As Jermaine Kelly and Mason Olszewski took the field at UC Stadium for the start of spring football practice, it was no surprise to the two University of Charleston quarterbacks how quickly they were able to feel at home again on the gridiron.
"It's like riding a bike," Kelly said.
Kelly missed all of last season with a knee injury while Olszewski left the Golden Eagles' second game of the year with an ankle injury that forced him to watch the rest of the 2016 campaign from the sidelines. Now the two are back and healthy again, ready to compete for the starting job as UC began spring practice on Wednesday afternoon.
They lead the way for a group of five quarterbacks who were taking reps in practice, joined by Anthony Fontana, Daniel Itza and Quishon Calfee.
Fontana saw action in 10 games last season while Calfee was also sidelined with an injury. The Golden Eagles also return Brant Grisel, who saw action in 2016 but is also returning from injury.
"We just couldn't get any consistency with what we were doing," Charleston coach Pat Kirkland said. "It was hard to have a consistent plan and we would have to change each week depending on what personnel we were going to have available."
But as Kirkland's squad heads into 2017, he feels great about the tough task he has ahead of him when it comes to picking a quarterback.
It's a choice between Kelly, a quarterback who threw for 546 yards and ran for another 347 and accounted for 10 total touchdowns as a sophomore for the Golden Eagles in 2014, and Olszewski, a rising redshirt junior who Kirkland praises for having a great command of the offense and understands what it takes to manage the game.
"Jermaine's a big, physical kid who is probably among one of the best looking Division II quarterbacks out there when you look at what he can do physically with his arm and how he can create with his running ability," Kirkland said. "Mason's been around the quarterback position longer because Jermaine has played other positions. He knows what we're doing out there so well and he leads the offense like we want.
"Nothing is going to get handed to anybody and they're going to both earn every rep they get."
For the two of them, the competition is a great way to bring the best out of one another.
"If [Mason] makes a good play, I have to make a good play. If I make a good play, he has to make one," Kelly said. "That's what is going to make the quarterback position one of the strongest on the field for us regardless of who is taking the snaps.
"We'll be competing so much and going so hard against one another to earn those chances. It's what is going to bring out the best in us, and it keeps us driven and motivated."
But even though they're fighting for the same job, they know they can turn to one another and use past experiences to help them when they have room for improvement.
They trust each other to step up and provide that kind of advice when it is needed.
"Neither of us are afraid to say when someone does something wrong because it comes from a place where we want the other one to get better," Olszewski said. "If we can share that knowledge, it's only going to make everyone better as a group."
It was a difficult season for both quarterbacks being forced to watch from the sidelines as Charleston struggled to a 3-8 finish a year after earning a playoff berth. But they made the most of their situations - taking mental reps and playing out situations in their heads to break down what they would have done if they were on the field.
Those were the kind of things they had to do in order to make sure they could make the most out of their tough situations when the game they loved to play had been taken away from them for the time being.
And now they're using the chances they get back on the field in spring practice to get themselves and their teammates prepared now so that they can hit the ground running when the summer rolls around.
"This is the time to learn and for us to understand what our roles are so that when the season comes and we start getting ready for that, everyone knows what to do like the back of their hands," Kelly said. "For me, preparation is everything and I try to bring the best out of everybody on the field regardless of who they are. That's the mindset I'm going into this with and that's what I'm going to try to do."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.