Starting fresh and starting fast. 

The Colorado Mesa University football team is right in the swing of spring football and there are plenty of stories within the program that have will continue to develop going into the fall. 

The Mavericks finished 2018 with less than nine wins for the first time since 2014. After going 7-4 and missing out on the NCAA Division II Playoffs, Head Coach Russ Martin and his team had to hit the reset button and are going to have some different faces leading the offense this year.

Eystin Salum graduated this last year after becoming the CMU record holder for most career passing yards. The Denver native is looking to continue his football career at the professional level after passing for 5,672  career yards and rushed for 2,374. The most out of any CMU quarterback. 

From the start of spring ball this year, the biggest question is who will replace Salum? There are three quarterbacks Martin and his staff are looking at and have to compete for that starting spot: Rope Ruel, Aaron Howard and Hayden Bollinger. Ruel has the most experience out of the three. 

The senior served as the primary backup to Salum last year played in a total of six games and threw for 414 yards, 2 TD and 2 INT. 

“He’s been having a very solid spring,” Martin said. “Rope really does have a very strong arm and a great understanding of our system.”

Ruel has been with the program for three years but now has a legitimate chance to become “the guy” for the Mavericks. CMU will look to utilize pocket passing compared to the split play call used with Salum for the last two seasons; therefore, Ruel should excel in that style of play.  

Howard has the second most experience on the field for CMU. The sophomore played in five in 2018 and passed for over 200 combined yards while throwing two touchdowns and rushing for another. 

Howard does provide the dual-threat option in case the Mavericks want to have that option but has shown to sling it if he has to. 

“He’s got good things that are going on the field, the checks that need to be made,” Martin said.

The third and final option for the position is Hayden Bollinger. He has redshirted the last couple of seasons but has been showing constant growth to make the quarterback battle an interesting one to watch.

“Hayden was in the same recruiting class as Aaron and those two guys have really been performing well,” Martin said. “Hayden’s probably had a couple of more mistakes on a couple of situations but he’s also made some great plays.” 

Bollinger is a two-time All-Northwest Division Second Team Selection from his high school days and has yet to show what he can do at the college level. All three quarterbacks have been getting quality reps with the limited number of practices CMU is allowed to issue, however, a decision on who will get the start come September will not be made this spring. 

“I’m not gonna guarantee I’m gonna name a starter coming out of the spring,” Martin said. “They know they gotta compete and they gotta compete well this spring, they gotta compete throughout the summer and they gotta come in ready to play. But, the one thing I will say is I think all three of those guys are capable of winning a championship.”

The difference in the style of quarterback play will look different this year due to the change in position. The pure reads that were made by Salum in the option-style run plays will be called less and the Mavericks will have to limit their throws made outside the pocket. Martin is also looking to utilize his tight ends more this year than they have in the past.

As we look at it there are still a lot of answers to be addressed, a lot of questions to be addressed…We’ll find out as we get going,” Martin said. 

The CMU Spring Game will be held on April 27th and currently has a start time of 10 a.m. Fans are welcome to attend any of the scrimmages that take place on the CMU football practice field.