No clear winner in Ute QB derby

Utah's first scrimmage did little to settle the team's quarterback controversy. In fact, things may be more unsettled than ever.

Brian Johnson, Tommy Grady and Brett Ratliff each had impressive showings in Saturday's 101-play scrimmage on the McCarthey Practice Fields.

"I thought all three quarterbacks played fairly well," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "We can always play better, but the first three guys didn't do anything stupid. They did a decent job running the offense."

The trio combined to complete 18 of 28 passes for 294 yards and four touchdowns.

Johnson, who is working his way back from a serious knee injury, may have been the most impressive.

The junior completed his first four passes and wound up finding the mark on 6-of-8 attempts for 111 yards and a score. He finished with 43 yards rushing, including an impressive 20-yard scamper.

"I was really anxious for this opportunity to get out there. It's been a long time since I've been able to be in a live scrimmage," Johnson said. "It was good to get out there. I was really excited. I'm anxious to see the film and what I can work on to get better. I'm just looking forward to having a better week next week."

Overall, Johnson noted, he was pretty happy with his performance. He completed a 40-yard pass to Brent Casteel on his first throw and capped his initial drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Bradon Godfrey.

The strong showing may dispel thoughts that Johnson could use a redshirt year to completely heal his knee.

"It felt good. No setbacks. It was kind of hard splitting the reps and stuff. I got a little tight on the sidelines," he said. "Other than that I feel pretty good. I was just real anxious."

So much so, he wasn't thinking about his surgically repaired knee.

"You can't think about that kind of stuff because that's how you get hurt. I'm coming into camp just going all out," Johnson said. "If something happens to it, then something happens to it. You can't think about it. You have to get it out of your mind and worry about just playing football."

Especially, as it turns out, in what is shaping up as an extremely keen competition for the starting quarterback job. Whittingham said the coaching staff will study the films to see if the candidates separated themselves Saturday.