FORT COLLINS — This wasn’t the spring anybody expected.

There wasn’t supposed to be a quarterback battle, at least not a real one. Collin Hill was expected to step in for Nick Stevens, with four starts as a true freshman under his belt and take over the Colorado State offense.

Then Hill re-tore his ACL, and the position was thrown into flux with a trio of players who have not thrown a college pass, two of them freshmen who have never taken a snap.

So J.C. Robles, Justice McCoy and Judd Erickson were all presented an opportunity, and a few weeks into spring camp, they’re competing not only under the watchful eyes of head coach Mike Bobo and quarterbacks coach Ronnie Letson, but also graduate transfer K.J. Carta-Samuels, who is taking in all he can so he’s ready to jump into the fray come the summer.

After the first scrimmage of the spring, Bobo was not happy with the way his quarterbacks performed, and they all knew as much. He’s frustrated, and he’s not the only one.

Robles, a junior who came to Fort Collins the same time as Bobo, is too.

At 6-foot-5, 215 pounds, he fills a casting call for the spot, but this isn’t a scripted film. The film he knows. It’s the physical that’s getting him in camp.

“It gets frustrating at times,” Robles said. “Sometimes I make a bonehead mistake, but the coaches are always encouraging, one way or another, coaching me up, letting me know what I need to do better, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Bobo will tell you Robles knows the offense. He gets answers right in the meeting room, draws plays like he’s supposed to on the board. When it’s a white board and Xs and Os, he’s on point.

On a field of green, not so much. Robles made such a mistake on Wednesday despite knowing better.

“He knew the answer right when I asked him on the field, and I said, ‘you can’t do that, you gotta play within the system.’ That’s what he’s got to do,” Bobo said. “I think he’s trying to be perfect, being a little bit of a robot. Just play. If it’s not there, get up in the pocket and make something happen. Hopefully that message got to him. He had three good plays after that. He’s just got to do that on a consistent basis and play football.”

That’s the goal. It’s always been the goal for him since arriving on campus from Visalia, Calif. As a prep, he was free and easy in his play. He’s athletic enough, ranking as a top 50 high jumper nationally his final year of high school.

He’s just having a hard time taking it from the room to the field, and that has now become his focus. It’s also put him behind McCoy in the competition, as the true freshman has been more consistent. Bobo said Friday the New Orleans product would start with the first-team offense.

“He’s progressing, understanding concepts. Is he perfect? No. Not yet,” Letson said. “He’s got a little ways to go, but he’s a little more consistent throwing the ball, hitting his targets.

“He’s still got a little ways to go. He understands for the most part, but there’s little things he doesn’t yet, and he’s a freshman.”

The primary example Letson made was both Robles and McCoy had the same play develop last Sunday. McCoy was able to check down to his third option, and that led to a touchdown. Robles stopped at his second, rolled out and lost yards.

“I think I play best when I’m out there just playing free, playing football. I’ve got to get back to that and be more consistent. I have series where I show spurts. I’ve got to keep racking it,” Robles said.

Nothing will be decided this spring, other than a pecking order heading into the summer, when Carta-Samuels really gets his chance to make an impression. For now, Letson said it’s valuable to have him around, for the Washington transfer to see things happen on the field live, to meet some of his teammates. To Letson, a quarterback really earns his stripes in the summer, when the coaches are not on the field, limited to just meeting time.

“The summertime is the best time for them, because we can’t do anything with them on the field and stuff; we can’t take a ball out there,” Letson explained. “Like high school, they can all throw seven-on-seven all summer long. Our players have to do it on their own. That’s when you become the best leader as a quarterback, when you lead those guys and get them doing it.”

The addition of Carta-Samuels was not a surprise, but the injury to Hill was, and Robles thinks the best guy for the job will prove it with everybody in action this offseason. The Rams are going to need the best out of one of them from the jump, opening early with a Mountain West conference game before a three-run gauntlet of Power 5 teams.

“I’m excited for the fall, to get K.J. here full time, to learn from each other, kinda rise off each other’s play with Justice and Judd and get Collin back,” he said.

Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard