University of Toledo head coach Jason Candle named senior Mitch Guadagni the team’s starting quarterback ahead of Saturday’s season opener at Kentucky.
Guadagni was in a battle for the starting spot that lasted through fall camp with junior Eli Peters, redshirt freshmen Carter Bradley and Cross Wilkinson, and true freshman Dequan Finn.
“Mitch has had a great camp and has had some guys in that room that pushed him,” Candle said. “What you are looking for in a fifth-year guy is to see him take the next step in his preparation and see him take the next step in the development of what this should look like. You can’t go through this process five years and have the same experience. You want to have five different experiences and going from the fourth one to the fifth one, there has to be some growth there. I’ve seen that and he should go into the season with some confidence and be ready to go out there and play well.”
Guadagni led the Mid-American Conference in pass efficiency (162.0) in 2018, but only made seven starts due to injury. He suffered a concussion at Fresno State, missed the Bowling Green game, then he suffered a broken collarbone at Western Michigan and missed the rest of the season.
He was 69 of 126 passing for 1,053 yards and 13 passing touchdowns on the season. He also rushed 77 times for 428 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
CENTER FILL-IN: Candle said junior Luke Doerger will slide over to the center position and take over for senior Bryce Harris who will miss the season with a knee injury.
“Luke’s a veteran guy that has played a lot at guard and he has played for us at center at times in the past,” Candle said. “Luke is not Bryce and he’s not going to be Bryce here in the next five or six days. Luke’s got to play to the best of Luke’s ability which is plenty good enough. We have to do some things to help him so he’s not blocking a nose guard by himself the entire game.”
Junior Josh Fenn is penciled in as the starting left guard after Doerger’s shift to center and Candle mentioned true freshman Parker Bisek as someone who could be called upon to contribute at the center position as well.
“Parker Bisek is another guy that could see some action in there,” Candle said. “He’s had a tremendous camp. He’s a good young player and a very promising talent. This would be his first football season here so we have to make sure that, whether it’s this week or the next 11 games to follow, that we do a great job of putting the best five guys out there and help them be successful.”
WIDE RECEIVER EXPECTATIONS: Candle and his staff will look to a few familiar faces in the wide receiver room in Desmond Phillips, Danzel McKinley-Lewis, and Bryce Mitchell to lead a set of new playmakers at the position now that Diontae Johnson, Cody Thompson, and Jon’Vea Johnson have moved on to the NFL.
This year’s trio of receivers have experience in the system albeit playing behind the three players that are currently on pre-season NFL rosters.
“I think they’ve done a really good job,” Candle said. “I think it’s really unfair to compare those guys to Diontae Johnson, Cody Thompson, and Jon’Vea Johnson. Those are three guys that could be on 53-man rosters in the NFL. To say that anybody is going to be those guys is probably unfair and probably untrue. Can we collectively get the production that we had from those guys this year? Your team is different each year and you have to find the way to play to the strengths of those guys on offense. Some of the receivers this year can do some stuff that those guys couldn’t do last year and those guys did some things last year that these guys can’t do. So it’s on us as a coaching staff to find out what they do really well and put them in places to be successful.”
CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED: The Toledo football team voted six players as this year’s captains — seniors Bryce Harris, Jordan Fisher, Reggie Gilliam, Nate Childress, and DeDarallo Blue along with junior Tycen Anderson.
“Hats off to those six guys,” Candle said. “They are six tremendous leaders and six guys you would want to go in a foxhole with. We are going to need those guys throughout the course of the year to carry on the leadership of this football team in the right direction like I think it has been going in so far.”
First Published August 26, 2019, 6:10 p.m.
