little bit, like Mason.”

NOTES: Paul Petrino said Noah Gunn, a freshman from Coeur d’Alene High who transferred from Air Force Academy Prep, is getting reps at the “quick” tackle spot — on the other side from the tight end. ... Christian Elliss, who played middle linebacker last season, is getting reps at outside linebacker this spring. “That’s where the head coach is hoping he’ll end up,” Paul Petrino said.

After a year in the Big Sky Conference, the Vandal players said they have a better feel for their new league, after Idaho spent the previous four years in the Sun Belt. “We’re not coming off the Sun Belt thinking hopefully we’re going to be at the top,” Richardson said. “We now know what (level) we have to play at every single game. Sun Belt, I think they’ve got better players, but the Big Sky, the dudes just work harder ... all those tough Montana boys ... ”

What about tough Idaho boys?

“We’ve got to have a little big of swag,” Richardson said, “but at the same time, be the tough guys, and not back down from anyone.”

“We just didn’t execute very well last year; there’s no other way to say it,” Mason Petrino said. But this year, the Vandals have “probably the best O-line since the the bowl year (in 2016),” he said.