Redshirt freshman Dalton Stokes has watched from the sidelines for long enough.
The Valparaiso quarterback looked on for all of last season, with starter Ben Lehman, backup Scott Staal and third-stringer Ryan Clarke all in front of him on the depth chart.
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Stokes sat out his freshman season. An untimely elbow injury during preseason camp caused him to fall behind, and he was never able to recover.
Until now.
As preparations for the 2015 season continue, Stokes has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed the graduated Lehman under center.
“You can sometimes get mopey when you’re not playing,” Stokes said. “I learned in the middle of the season to take it for what it is, work your butt off and compete.”
Stokes, who is from Florida, took first-team reps during preseason practices last week. Staal and Clarke are the other top quarterback candidates, with freshmen Conner Smith and Jake Paliga also seeing time.
Paliga, an Andrean graduate, is unlikely to be in the starting mix this season.
“He’s shown he can make all the throws, and he’s got great feet,” Valparaiso coach Dave Cecchini said of Paliga. “He’s got a chance to be a very good quarterback. With the complexity of our offense right now, more likely than not it will be spring ball when he’s going to push for playing time.”
According to Cecchini, all five quarterbacks underperformed in the team’s first intrasquad scrimmage. Inexperienced receivers may have played a role, as Frank Catrine and Ryan Shea both sat out, and freshmen accounted for all but one of the team’s receptions.
Although Stokes is currently the front-runner to start, Cecchini has not ruled out playing multiple quarterbacks in the season opener on Sept. 3 at Eastern Kentucky. The Crusaders are in the process of narrowing down the quarterback competition from five to two by the end of preseason camp.
Hall returns from ankle injury: Brandon Hall has returned to the practice field after missing the spring season due to a high ankle sprain.
The injury, which lingered throughout the 2014 season, caused Hall to undergo offseason surgery. He saw live action in last week’s practices for the first time during camp.
Hall, the team’s leading returning rusher, averaged 71.2 yards as a junior last year.
“He’s got some rust to shake off,” Cecchini said. “It’s about making that mental adjustment to trust that ankle to be able to cut like he did prior to the injury. From a cardiovascular standpoint, it’s about making sure that he’s in football shape.”
New faces plentiful for Crusaders: Half of Valparaiso’s roster is made up of true freshmen, creating a learning curve in preseason practices.
“You have a lot of guys jumping offside, not knowing what formation to line up in, forgetting who they are blocking,” Cecchini said. “Practice on a whole has gone a little bit slower because of the number of freshmen that have been out there. It’s a great freshmen class, but they’re all freshmen. That’s the problem.”
Since much of the team’s youth comes on the offensive side of the ball, added pressure falls on an experienced defense.
“We’re going to be the pillars to our success,” senior linebacker Alex Green said. “This defense is going to have to step up and make some plays.”
Brandon Vickrey is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.