1. VSU spring practice photo gallery

VALDOSTA — It’s not deja vu, but Kaleb Nobles is definitely experiencing a similar spring to last year.

The Valdosta State quarterback, coming off a good amount of playing time and success while filling in for the Blazers’ injured starter, enters spring practice to find competition from a transfer from Florida International.

A year ago, despite Nobles’ solid redshirt freshman campaign, he had to battle against Jake Medlock and continued to do that up until the week of the Blazers’ season opener.

This year, Nobles again fared well while spelling Medlock but now finds himself competing with E.J. Hilliard.

“Oh yeah, it’s the same thing as last year pretty much,” Nobles said Monday following the Blazers’ first spring practice in full pads. “Obviously like I went through last year, I’ve got to show that I can make plays and do what I can when my number’s called and be ready to go.

“I’ve been through it, so it’s not a big deal to me anymore.”

That acceptance of competition is one of the aspects VSU coach David Dean likes most about Nobles, and said that the son of Irwin County coach Buddy Nobles is well aware that the competition brings out the best in him.

“I think as a competitor and as a football player, you know that your job is on the line every year,” Dean said. “He comes from a coach’s family and is a coach’s son, so he understands the meaning of competition and I think he accepts it.

“He knows it’s only going to make him better by doing that. He has no ill feelings towards whoever we bring in. he knows that we’re going to recruit every year to try and replace him, but that’s only going to make him better.

“The great thing about Kaleb is he’s got a great attitude every day, and he wants to compete. He doesn’t want to be handed the job, he wants to win the job. That’s his approach when he comes to practice every day.”

That approach has paid off for Nobles when he’s gotten the opportunity to play. In 2013, the 5-foot-10, 193-pounder completed 64 percent (94 of 148) of his passes for 967 yards with 12 touchdowns to seven interceptions. Last year, nobles completed 63 percent (103 of 164) of his passes for 1,042 yards with seven touchdowns to five interceptions.

Still, it hasn’t been enough for the Blazers to feel like more competition is needed.

“We kind of needed some depth,” VSU quarterbacks coach Justin Roper said. “Jake got injured and banged up a little bit and we wanted to have some more depth. We want to bring in as many good players battle for the starting job as we can.

“That’s how I handle things personally and coach Dean and I are together. We just try to bring in the best players we possibly can every year and whoever wins the battle, wins the battle. And the good news is that Kaleb obviously played pretty well last year and played a lot. Whoever is starting or not, they’ve all played ball.”

Hilliard saw time in all three of his seasons at FIU, completing 175 of 274 passes in his career for 1,756 yards with eight touchdowns to seven interceptions. Still he thinks his skills fit well with the VSU scheme.

“I feel good about it,” he said, adding that his job is just to get the ball in the other players’ hands. “I think I fit well. I’m not blazing fast, but I’m mobile. I can make the zone scheme work. Passes, intermediate and short, I think I’m accurate enough to get the ball to the playmakers. We’ve got two great running backs, great receivers, offensive line, a real good offensive line.

“I really feel acclimated to the system already.”

Dean also said Hilliard, who is 6-3 and 205 pounds, is a good fit, and has proven that mentally as well as physically.

“He’s still learning a lot of stuff,” Dean said. “But I’ve been really pleased with his cerebral approach to everything. We’ve had guys come in here and it’s taken them awhile to figure out what’s going on. But for him, he’s ahead of the game which is good. It takes awhile to put everything together, but I think he’s doing a really good job.

“He fits real well. He runs exceptionally well. He’s got a quick release. When he throws the football, he’s got good zip on the ball. So everything that we ask our quarterback to do, he does well.”

Roper, too, said that Hilliard definitely looked like an ideal fit within the Blazers’ spread scheme.

“Well I got his film and saw him throw and he’s got a real effortless motion, a natural thrower,” he said. “He has a knack for completing balls and knows how to throw different kinds of throws. And a good athlete. Not the pure runner that Jake was, but just a good athlete overall and has played some good football.”

And playing more good football will be the key to the competition.

“It’s the same thing as last year, it’s not really a competition between me and him, where it’s personal,” Nobles said. “But we are still competing for the same job. At the end of the day, one quarterback’s playing and the other four are sitting on the bench. It all depends on what you want to do, you want to start or you want to sit on the bench?

“I’ve always said and I’ve always been taught, every time I get in there I’ve got to do my job because everybody is trusting and wanting you to make the plays. The quarterback especially has to be ready to go and make sure everybody is doing the right things on top of himself, so whenever you get out there you’ve got to make plays.

“That’s what we’re all trying to do.”