University of Toledo football coach Jason Candle said last year his team finally said enough is enough.

Perennially picked to finish among the top teams in the Mid-American Conference, the Rockets finally put to rest a 13-year Mid-American Conference title drought, winning the MAC West title and topping Akron in the MAC Championship Game.

The 2018 season opens with a sense of optimism, but the Rockets face uncertainty at several key positions including the quarterback spot, where a competition will play out over the fall camp to decide who will take leadership of the Toledo offense and replace the program’s all-time leading passer in Logan Woodside.

With that uncertainty, Toledo finds itself selected by the media to finish in second place in the MAC West behind Northern Illinois. Just five of the 24 voters in the MAC’s preseason media poll have tabbed the Rockets to repeat as conference champions.

“Preseason expectations are what they are,” Candle said. “Last year we were sitting here and talking about how we were picked first. There are a lot of great teams on our side of the league and any team can win on any given Saturday. That’s a cool thing that there is a lot of parity. We all have the same recruiting footprint.

“It’s a race of development to see who can get their guys developed and playing at a high level. I’m excited to go through fall camp and see what that looks like for us.”

RELATED CONTENT: UT tabbed 2nd in MAC preseason poll

Candle said he and his staff will evaluate past performance in spring practices and summer workouts, as well as future performance in fall camp, in determining who will open the season at quarterback. Junior Mitch Guadagni and sophomore Eli Peters are the presumed favorites to compete, but Candle said true freshmen Carter Bradley and Cross Wilkinson are too talented not to be considered in the mix.

“As a receiver you want the quarterbacks to believe in you and you want as a receiver to believe in your quarterback,” UT senior wide receiver Cody Thompson said. “I think we’ve done a good job of that over the summer and we’ve made good strides. It’s going to be a battle going into camp, but I think battles are good because they bring out the best in people.”

No matter who wins the quarterback job, he will have the keys to one of the most explosive offenses in the conference with Thompson returning from a leg injury along with standout receivers Diontae Johnson and Jon’Vea Johnson, not to mention running backs Shakif Seymour and Art Thompkins. Those five players combined for 2,731 receiving yards and 1,340 rushing yards in 2017.

On the defensive side, Toledo returns six starters from last season’s unit that was the sixth-ranked scoring defense in the MAC, including key seniors in cornerback Ka’dar Hollman, linebacker Tyler Taafe, and safety Josh Teachey.

“We definitely feel like we get talked down a bit, but we have to show it on the field,” UT senior linebacker Richard Olekanma said of the defense. “We have to go out there and show that we can be a No. 1 defense and we can stop anyone in the country like we believe we can.”

Northern Illinois was the top scoring defense in the conference last year and also returns six starters on that side of the ball, including star defensive end Sutton Smith. Huskies coach Rod Carey said championship teams often rely heavily on their defense.

“It is an offensive-driven league and you have a ton of first-round draft picks,” Carey said. “But if you take a closer look at it, the team that always ends up winning the league is the team that plays the best defense. They may not have the best defense, but they are playing the best defense. When you have the experience and the ability that we have coming back, our expectations are really high right now.”

Northern Illinois was the last team to repeat as conference champions, winning back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012. That challenge will be difficult for Toledo as the Rockets try to recapture the magic of last season.

“Last year provided some validation for our work and our effort over the past couple years here and gives us a good blueprint of how it was done,” Candle said. “It’s a big challenge to go and repeat, but it’s something we are excited about.”

Contact Brian Buckey at bbuckey@theblade.com, 419-724-6110, or on Twitter @BrianBuckey.

First Published July 24, 2018, 9:00 p.m.