The blustery wind may have reminded players of the weather during the fall sports season, but for the Cal Poly football team, yesterday’s first spring practice was more about unfamiliarity.
An entirely different coaching staff led by new head coach Tim Walsh oversaw the team’s first official practice since the Mustangs were eliminated from the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) playoffs in November.
The coaching staff isn’t the only thing that’s changed.
The Cal Poly offense will be totally revamped this year after losing most of their starters from last year’s 8-3 team. The Mustangs will have a completely new look at the skill positions after losing starting quarterback Jonathan Dally, receivers Ramses Barden and Tre’dale Tolver along with running backs James Noble and Ryan Mole.
“What we’ve done is we’ve told players we’re all kind of starting as flatliners – Step up, show us who you are,” Walsh said.
Three possible candidates have emerged for the starting quarterback position: junior Tony Smith and redshirt freshmen Andre Broadous and Doug Shumway.
Of the three, Smith is the only quarterback to have thrown an official pass at Cal Poly, going 3 of 7 for 31 yards last season as Dally’s backup.
With little information to go on, Walsh said the quarterbacks would all be monitored closely throughout the spring.
“The quarterback position has a lot of things (to look at),” Walsh said. “You’re looking at how they break the huddle, how they handle the line of scrimmage, pre-snap and post-snap. We look at a lot of different things as well as their performance.”
The quarterback position is not the only one for the taking, as players will jockey for spots on both sides of the ball and special teams. Walsh said players would be watched and evaluated in terms of performance and athletic ability to determine where they fit.
Senior running back Jono Grayson is one of the players likely penciled in to fill the shoes of Noble and Mole, who helped lead Cal Poly to the top overall offense in the FCS and the third best rushing attack.
While Grayson has filled in admirably in the past averaging over eight yards per carry over the last two years, he is not expecting any special treatment from the new coaching staff.
“I’ve got to get healthy and as soon as I can get healthy I’ve still got to work hard,” said Grayson, who is nursing a sore quad but still practiced. “There’s nothing owed to me so I’ve got to work just as hard if not harder than the next guy.”
Grayson will be joined in the backfield by fellow seniors Jaymes Thierry and fullback Jon Hall making them the only seniors on a relatively young offense.
“It feels good to be a senior and to be in the position of a leader and its good to have that confidence of a seasoned vet,” Grayson said.
Grayson, like the rest of the coaching staff, got his first look at some of the younger players and liked what he saw.
“We looked good for the first day,” he said. “Not as sharp as we could or should look, but not bad for our first day. We’ve got a lot of young guys with a lot of talent and it’s good to see what they have.”
While the offense may have a lot of new personnel, the defense will have a new look altogether. Walsh plans to change Cal Poly’s defensive scheme from Ellerson’s double eagle flex to a more traditional 4-3, a difference that will force many players to adjust to new roles.
Walsh said a main priority before the April 25 spring game is to have the team understanding the concepts of their new roles.
“The first two days of non-padded practices is going to be a lot of learning about each other – how they play, how we coach and then for them to learn anything new,” Walsh said. “We want to have the base philosophies of what we’re going to be offensively, defensively and special teams completed by the time we’re done this spring.”
While players are slowly adjusting to the style of the new coaching staff, Grayson said that he noticed a few fundamental changes.
Walsh would wander the practice field occasionally high-fiving players who made a good play and encouraging others to pick up the tempo.
“The coaches seem like they’re having a lot more fun out here,” Grayson said. “Not that the other coaches didn’t, but they seem to be enjoying it a little bit more.”
Walsh agreed that his staff wants to remain positive with the team.
“The game is supposed to be enjoyable,” Walsh said. “It’s supposed to be, ‘Let’s go out and play football because we love to do it.’ As coaches we’re supposed to show the players that we love what we do too. So I think the enthusiasm and the positive energy will be contagious from both sides.”
While remaining positive can help motivate the Mustangs, the bottom line for Walsh and his staff remains to evaluate the team’s talent.
“I really do feel the players are comfortable and I think they’ll get more comfortable as we move along in the process,” Walsh said. “During the meetings you get to know (the team) as guys, but now we want to get to know them as football players.”