Friday, in Tim Lester’s mind, was the day the competition truly began.

It was the first time that Syracuse practiced in full pads. It also was one of the first times that Drew Allen has been truly comfortable in the SU system. Until now, it’s been tough for Lester, the quarterbacks coach, to make any judgments on who will win the starting job under center.

“There’s not much clarity yet,” Lester said, “but they’ve all been playing hard and learning.”

Allen and Terrel Hunt are splitting snaps evenly at quarterback, Lester said, with Charley Loeb following behind. Days ago it seemed that Hunt was the frontrunner in the two-horse race. Now it’s a dead heat.

The next few days will go a long way in separating the pack. The Orange practiced third downs for the first time on Saturday and will do further situational work in the upcoming practices. Those are when Lester will learn each quarterback’s “quirks.”

Who holds on to the ball too long? Who can execute on third downs? Or in the red zone? It’s questions like those that Lester hopes will be answered in the coming days, and the answers will shed light on the outlook of the quarterback competition.

“Today was good,” Lester said. “Real fun for me to see the guys in a unique situation because we’ve been doing first down for five days now.”

Also adding some clarity is Allen’s rapid progression into the flow of the offense over the past few days.

For the first few days he spent practicing with Syracuse, he had yet to familiarize himself.

“He was just uncomfortable with everything,” Lester said.

But he’s improved quickly, faster even than Lester expected, and is now on level footing with Hunt and Loeb.

It’s helped make Hunt better, too. Lester said that Loeb and John Kinder pushed Hunt well in the spring, but adding Allen and freshmen Mitch Kimble and Austin Wilson has made for a crowded competition that has only elevated Hunt’s play. Over the next few days, though, there should be some clarity.

Said Lester: “Now we’re into the unique things that make a quarterback special.”

Published on August 10, 2013 at 12:43 pm

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