Saturday’s scrimmage at UC Davis will be the final spring audition for the players and could end with the naming of a starting quarterback. Coach Tim Plough would prefer to choose who will direct the offense before the players go their separate ways than wait until the team reconvenes in July and make a hasty decision.
Deciding whether senior Grant Harper or redshirt freshman Caden Pinnick will be in the driver’s seat could very well determine if the Aggies have a smooth ride in 2025. Three-year starter Miles Hastings steered the offense in 2024 and drove UC Davis to its first 11-win season in 18 years as a Division I team.
UC Davis placed second in the Big Sky Conference at 7-1 and finished 11-3 overall after losing 35-21 at South Dakota in the FCS quarterfinals. The Aggies advanced to the playoffs for the third time since climbing to Division I in 2007 and received their highest playoff seeding at No. 5. South Dakota was No. 4.
Hastings was sensational as a senior, setting school records for passing yards (4,493) and touchdown passes (38) in a season. His career ended in disaster, however, when he threw five interceptions in 52 pass attempts against South Dakota to match his total in his previous 421 attempts over 11 games.
Speaking of five, that is how many passes Harper completed in six attempts last season. One went for a touchdown against Northern Colorado to give UC Davis a 52-0 lead in a 59-7 rout. Harper played the entire fourth quarter against Cal Poly, throwing for 39 yards and rushing for 19 in a 56-10 victory.
Harper is the heir apparent based on time served, but having a redshirt freshman give him a run for the job raises questions whether Plough believes the left-hander is the right fit behind center. Harper has yet to pull away from Pinnick in a spirited battle that Plough described last week as “back and forth.”
“If It’s too close to call at this point, then we’ll push it into fall camp if we need to,” Plough added. “But I would love for someone to grab it. I would love to name (a starter) at the end of spring if we feel comfortable with that. It’s important to have that done in the offseason from a leadership standpoint.”
Plough will have the final say in the battle as head coach and play caller, but he will seek input from his assistants as well as the players. “Normally the team chooses a quarterback,” said Plough, who keeps an eye on how the offensive players respond to Harper and Pinnick when they share snaps in practice.
Pinnick has the potential to give UC Davis what Montana State had in winning the Big Sky last season. Tommy Mellott ran for 1,050 yards and 15 touchdowns in addition to throwing for 2,759 yards and 31 scores. He was the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year and also won the FCS Walter Payton Award as the best FCS offensive player.
Two weeks of spring practices have given Pinnick an opportunity to show what he can do with his legs. The one concern is he might be too eager to run instead of allowing a pass play to develop. He ran for 489 yards, threw for 2,946 and accounted for 39 touchdowns as a senior at Del Oro High in 2023.
The scrimmage Saturday will begin at 4 p.m. at UC Davis Health Stadium and is free for all ages. The coaches and players will hold a youth clinic after the game as well as be available for autographs.
