Big plays, several QBs headline Weber State football’s spring game
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- Weber State receiver Jayleen Record (4) tries to avoid the tackle of defensive back Montae Pate (20) on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State quarterback Cash McCollum (1) lets a pass fly during the team’s spring game Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State head football coach Mickey Mental, center left, stands to speak before the team after the spring game Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State receiver Jayleen Record (4) outruns defenders on the way to a touchdown Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State quarterback Cash McCollum, center, rolls right looking to throw during the spring game Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State football head coach Mickey Mental, left, walks the sideline during the spring game Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
OGDEN — Weber State football concluded camp with its annual spring game Saturday at sunny Stewart Stadium, treating fans to several big offensive plays and a look at several quarterbacks vying for the starting role in 2025.
Using a scoring system that rewards the defense points for three-and-outs, sacks, forcing punts and creating turnovers, the offense took the day 51-41.
“It’s always fun to put everything we’ve worked on together … have people come out and watch, get the friends and family out here,” junior defensive tackle Matt Herron said. “It was really back and forth, which is good to see because there’s good things happening on both sides of the ball.”
The Wildcats are young again after losing several top performers to transfers. That includes the all-important quarterback position where two FBS transfers are among those aiming to replace Richie Muñoz as the signal-caller. Saturday provided plenty of looks at the QBs successfully airing it out.
UTSA transfer sophomore Jackson Gilkey has taken a large part of the first-team reps. He threw 6 of 9 for 110 yards and one touchdown Saturday, leading the offense to a game-opening touchdown on a tight-window, 21-yard slant to Noah Kjar. He also completed the offense’s late-game comeback with a 65-yard, slant-and-run touchdown to Jayleen Record to cap the day.
Record, the senior, caught four passes for 164 yards. He also hauled in a long-ball bomb from North Texas transfer and redshirt freshman Cash McCollum for a 75-yard TD on McCollum’s first snap Saturday.
McCollum finished 5 of 9 for 144 yards and two touchdowns. He threw a 50-yarder to Kjar during the action and connected with AJ Jayroe on a 6-yard, back-corner scoring fade to put the offense up 44-41.
That came after the defense took a late lead when junior safety Kao Hansen picked off junior quarterback Dijon Jennings. Jennings finished 2 of 5 for 19 yards.
True freshman Kingston Tisdell showed he can make throws, too. His 42-yarder to Manti native and Snow College sophomore transfer Reggie Frischknecht keyed a touchdown drive on Tisdell’s first possession.
On his final time at QB, Tisdell overcame a 12-yard loss on first down due to a snap over his head, and a false start penalty, to score a TD. A 13-yarder to Mason York set up a fourth-down deep ball to Davis High freshman Kash Gates, throwing long to the far side of the field and finding Gates for a 37-yard score.
Tisdell threw 6 of 7 for 107 yards and the touchdown.
“Each one of them is different so it’s kind of cool, you get to call different games for each one,” head coach Mickey Mental said about his quarterbacks. “When you get in front of the crowd, you like to see how they perform and I think the group as a whole did a pretty good job today.”
Sophomore running back Davion Godley scored one short touchdown and burst for a 52-yard run on the second play of the game. Redshirt freshman Chauncey Sylvester rushed for 29 yards and two touchdowns.
Senior kicker Sloan Calder was perfect on extra points and made a 45-yard field goal on his only attempt.
The big offensive day was a change from most recent spring games. Improved quarterback play? A defense in need of more? Could be both; time will tell.
The defense played without sophomore linebacker Aizik Mahuka, who started most of last season, redshirt freshman linebacker Aidan O’Callaghan, and senior safety/linebacker hybrid Angel King, who were all held out with various ailments. But several defenders made plays.
Hansen added one sack to his interception. Sophomore safety Tamal Johnson recorded two sacks. Senior linebacker Alema Tupuola had one sack, as did sophomore transfer defensive end Josh Hardy.
“I think we’ve come together. There’s some older guys out there like Trevian Tribble, and Alema’s been a good voice for us,” Herron said. “Some newcomers like Josh Hardy, he’s been pass rushing really well.”
Record said a few things this offseason made the team better. The first is a handful of experienced players being banged up meant newcomers and freshmen had to step in right away and take reps. The other, from an offensive standpoint, is the quarterback competition.
“We had to get on the same page with (four) different quarterbacks, which made everybody have to be sharp,” Record said. “Paying attention (to that) in the meetings, paying attention on the field, it made us stronger as an offense.”
But the spring game is just one stop on the journey to late August and the road opener at James Madison. Record said Weber State’s goal is to be the “ruthless” and physical team.
“We have to bring the identity back. We kind of missed it last year,” he said.
Herron said the team will have plenty of time to grow together between now and then.
“Just taking care of ourselves while we’re on break and then when we’re back together, just really getting close,” Herron said. “I think we’ve got the guys, so just spending more time with each other. Going through the dog days of summer and those hard days, that’s going to bring us closer together and get us ready to play.”
ONE POSITION CHANGE: Junior Tajon Evans caught 17 passes for 175 yards over the last two seasons. But now, wearing No. 0 at least for the spring game, the 6-footer has moved to the other side of the ball and is playing cornerback. With WSU replacing outgoing transfers Jalon Rock (Liberty) and Frankie Edwards (New Mexico) at the position, Evans got plenty of reps Saturday.
OPENER ON THE MOVE?: Herron mentioned a possible change to the start of the 2025 season and there’s a common thought at WSU that the opener on Saturday, Aug. 30, at James Madison may move to Thursday, Aug. 28. JMU plays the following week at Louisville on a Friday.
