Seventeen days and 11 practices/scrimmages have passed since Virginia Tech opened spring ball on April 1. The guys competing for Tech’s backup quarterback job—redshirt freshmen Joseph “Ju-Ju” Clayton and Marcus Davis—believe they are different players now compared to then.

Clayton, a Hermitage High graduate, remembers that first day as “pretty awkward.“ He and Davis struggled with the basics, right down to pre-snap cadences. They clearly had a long way to go. And while neither might be capable, at this point, of leading the Hokies to win, both have made “tremendous improvement,“ said quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain.

After that first practice, Clayton and Davis returned to their dorm, where they practiced their cadences and reviewed their notes on plays and formations. Clayton was, and still is, ahead of Davis in understanding the nuances of the position—simply because he is more experienced, as I detailed in the notebook that I just posted in this space. But because they are friends—they plan on sharing an apartment this fall—Clayton was more than happy to sit with Davis and quiz him on cadences during the first part of their intro to acting classes, when the teacher lets students warm up by talking amongst themselves.

Davis, who moved from wide receiver after last season, does not mince words when talking about where he was on April 1. “I didn’t know anything,“ he said. “I knew routes because I played receiver. I knew maybe a couple drops. But footwork was bad. My reads were bad. I was just going out there, just trying to make plays. I really didn’t know how to make reads back then.“ He often threw to tight ends on check-downs that first day because he struggled so much with reads.

Davis said he still feels more comfortable making plays with his feet. That much was evident today, as he ran for a 62-yard touchdown. But he is steadier in the passing game. His main problem now, he said: getting confused before some plays when he has to send a teammate in motion. In these situations, he finds himself using a reminder technique. Just as he settles behind the center, he’ll whisper to himself the call he is about to shout.

“He’s just got to see things quicker,“ O’Cain said. “He’s got to get a little more on his throws. His throws are not quite crisp enough. His timing. All of those things have to improve before he’ll be ready to play. He’s just late with some throws. That’s part mental and it’s part physical. He doesn’t know exactly where to go. And he hasn’t done it enough to, when we call a certain protection and a certain route, know: I’m taking a five-step drop or a seven-step drop or a five-step without a hitch. He hasn’t done it enough for it to be automatic. You don’t think about it when the ball’s snapped. That’s something that’s got to be automatic.“

It’s not like Clayton was an expert on this stuff. He needed to make strides, too. The main ones he said he has made, he said: reading coverages, recognizing blitzes, spotting his receivers on cornerback and safety blitzes.

As I mentioned in that notebook, the coaches wanted to select a backup by tomorrow. That might not happen, but regardless of who ends up getting the job, head coach Frank Beamer was encouraged by today’s scrimmage. “What I see is hope that we’re gonna have a pretty good backup before it’s all over,“ he said.

And that’s the operative phrase—“before it’s all over.“ Because the coaches aren’t expecting either of these guys to be All-Americans right now. “You don’t have to have him coming out of spring practice ready to play, but you need to have a No. 2 guy that you feel good about,“ O’Cain said. “And then you’ve got three weeks in August to get him ready to play.“

O’Cain said he has seen “very little separation” between Clayton and Davis this spring. Clayton is more experienced and, thus, better in the passing game. Davis’s advantage? “I think Marcus is a more – I don’t like to use this word, but I’m gonna use it – talented athlete,“ O"Cain said, rattling off the players’ credentials: Davis runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, Clayton in 4.85; Davis is listed at 6-4 and 231 pounds, Clayton at 6 feet, 215 pounds.

“But that’s not always the key,“ O’Cain said. “You saw Ju-Ju pull it down out there today and make two or three nice runs [including a 22-yarder]. Kind of looked like slow motion out there, but they weren’t tackling him. He was making people miss.

“Obviously, Marcus is a very talented athlete. Now we’ve got to weigh: Does he throw the ball consistently and well enough now to be the No. 2 guy? Obviously, he can do things in the running game well enough. Now, does he have the knowledge and the wherewithal in the passing game to be that No. 2 guy? And can he? I think that’s the other thing that you’re trying to do—you’re trying to project. And that’s tough.

“It’s not based on one day. It’s based on 11 days. The hardest thing that we have to do is: Where can he be midway through the season? If you took it on what both of them have done today, I know what I would do. I’m not saying. But where will it be three weeks from now? Where can it be two months from now?“

Redshirt freshmen Joseph “Ju-Ju” Clayton and Marcus Davis have helped each other while competing to become Tyrod Taylor’s understudy.