After months of practice, the battle to lead the Saluki offense is down to redshirt freshman Reggie Kennedy, sophomore Chris Schullian and transfer Danny Smith.

The SIUC quarterback situation has been up in the air since last year and the squad has seen many signal-callers make their bid at the starting role.

However, Saluki head coach Shawn Watson said Kennedy and Schullian have stepped up earlier in the camp and Smith has come on recently.

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These guys have come forward and distanced themselves in front of everyone else, he said.

Watson said he will continue to evaluate the three quarterbacks before making a final decision.

We are going to continue to put them (the quarterbacks) in different situations during practice and scrimmages to see how they react, he said.

Kennedy and Smith really controlled the offense on Saturday and Schullian has also had a good camp.

Kennedy, who played his high school football in Pontiac, said he is ready to lead the Saluki offense.

The offense is similar to the one a ran in high school and I have worked hard to understand this one.

The quarterback battle has been a benefit to all the quarterbacks, Kennedy said.

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I think the competition is good at any position, because it makes you work harder and focus on your job, he said.

Kennedy led the Pontiac High School to the 1993 state championships. The Chicago Sun-Times named Kennedy their Player of the Year. In his prep career Kennedy threw for 4,482 yards and 59 touchdowns.

Sitting out a season gave Kennedy the chance to get acclimated to the style of college football.

I haven’t played in a college game yet, but sitting out last season enabled me to understand the system and taught me the differences of high school and college football.

Watson agrees that Kennedy has the tools to be a good collegiate quarterback.

He is a pure passer that has all the physical ability you could want at the position, he said.

Schullian, who is also a pitcher for the Saluki baseball team, hails from Carbondale and transferred to SIUC from Division I Western Michigan.

Watson said Schullian is smart player who understands the offensive scheme and has performed well in Saluki scrimmages.

He has worked extremely hard during practices and has the leadership qualities that you look for in a quarterback, he said.

He has really performed well in our fall practice.

Another factor in the quarterback landscape is transfer Danny Smith, who came to the Dawgs this year from Miami (Ohio).

He is really getting the rust knocked off and really played well during Saturday’s scrimmage, Watson said.

We’ll (coaches) need to sit down, watch film and evaluate, which quarterback will start and make a desicion soon.

The QB scramble began in spring practice when Kennedy beat out sophomore Jason Karnes and junior Phil Shellhaas, who have been moved to tight end on the depth chart.

Schullian missed most of spring practice due to his baseball commitment and Smith transferred in the fall.

The Salukis ended their two-a-day practices on Saturday and now will prepare for their season opener at Southeast Missouri on Aug. 31.