The whistle chirps as the play is blown dead. Players jog back to their positions. A coach yells out, “White! You’re up!” Senior Austin White pulls his helmet on and runs out to the huddle. On his way to the huddle, he passes senior Levi Saxby, who has just left the quarterback position.

White and Saxby are competing for the starting slot at quarterback.

“I have a little bit of a disadvantage,” White said. “I didn’t play last year, so I don’t have any varsity experience.”

Saxby does not suffer from any such ailment.

“I’ve got experience playing on varsity,” Saxby said. “Even though I played a completely different position last year.”

Saxby’s position last season was linebacker, a radically different position than quarterback.

“At linebacker, you want to go up and make the big hit; it’s what you’re trained to do,” Saxby said. “But at quarterback, you want to stay as far away from the big hit as possible. So it’s kind of a mental shock.”

White, however, feels confident in his chances.

“I’m tall enough to see over the line, I’m accurate, and I have good vision. I can see what’s going on,” White said. “I don’t have the strongest arm, and I need to be a little quicker on release, but other than that, I’m good.”