After a long summer full of practices, the battle for UTSA’s quarterback job remains wide open heading into the Roadrunners’ season opener Saturday against Alabama State.

UTSA coach Frank Wilson said Monday he wasn’t ready to name a starter in the duel between Jared Johnson and Dalton Sturm over who will take the first snap against the Hornets.

“I think it will carry out all the way to kickoff or at least just before kickoff,” Wilson said. “Right now, both guys are doing things extremely well and continue to do the things we ask of them. There has been no clear separation.”

Sturm, who began last season as a fourth-string walk-on, started the final seven games after Blake Bogenschutz went down with a concussion that eventually ended his career.

The arrival of Johnson has provided a jolt of competition that has helped both players improve, Sturm said.

“It’s done a lot,” Sturm said. “Competition is what you live for if you are a true competitor. It’s been great for me. I’ve never had anybody come in and compete with you day after day. It’s been a great opportunity for both of us.”

Johnson came into the program as perhaps the most ballyhooed transfer in UTSA’s short football history. He was the second-leading passer in Sam Houston State history and earned Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors last season after passing for 2,216 yards and 18 touchdowns with two interceptions in leading the Bearkats to the FCS playoffs.

But a late-season ankle injury cost him his starting job and made him rethink his playing options. Competing at an FBS school was always an idea that intrigued him after a stellar high school career at South Grand Prairie.

It led to his graduate transfer to UTSA in late March, shortly after Sturm gained valuable reps in offensive coordinator Frank Scelfo’s new system during spring practice.

Johnson was further hamstrung earlier this summer after missing key parts of several early practices because he was finishing up a business class. Sturm took of the snaps with the No. 1 offense during much of camp.

But Johnson has surged late as he grew more accustomed to the offensive weapons around him.

“There are a lot of pieces to go and I’m not there yet,” Johnson said. “I’m learning every day. All the way until we get to the (C-USA) championship game, I’ll still be learning something.”

Similar quarterback battles have ripped apart teams over the years. In one celebrated skirmish, Dallas Cowboys backup Clint Longley threw a sucker punch at Roger Staubach that stoked an already combustible battle for playing time.

But it hasn’t been anything like that for the Roadrunners. Both Sturm and Johnson praised how the other has handled practicing together.

“You never know how a guy would take it if it’s (somebody) who’s competing with you,” Johnson said. “But (then) you realize the type of guy Dalton is and the high character he has. That’s been important for the team and everybody to see that we could still be friends, hang out and still compete.”

On UTSA’s depth chart heading into Saturday’s game, three transfer players are listed in the starting lineup, with Johnson sharing the No. 1 job at QB.

Tackle Jevonte Domond and linebacker Ronnie Feist arrived from LSU’s football program. Strong safety Jordan Moore, who ran track the last two seasons at LSU after playing three seasons at TCU, transferred to the Roadrunners shortly after failing to make the Olympic track team in the 110-meter hurdles last month.

Wilson said the new starters aren’t an indictment of the talent he inherited when taking over a team that finished 3-9 last season under Larry Coker.

“It’s just the reality of being able to bring in talented players to what we already had,” Wilson said. “The cupboard was not bare when we got here, but certainly we needed depth at every position. We brought that to the table. It has enhanced us as a football team and will continue to get us better.”

tgriffin@express-news.net

Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12