ISU QB Kobe Tracy makes it 'pretty clear' that he was the right man for the job after all

In a conversation with Kobe Tracy after an Idaho State scrimmage last month, the question came up as to whether the Utah Tech transfer thought he had to play at a higher level than all of his competitors if he wanted to win the starting quarterback job.

“No, I mean, being a senior and stuff, I just feel like I just have to play my game,” Tracy said. “I’ve done it before, so I’ve just got to go compete and do what I do.”

It turns out that Tracy really did have to play at a higher level — and even that wasn’t good enough to win the starting job in the season opener against Oregon State last week. But Tracy didn’t let that stop him from outshining his other quarterback competitors against the Beavers, and finally wrapping up the QB1 title for the foreseeable future.

In his weekly press conference on Wednesday, Idaho State head coach Cody Hawkins acknowledged what most observers had already noted — that Tracy, the Highland High School graduate who threw for 5,800 yards in 26 games at Utah Tech — had outplayed Jordan Cooke, Hunter Hays and Jackson Sharman during preseason practice.

“Kobe was slightly ahead of JC (Cooke) in all the metrics in fall camp,” admitted Hawkins. “It was really close in camp, but we know when it’s close, the tie goes to the runner kind of thing. We told Kobe, ‘Hey, you outplayed him, you did everything you could of in fall camp, but you didn’t overthrow the Cuban government,’ like some people have been using those memes on social media.”

If you want to unscramble those Hawkins metaphors, I think what he was saying is that Tracy had to clearly outplay Cooke by a wide margin in order to unseat the incumbent starter. Throw in the fact that Tracy has only one year of eligibility left, while Cooke has two and Sharman four, and you can see why Hawkins might really have preferred one of his younger quarterbacks to rise to the top of the rotation.

But on Saturday, it was Tracy who hit three straight passes to Christian Fredrickson, including one for a touchdown, during a first-half scoring drive. It was Tracy who completed 64% of his 14 passes for 114 yards and no interceptions. It was Tracy who had the CW announcers wondering if he’d gotten hurt when he was replaced as part of Hawkins’ planned quarterback rotation.

“I think watching the game, it was pretty clear,” Hawkins said of Tracy’s dominance among the Bengal quarterbacks. “I don’t think it was close watching the game. Kobe had more poise in there. We knew he had more experience and it was going to be a feather in his cap, but it wasn’t just on paper. I think the guys could feel it — the guys on offense and defense. “

So as of this week, with Idaho State preparing for Division II Western Oregon on Saturday, the quarterback carousel is over. Tracy is getting the vast majority of snaps in practice. And even if ISU gets off to a big lead against the Wolves, don’t expect to see the backup quarterbacks getting a whole lot of snaps.

“We’re going with Kobe — that’s what it is,” said Hawkins, who even verbally toyed with the idea of redshirting Cooke this season to preserve his full two years of eligibility.

Players can participate in up to four games and still remain redshirt-eligible under NCAA rules.

“Last year, we told him (Cooke) that he was a young pup playing football and he’s still got a bright future ahead of him,” said Hawkins.

With the Bengals fully committed to Tracy for this season, Hawkins now has to figure out how to mollify all those other quarterbacks on his roster that aren’t going to be playing. Right now, that includes Cooke, Sharman, junior Keegan Thompson, and freshmen Brett Spencer and Davis Harsin. Spencer and Harsin will get work during individual drills and then retire to running the scout team during practice.

Meanwhile, Hawkins doesn’t have to worry about graduate student Hunter Hays, who is out of eligibility after this season, and for whom Hawkins has already developed a special package of plays for. Hays threw a touchdown in his only snap of the game on Saturday, and he will see the field in short yardage and goal line situations all year.

But what about keeping Cooke and Sharman, who were a combined 13-30 with two interceptions on Saturday, happy and engaged?

“You know Jackson Sharman and Hunter Hays, they’re all buddies with Kobe. They all just kind of walk around together,” said Hawkins. “It kind of fires Sharman up because he knows, ‘OK, I can learn from Kobe. He has a lot of experience throwing the football, maybe I’ll be ready when he departs.’ “

As far as Hawkins is concerned, there is still a role for all the quarterback contenders, then, and hopefully they’ll accept those roles and remain a part of what is an admittedly a crowded quarterback room with seven athletes. Is that too many quarterbacks to keep everybody engaged and involved?

“To me, you have too many quarterbacks when you’re giving too many quarterbacks reps,” said Hawkins. “That’s kind of what you saw in the Oregon State game. In the Oregon State game, you had too many quarterbacks.”

Tracy was not recruited by Rob Phenicie’s Idaho State staff after leading the Rams to a state championship and a 21-3 record before graduating in 2019. He threw 38 touchdowns and 23 interceptions while completing 55 percent of his passes at Utah Tech, where he is the school’s career passing leader.

“This is my hometown, where I’m from, so why not come back for one last year?” Tracy said last month when asked why he transferred to Idaho State.

Tracy’s performance on Saturday means his return to Pocatello will be more than just a cameo appearance.

Brad Bugger has been observing sports in southeastern Idaho since 1979 as a sports writer, broadcaster and fan. He can be reached at bpbugger@gmail.com