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If Saturday’s practice is any indication, Cole Gautsche has found his favorite target.
The sophomore signal caller completed several long passes to sophomore wide receiver Marquis Bundy, including a couple of 50-yard completions, during the team’s scrimmage. In one play, Bundy caught the ball between two defenders down the sideline then split them both for a touchdown.
Bundy said he and Gautsche are good friends on and off the field and have been able to develop chemistry through hours of repetition.
“Over the summer we threw that ball a lot. Every day we threw the ball,” Bundy said. “Entering fall camp we just did a lot of routes and even when the coaches weren’t looking we were doing more routes.”
This is Bundy’s first year starting at receiver after playing mostly on special teams last season. Head coach Bob Davie said he had to give Bundy some tough love in order to tap into the athletic receiver’s full potential.
“He’s not the most mature guy, he let things bother him, but he cares — that’s really important to him,” Davie said. “He’s a guy who’s worked his tail off and you can see that.”
Davie said the team’s focus was the most impressive thing he observed in Saturday’s scrimmage.
“Overall, I thought the defense did some good things,” he said. “The offense can throw the ball a little bit better, but we’ll see on August 31.”
Davie said Gautsche has improved dramatically from where he was a year ago, but Davie wants to see how Gautsche and the team fair in an actual game.
“The proof is when you start playing for real,” Davie said. “Practice is practice and games are games. Cole is much improved on what I’ve seen in practice. There is still an unknown out there when there is somebody else in a difference colored jersey on defense.”
As for the defensive side of the ball, the Lobos held their own except for the occasional long play which was the Achilles’ heel of last year’s squad. Davie said he thought the defense played well despite those few big plays.
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“If you’ve watched us practice schematically we’re much farther ahead,” he said. “There’s not as near as much uncertainty as a year ago.”
Several players were held out of Saturday’s practice for precautionary reasons: junior cornerback SaQwan Edwards, freshman defensive back Jadon Boatright, redshirt defensive back Ryan Santos and senior running back Kasey Carrier.
For the scrimmage, Gautsche unofficially went 9 of 13 for 181 yards and three touchdowns along with five rushes for 14 yards.
Bundy unofficially had three catches for 134 yards and two scores.
Junior running back Crusoe Gongbay unofficially ran the ball nine times for 44 yards.
