As a toddler, Jason Shelley II would grab a football and stage his own games, even tackling himself.
That part won't be necessary Saturday, when Shelley will make his first start as a college quarterback and the visiting Oregon Ducks will supply the defense.
Shelley’s father and high school coach say Utah’s redshirt freshman QB has been “preparing his whole life” for this moment, and that’s barely an exaggeration. He was throwing touchdown passes in flag football as a 5-year-old, racing future Ute receiver Jaylen Dixon on the playground in fourth grade, quarterbacking Lone Star High School to the state championship game as a junior and using Twitter mainly to count down daily from 100 days to the Utes' 2018 season opener.