Weber State's football team opens its 1992 Spring football practices today, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Under NCAA guidelines, the 'Cats have 21 days to get in their allotted 15 practices, of which, five must be non-contact, no pads.
The practices conclude May 2 with the annual Purple/White Intra-Squad Game. The Intra-Squad contest will be held in Wildcat Stadium, starting at 2 p.m.Wildcat head football coach Dave Arslanian begins his fourth season at the football helm. Arslanian's teams have compiled an overall mark of 16-18-0, but have shown steady improvement each season, posting records of 3-8-0, 5-6-0 and 8-4-0.
WSU returns 36 lettermen and 14 starters off of last year's team. Of the returnees, 21 are on defense and 15 on offense. Ten of the 14 starters returning, are on defense.
Arslanian says that the main focus during spring practice is to find starters on offense and leaders on defense.
"Offensively, we need to replace our entire receiving corps, an outstanding running back and three of the best offensive linemen we've had here at WSU," Arslanian said. Defensively, we are looking for some players to step forward and become not only leaders, but dominant players for us."
Headlining the returnees is senior quarterback, Jamie Martin (6-4, 210). Last season he set WSU and Big Sky Conference single season marks for total offense (4,337 yds) and passing (4,125 yds) and went on to win the Walter Payton Trophy as the outstanding player in NCAA Division 1-AA football.
What Arslanian wants to do this spring is focus on grooming Martin's backup and eventual replacement. "Rob Westervelt has been in the program two years now and continues to improve. But Bryan Martin and Bob Bees, a couple of redshirt freshmen last fall, are both excellent quarterbacks as well. That will be an interesting battle to keep an eye on."
The only other starters returning on offense besides Martin, are offensive guards Todd Casey (6-3, 275 Jr.), Miller Atagi (6-1, 265 Jr.) and placekicker Patrik Schmidle (6-3, 205 Sr.). Another player back whom may have been forgotten is Trevor Shaw (6-3, 215 Jr. WR/TE). Shaw became the first receiver in WSU history to catch 100 passes in his first two seasons. But he suffered a knee injury during the off-season last summer and red-shirted in 1991.
Top returnees back on defense are Fredrick X (5-11, 175 Jr. cornerback) and Tim Otton (6- 3, 250 Sr. defensive end).
The 1992 schedule has the Wildcats home for five dates, beginning with Southern Utah University Sept. 12 in Wildcat Stadium. WSU opens the season Sept. 5 at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico.