Johnson, Taber competing for starting QB job at Oak Ridge

With the graduation of Joaquin Mercado-Graves, Oak Ridge's varsity football team will have a new quarterback this season. Two players are battling for the starting job and regardless of who gets it; Oak Ridge coach Casey Taylor has no qualms about putting either player on the field. Junior Nick Johnson, a transfer from Folsom, and sophomore Luke Taber are battling for the starting job. "I came here about two months ago at the start of summer," Johnson said. "It's been great competing with Luke. I love the coaching staff." Said Taber," It's going good right now and things are looking solid. I'm just competing for the job." Both are confident quarterbacks. "I'm a pure thrower; I've always had that," Johnson said. "I love throwing the ball. I like staying in the pocket, but I can use my legs when I need to." Added Taber, "I think my strength is my accuracy. I'm not too much of a runner, but I'm mobile. I've got a good arm; last year I threw for 29 touchdowns and two interceptions, so I think I'm pretty consistent in throwing the ball. I can run it if I need to." Taber led the Oak Ridge freshman team to a 9-1 record last year. Both quarterbacks like the Oak Ridge offense. "I like how open our offense is," Taber said. "We have a bunch of different guys who can do a bunch of different things. We can throw it deep; we can throw it short. We can run the ball. Our offense is pretty open." Added Johnson, "I love the way Casey runs the offense. There's a lot of play action, good runs, deep routes, posts and I especially like throwing it to these receivers. They make it easy. "We've got a lot of potential. If we execute, we'll win games." Taber agrees. "I think our team has a pretty good shot this year," Taber said. "It's all about how we start because last year we didn't start the season so well. I think it's going to come down to how we start the season and how we finish." Taylor is excited to have both quarterbacks. "The competition is going well and I'm excited about it," Taylor said. "Both have got big arms and are talented and are doing a good job. Nick is a tall guy, your prototypical 6-2 quarterback; while Luke played really well for us as a freshman. Luke's got a little moxie to him and we like that. He's a competitive guy. We like them both. When we see them in pads that will tell a lot. We've got some good skill guys around them and most of our offensive line is coming back, so we feel good about the offense."