They don’t play the same position. Marcus Simms (above) is an outside receiver. I seem to remember him playing a lot of X (the left side) in the spring. On Tuesday he played the Z position on the right side. Steven Smothers is an inside receiver, either at the Y or the H. We haven’t seen him appear on a two-deep to know for sure, but he was at the H Tuesday.

But they are freshmen, and right now it sounds like Simms has a greater chance to get onto the field and make a splash this season.

“Simms is way closer based on the spring,” Holgorsen said. “He was here all spring, so he’s in a position where he’s probably going to be a contributor at some point. He does a good job in the return game, and he can stretch the field, but he’s still learning. I’m not to prepared to say either one of them is in the top eight, but Simms is a lot closer to us being able to count on him.”

There’s another factor to consider: Jovon Durante. He was the backup Z. Simms was with the second-team there Tuesday because Durante is an inside receiver — or not, because of the depth chart we’ve seen today. So while Durante bumped Simms up by changing positions — at least temporarily — he also bumped Smothers down by moving inside.