A look at UC Davis

A look at UC Davis


As the day of the game gets closer, we’ll take a look at this game much closer. For now, here’s a early preview of the opener against UC Davis.



NCAA Football 11 Dynasty Result: 71-7 Cal. Okay, it wasn’t UC Davis, but it was FCS West. Vereen was player of the game with 100+ rushing yards and 3 TD. Anger didn’t have to punt all day. But UC Davis did score, so they got that going for them.



Quarterback: Last year’s starter Greg Denham is gone, quitting football. 3 QBs are competing: redshirt freshman Austin Heyworth, sophomore Sean Maraz, and freshman Randy Wright. Only Maraz has thrown a pass. Maraz did throw a touchdown, and did get 12 carries. He’s mobile, and should win the job.



Running Back: The Aggies won’t run much, but when they do they’ll hand to junior Joe Trombetta and junior Josh Reese. Trombetta racked up 395 yards and a 3.3 average while Reese gained 382 yards on a 5.5 average. Trombetta is a far more consistent and steady runner, while Reese is a big play guy. Look for Reese to get more carries and run pretty well.



Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: With the 2 top receivers graduating, the load now falls on senior Sean Creadick. After a mild impact his sophomore year, he burst out with 466 receiving yards last year. He scored 5 touchdowns. The tight end, Dean Rogers, is the next leading returner besides a running back. He caught 29 balls for 326 yards in his junior season, and is now back for more. He was All-Conference his sophomore year. After that is a load of inexperience and low numbers, so we may not know much about UC Davis’ receiving corps leading up to the game.

Offensive Line: Since offensive line play is very hard to judge without ever watching a team play, here’s what I could scrounge. I did the best of what I could; of the lineman listed in the media guide with experience in the past, I count 4, including one who was All-Conference in the past. Note the media guide is from the previous season, so there could be no up and comers. UC Davis’ athletic site is pretty awful. Moving on. Last year’s unit was subpar, only paving the way for 3.1 yards per rush. They did only give up 20 sacks per game. An average unit, we’ll call it.

Defensive Line: The defensive ends are Eric Sobotka and Tommy Grillo. They combined for 6.5 TFL and 4.5 sacks, Sobtoka accounting for most of them. Sobotka is a senior and Grillo is a junior. The defensive tackles are junior Jacob Maxson and sophomore Andrew Benjamin. They combined for 11 TFL and 3.5 sacks, Maxson accounting for all of the sacks. Maxson is a very good player, but the supporting cast lags behind.

Linebackers: The only returning starter is Dozie Amajoyi, who got 50 tackles last year. Junior Brock Butler finished right behind him in tackling with 36 tackles and 3.5 TFL; only .5 sacks for him. Marshall Congdon also had 33 tackles, and 3 TFL. Those are the 3 starters. They only combined for 2.5 sacks; don’t look for much blitzing from these guys. A pretty below average unit.



Defensive Backs: The 2 starting corners from last year graduated, so Jonathan Calhoun and Fred Rice would appear to be the starters, at least from returning experience. Calhoun recorded 10 tackles and 1 interception, while Rice only had 7 tackles on the year. Senior Danny Hart, a Sacramento State transfer (funny- aren’t they rivals?) was 2nd in the team with 53 tackles and recovered 3 fumbles. He’s the leader of the defense. The other safety should be Kevyn Lewis, who tackled 30 times last year with 5 TFL and 2 sacks. Lewis is apparently sent on blitzes and is strong in run support. The cornerbacks could absolutely be blasted in this one, but the safeties are quite good.

Overall, it should be what it was scheduled for: a destruction. Still, it’ll be fun to see another California team, and to of course pick up a victory.