What a difference a year makes.
When Weber State starts its spring football drills Monday at 3:30 p.m., it will be with experience at nearly every position, including head coach.Dave Arslanian, who'd gotten the head job just weeks before spring practice last year, now has a year under his belt, as do quarterbacks Jamie Martin and Ryan Schmidt. Sixteen of 24 starters, including the kicking team, are back. Brent Chuhaniuk will add placekicking to his punting.
Additionally, instead of the unexpected losses Arslanian faced last year because of injury and ineligibility, this year, players are dropping in, not dropping off.
Wide receiver Rick Justice is back from the leg injury that kept him out a whole year, and receiver Jon Fuller is back from an LDS mission.
There are 16 redshirts and four Proposition 48 freshmen to fill in around the 34 lettermen expected to turn out Monday, and there are a couple of transfers, like linebacker Sam Katoa, out of Ricks College and Texas Christian, and offensive line JC transfer Mike Middlebrook.
The total number of players for spring ball should be about 65.
Weber will be two-experienced-players-deep at nearly every position, in some places three-deep, despite losing all-everythings like tight end Peter Macon, linebacker C.D. Beck, rover Mike Babb and center Keith Chambers.
"A year ago, we were pretty much trying to find the pieces of the puzzle and find out what talents we had," says Arslanian. "Now we want to refine those talents and work on being fundamentally sound and building the discipline it takes to be successful."
Arslanian hopes spring practice will allow some new leaders to emerge to take the places of Beck and Macon, and he's holding off naming captains because of that. He'll let the team vote on its captains in a couple of weeks.
He wishes he had more than two quarterbacks for spring repetitions. He does, however, have three freshmen signed for the fall. Martin, a sophomore, is the designated starter, but Schmidt has as much experience directing the Wildcats.
One spot Arslanian has to fill is at defensive coaching. Defensive coordinator Bill Smith recently left after only one year for the University of Utah, and Arslanian is hoping to find momentarily either a new coordinator or a new defensive position coach.
That won't disrupt the defensive philosophy. Coaches Mark Brady and Robb Akey are familiar with Smith's defense, and there are nine defensive starters back. "We don't want to start changing things midstream on those kids," Arslanian says.
Weber will finish spring ball in four weeks, down one from the past, practicing every weekday and Saturdays in case of bad weather. The spring scrimmage is May 5 at noon.