Zack Oliver tortures himself every time he steps into his Chevy Tahoe.
As penance for committing five turnovers against Illinois in Northwestern’s final game last season, Oliver keeps a parking pass from the game on his dashboard.
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“It’s staring at me every day,” he said. “I got over the sting of it three or four days after, but the learning from it will never go away.”
Oliver’s advantage in the three-man battle to succeed quarterback Trevor Siemian is experience. It will be his fifth year in coordinator Mick McCall’s system, and he attempted 49 passes (completing 28) against Purdue and Illinois.
“Zack is an elder statesman — a little more chill,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said.
He’s competing with Matt Alviti, who played sparingly last season as a redshirt freshman — and had little to show for it. He completed two short passes and produced 1 net rushing yard in nine attempts.
“I’m disappointed in the way I performed,” the Maine South product said. “Now I’m moving forward.”
The only competitor with no scars is Clayton Thorson, who redshirted while running the scout team.
“He brings it all,” Oliver said of Thorson, a Wheaton North graduate. “He’s faster than me, his arm is probably stronger than Matt’s. After I’m gone, I’m sure he is going to make a big impact in this program.”
After I’m gone.
The three quarterbacks are friends, but this is a competition. It’s also Oliver’s last chance.
“He knows the playbook inside and out,” Thorson said. “And he can zing it. We call it the golden arm.”
It was Alviti who looked especially sharp Wednesday in NU’s first spring practice. He hit Austin Carr on a corner route and fired a precise deep ball to Andrew Scanlan on the next play.
“We’ve had great timing all winter,” Alviti said.
Most observers believe Thorson will win the job, but perhaps this will be a factor: Northwestern hosts Stanford in its opener, and the Cardinal had the nation’s sixth most efficient pass defense last season.
Fitzgerald said the three will split reps until one or two emerge. That could come during competitive drills in the spring or summer camp.
“Who can move the football, who can lead our offense to score touchdowns, who can lead our team,” Fitzgerald said of his criteria. “The glue that keeps it all together is who we think can do it consistently. If we can’t answer that or they’re close, we’ll keep it rolling. It will be fun to watch.”
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein