FORT COLLINS — Not that the deadline is a hard one, but it does provide a target.

In his search for a quarterback to run his no-huddle offense, Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo stated at Mountain West media days his ideal timeline to name a starting quarterback would be after the second scrimmage of fall camp.

For the guys involved — sophomore Nick Stevens and redshirt freshman Coleman Key — it doesn’t bring about any more of a sense of urgency. That’s a good thing to Bobo, who feels that should have already set in for them.

The Rams began drills Friday, the first of 19 slated before classes begin on campus Aug. 24. The second scrimmage will take place the Saturday prior, just two weeks before the team begins the Bobo era at Hughes Stadium by hosting Savannah State (Sept. 5).

“Usually after the second scrimmage, you get a couple of practices and then you start getting into the prep work,” Bobo explained. “When you start getting into prep work for the opponent, it’s hard to split reps with the first team.

“If I know after the first scrimmage, I might name it there. The soft deadline is the second scrimmage, and hopefully we know by then. But if we don’t, then we might have to carry it into some game action. I’d rather not do that, but we’ll see.”

It’s a new offensive system for the Rams, one Bobo developed in his years as an offensive coordinator at Georgia. Colorado State has been explosive in the past, averaging better than 30 points per game the past two seasons, and it is a unit with some experience up front and a strong receiving core highlighted by a returning All-American at wideout, Rashard Higgins.

What it doesn’t have is a ton of game reps at running back and virtually none at quarterback, the triggerman Bobo needs to make it all work.

Coming out of the spring, Stevens — who saw limited action backing up Garrett Grayson last year, completing 15 of 25 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown — held the advantage, in part, the coaches said, because of that limited experience. But he was also more accurate with the ball and quicker to pick up the reads.

However, the knock on both of them was footwork, which Stevens strived to improve during the summer months.

“Footwork and eyes. (Quarterbacks coach Ronnie) Letson preaches that everyday to us,” Stevens said. “This is new footwork than our last offense, so we had the spring and the summer to kind of hone those skills and get comfortable. I think we still have some ways to go because the footwork is so tough, but I think we did a good job of doing that in the summer.”

Key, who ran a similar offense in high school in Tulsa, Okla., said his footwork lacked in the spring because his eyes weren’t where they were supposed to be, giving him one more step to conquer in the process.

Again, he came out of the summer feeling confident he’s mastered the keys he was looking for, so he enters the fall competition with confidence.

“Some plays I knew where I was looking, some plays I was looking in a totally different spot,” he said. “Those plays you can tell, because that’s when Bobo goes crazy. It starts with my eyes and then it goes to my feet and my arm.

“We busted our butt doing seven-on-seven stuff doing that. I think it’s going to pay off.”

Neither said they will pay attention to a deadline, soft or not. In some ways, they both feel it will distract them from what’s really important, which is improving to the point where they can win the job.

As Key pointed out, having a head coach who was quarterback himself and who is paying close attention is beneficial. One, the feedback is immediate, and two, he’s not shy in dispensing corrections.

“Either way, I don’t think we can anticipate when that will happen,” Stevens said about a starter being named. “We have a lot of practices after the first scrimmage. I think all we can do right now is work on our craft and try to be the best we can out there and make the teams we’re with better, whether it’s the ones or the twos.”

After the first day, Bobo felt Stevens had the better practice, but both Key and junior Craig Leonard both had their moments. It was also Day One, and the pecking order could change from practice to practice.

While the coach has a preferred time to make a decision, he won’t rush to judgement. He wants to be 100 percent correct in that call, and he’ll know when the right day and time is when he sees it happen.

“It’s still open,” Bobo said. “At the end of the day, it’s a guy that is going to be able to get us in the right play, he’s an accurate thrower, can make good decisions, can take care of the football, and he’s got to be a guy that everybody believes in. We’re going to see that as camp goes on. It will show itself.”

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