Both Texas Southern and Prairie View finished last Saturday’s season-opening Labor Day Classic with a different quarterback than the one who started the game.
Prairie View’s Lucas Coley and TSU’s KJ Cooper suffered injuries in the game. But while TSU coach Cris Dishman insists Cooper’s injury wasn’t serious, Prairie View coach Bubba McDowell said Coley will miss the next four to six weeks with a shoulder injury.
McDowell said Cam Peters and Jaden Johnson, who competed throughout the spring for the starting job before Coley transferred in during the summer, are competing this week for the right to start against Northwestern State on Saturday.
“We are going to let these two battle this week and see who is going to start for Northwestern,” McDowell said to the Defender this week. “We have two good quarterbacks we feel can move the ball and get us into position to make plays and hopefully get some scores and give us a chance.
“We feel real good about these two young men once they settle down and do what they are supposed to do and not try to do too much.”
Peters replaced Lucas in the second half and immediately seemed to give the Panthers’ offense a spark. But he wasn’t able to sustain the momentum and the Panthers’ were held out of the endzone in the 27-9 loss to TSU that snapped their nine-game winning streak in the long-running SWAC rivalry game.
Peters completed 10-of-20 passes for 111 yards while Coley finished the first half completing 8-of-20 passes for 108 yards while being sacked four times.
“(Peters) came out firing and then tried to do too much instead of reading and doing what he is supposed to do offensively,” McDowell said. “A couple of times if he handed the ball off to (running back Connor Wisham), Connor would have been hitting the goal post, but he didn’t. He pulled it and caused us to have to punt the ball.
“So getting him to understand, take what they give us and we will be okay.”
TSU, meanwhile, seemed to have their own quarterback issues after Cooper was seen on crutches following his playing debut. Jace Wilson, the Tigers starter most of last season, finished the game.
But Dishman insisted on Tuesday that Cooper is fine and will be ready to go for Saturday’s non-conference game at Rice.
“He is great. He was jogging to class this morning on the Tiger Walk, so he is doing good,” Dishman said to the Defender. “He did have a little bruise but it wasn’t anything to be overly concerned about.
“I saw him jogging to class this morning so he is hyped and excited and ready to go again.”
When pressed about whether Cooper will be available to play on Saturday, Dishman seemed to double down on his status.
“I’m expecting him to play. Yes sir,” said Dishman, who was victorious in his head coaching debut. “Like I said, I saw him jogging this morning. Unless something happens between this morning and Saturday… “
McDowell confirmed that Coley suffered the shoulder injury on a scramble in which he absorbed a big hit. The injury is believed to have happened early in the game but Coley tried to play through it the remainder of the first half.
“Lucas tried to run and as he found out, you can’t go against those guys,” McDowell said. “You have to learn how to slide. He ended up hurting his shoulder at that particular point in time.”
Both coaches seemed pleased with the play of their starting quarterbacks, who were both making their playing debuts. McDowell announced prior to Saturday’s Labor Day Classic that Coley, who transferred from the University of Houston, would be his starter.
Dishman, meanwhile, didn’t reveal the results of the Cooper-Wilson battle until Cooper trotted out onto the field with the first-team unit during Saturday’s game.
He credited offensive coordinator Steven Smith and quarterbacks coach Harold Smith with having both quarterbacks ready to play and putting them in positions to make plays.
Cooper, a junior college transfer, completed 19-of-29 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown and had a 129.03 rating before exiting late in the game. Wilson, the reigning SWAC Newcomer of the Year, didn’t attempt a pass but did rush the ball twice for three total yards.
“As coaches, we have to help players. It always will be a players’ game,” Dishman said. “Coaches can draw up all of these pretty X’s and O’s but if your players are not executing your gameplan and then they have to curtail the gameplan toward player execution.
“I think we did an excellent job of calling the plays that our players do.”
