2016 CSU Storylines: Quarterback Nick Stevens had a nice debut season in 2015, earning second-team all-Mountain West honors. For the Rams to improve offensively this season, the quarterback play must elevate. Stats — Stevens completed 211 of 347 passes for a school sophomore-record 2,679 yards. His 21 touchdowns rank fifth all-time for a single season. The downside: 12 interceptions. Trends — In more than half his starts, Stevens threw for better than 250 yards, finishing with a career-best 310 in the Arizona Bowl loss. He also had three games where the threw for less than 100 yards. Consistent play was the knock, even hitting routine plays. The battle — Faton Bauta, a graduate transfer from Georgia, was brought in to add competition to the position. By all accounts he has done that, as well as served as a mentor for true freshman Collin Hill, who was on campus in time for spring camp. Bauta has one career start at Georgia, and he’d like a reboot of that outing against ranked Florida. Bobo said he doesn’t plan to name a starter until the season opener, but one of these three will take the snap.

FORT COLLINS — A first-year starter isn’t supposed to be perfect.

Especially not at quarterback, the position in football that draws the most praise and criticism all at once, at least from the outside.

Inside the quarterbacks’ room, it’s a bit different. It is recognized when a receiver runs a bad route, or simply gives up on one. It’s also known if the quarterback’s eyes were in the wrong spot.

It works both ways.

To be fair, Nick Stevens’ debut at the Colorado State starter wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great, and some folks had a hard time forgetting he was replacing the Mountain West offensive player of the year in Garrett Grayson, a third-round pick in the NFL Draft. A guy who, by the way, struggled in his first two seasons as the starter for the Rams.

Stevens was also taking the reigns under a new coaching staff and a shiny new offensive system. Think about it. You buy a new car, and a few weeks later you’re still trying to figure out what all the buttons do.

He still earned second-team all-Mountain West honors, throwing for a CSU sophomore record 2,679 yards with 21 touchdowns and also 12 interceptions.

It wasn’t a bad season. It was also clear that heading into the second year, he has to be better.

Well, somebody has to do better, be it Stevens, Faton Bauta or Collin Hill, as CSU head coach Mike Bobo keeps his decision on the starter within the program’s walls.

Bauta, the graduate transfer from Georgia, was brought in to spark competition at the position Bobo felt was lacking last season. Hill was recruited — and showed up early for spring camp — for the physical gifts he has put on display in camp.

It’s all worked.

“I feel pretty good about where we’re at at quarterback. It’s been a really good competition,” Bobo said. “I’m still looking at a few things to figure out what direction we want to go. I feel like those three guys competing, if I put any of them in, would be a capable guy. Once we hit on Sunday, it will be a true pecking order. I won’t announce it, but the guys will know. They’ll know and the team will know.”

Bobo has said many times before he wants a leader, one who the 10 other guys in the huddle will follow, as well as the 60-plus teammates on the sidelines. And, most definitely after last year, he has to protect the ball.

Stevens was keenly aware of the checklist, and he went to work. He has a leg up on the competition after starting all 13 games last season, but he had no guarantees. He had to improve his game across the board, and he thinks he has achieved that goal. In fact, he said he will have no regrets when the decision is made.

“Compared to last year at this time, light years better, I think. I feel like I’m a much better quarterback even since fall camp started,” Stevens said. “I’ve just progressed every step along the way from last spring, last fall camp, the season, and now spring, summer and fall camp all over again. Compared to last season, I think it’s almost night and day.”

Bobo said he’s making the routine throws look more, well, routine. Stevens has talked like a returning starter and appeared calm, though Bobo said they are all thinking too much at times.

The changes aren’t just self-evaluation, either. His teammates see a different Stevens, and it’s for the better. Tackle Zack Golditch said Stevens is in charge in the huddle, settles the offense down and takes command.

“I think he’s a lot more put together. He’s a very, very smart guy and knows what he’s doing,” Golditch said. “He’s confident. I believe in him, and I think he’s matured a lot, too. He’s knowing what to do, knowing what the checks are and that’s the type of guy we need on this team.”

Will it be Stevens on Sept. 2?

Because the offense needs to improve, and the quarterback pulls the trigger. The Rams averaged just shy of 30 points a game in 2015, and there were points left on the field. Plays were missed that could have made a difference, and Stevens knows it, be it a first down or a chance to punt, both better alternatives to giving the ball away.

Bobo is part bewildered, part impressed by the fact the Rams won seven games in a season where they coughed up the ball 27 times.

“We’ve got to be able to run our full offense,” Bobo said. “We’ve got to be able to be balanced, we’ve got to be able to throw it to the open guy, and we’ve got to make accurate throws so those guys can do stuff after the catch, which I thought we did on Saturday. We had a lot of yards after the catch and contact, and a lot of that was due to the quarterbacks putting it in the right spot, giving guys a chance to run.”

Now, one of them has to go out and do it on game day.

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