Bronco fans finally got the press conference that we had been waiting eight months for and, well, it was kind of anticlimactic. Joe Southwick's performance in the fall scrimmage, relative to the performances of the other quarterbacks, made his coronation as starting quarterback essentially a done deal, and so it was. Chris Petersen announced Southwick as the starter. Grant Hedrick will be the backup. Nick Patti will redshirt. Jimmy Laughrea is a tight end (just kidding, for now).
Here is the full audio from Coach Pete's press conference:
Among the other interesting tidbits from Chris Petersen's presser was the decision on who will redshirt and who won't. Here is a list of true freshman who will see the field right away:
- TE Hayden Plinke (a grayshirt last year)
- LB Tyler Gray (a grayshirt last year at Hawaii)
- WR/KR Shane Williams-Rhodes
- RB Jack Fields
Safety Chancellor James would be the next man up, so his redshirt remains on the bubble. Running back Devan Demas should redshirt unless bad things happen to the Bronco backfield.
And in a feature I will get way too much in depth into later this week, the depth chart made its debut. The biggest surprise (and one that we all saw coming with the fall scrimmage) is that Faraji Wright is a second-teamer and Jake Broyles is a first-team tackle. Of course, this will mean very little when the Broncos rotate eight to ten offensive linemen against Michigan State.