QB competition ‘fun to watch’ as Sac State seeks fourth consecutive Big Sky championship
Carson Camp arrived from the cold of South Dakota to bask in the warm glow and and the California feel-good chill. He looks the part with a tan and a sunny disposition as he settles into his new environment.
Kaiden Bennett, meanwhile, looks the part of California cool and calm. He’s from nearby Folsom with prior college stops in Idaho and Nevada. KB bears the assuring smile and confidence of a young man full of life and gusto, and no wonder. His favorite motto fits his game and ambition — “full throttle” — and he is perhaps the fastest guy on the Sacramento State football team.
Bennett and Camp headline the quarterback competition with the Hornets. It is the No. 1 storyline for a program that seeks a Big Sky Conference championship four-peat.
Sacramento State is preseason ranked in the Top 10 in various FCS polls. The Hornets figure to be a stout outfit again with 15 returning starters, including a veteran offensive line, as they head into an Aug. 31 season opener at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
But who will have the controls? Who steers the ship?
The Hornets aren’t just replacing one quarterback. They seek stability and pop to replace two proven products. Sacramento State bid a fond farewell to Jake Dunniway and Asher O’Hara as that duo masterfully rotated and kept defenses backpedaling to the tune of going 16-0 over the last two Big Sky seasons, including a 12-1 overall record last season that featured a No. 2 national ranking.
And then there are two freshmen ready to crash the party, or to make it their party. Carson Conklin comes from prep powerhouse Centennial High of Corona. He came aboard during spring practices as an early graduate, having passed for 2,036 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Joey Cook hails from the Bay Area, from Marin Catholic High of Kentfield, where he directed the program to a 13-1 showing.
Four guys, one job, one team.
Soaking in the competition have been the Hornets coaches, including position coach Bobby Fresques, who can relate to such challenges as a record-setting passer with the Hornets in the early 1990s. Head coach Andy Thompson is also the defensive coordinator, and from a defensive standpoint, he can see how his quarterbacks can take apart schemes designed to stall them out.
“It’s been a great, great battle,” Thompson said. “The new guys have picked it up and have done a nice job. It’s been fun to watch. The quarterback leadership in the offseason is a huge part of why this team has worked as hard as they have. The quarterbacks are some of the hardest workers in the building, and they all want to play. They’ll all be great teammates. The way they’ve all worked has been impressive, and you’ve got to have talent. These guys have talent.”
The talent includes aspects vital to the position: timing, touch, accuracy, leadership.
QB pedigrees
The 6-foot, 190-pound Bennett is the only quarterback of the lot who saw action for the Hornets last season, playing in six games and passing for 26 yards on seven attempts while rushing for 72 yards on 12 carries. He saw action in five games as a reserve in 2021. Bennett has dazzled before with his arm and legs and big-play ability.
At Folsom High School, where Hornets line coach Kris Richardson was his head coach and Fresques was an assistant, Bennett produced one of the finest prep careers in regional history. He went 30-1 at Folsom, winning two CIF state championships. He passed for 4,431 yards and 57 touchdowns as a junior and went for 3,993 yards and 60 TDs as a senior in 2018 while also rushing for 28 scores over his final two prep campaigns. Bennett had scholarship stops at Boise State and Nevada before finding a home with the Hornets.
Bennett earned a degree in communications and is now pursuing a second bachelor’s in recreation administration while pursuing a master’s in quarterback play, he says with a laugh.
The 6-3, 215-pound Camp played three collegiate seasons at South Dakota of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, where he passed for 4,123 yards. He is a native of Illinois, where at West High School in Normal, he produced 5,115 career yards and 59 scores. He sought a new place and new challenges to finish his collegiate career, and he was immediately struck by the weather.
“When I came out here in January and started workouts with the guys, it was 50 degrees, and I loved it,” Camp said. “I was in shorts. Everyone else was in long pants and hoodies. It was five degrees where I just came from. I’ll take this. I like the culture here. It’s a winning program, very well put together, and it’s been a lot of fun.”
Cooking the competition
Bennett said that competition is “good for all of us, and I love it. Even the young guys are doing a great job. I’m impressed with Camp. He can really play. It’s been a blast. It’s full throttle.”
Camp also raved about Bennett’s skills, especially his gift of speed.
“He’s probably the fastest guy in the Big Sky,” Camp said. “He will be a headache for defenses.”
Bennett and Camp each live with an army of football teammates. Camp is a cook who can get by. Bennett isn’t much of a cook, but he has good resources, none more in tune in the kitchen than his mother, Jasmine.
“Great cook!” Bennett said. “My mom makes me nine or 10 meals at a time and I take them home, and I love meat loaf, so I’m well taken care of. My roommates? They can have the leftovers.”
Camp said he’s sure to cook healthy because he carried too many pounds as a teenager.
“I was fat in high school, 230 pounds,” he said with a laugh. “Now, I’m feeling pretty good.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2023 at 5:00 AM.