College football has a certain beauty to it. Each season has the scent of a brand new car or the satisfying feeling of moving into a house that’s freshly renovated. Except, fans who still may be groaning from prior failures to win have to be asking themselves one questions…Is this a rebuilding season? Or a restart season?
The Colorado Mesa University football team is hitting the restart button, not the rebuild button. Key components from years past have gone up and graduated, however, the gaps they left behind seem to have filled quite nicely.
“One of the best things we got going is our great team chemistry and I think our guys are playing well as units,” Head Coach Russ Martin said. “We may not have some of the individual super talents. Don’t get me wrong, we have some really talented guys but I think we are playing better as a team and I think that is going to be the big key.”
Last year the Mavericks missed the playoffs for a second consecutive year after finishing 7-4, which was their worst record since 2014. They did finish the season winning the last three games, however, that was after their fate of missing the postseason was sealed.
Who the quarterback is going to be will be has been one of the biggest questions and will continue to be so going into the regular season. Former starter Eystin Salum, who last year passed the record for most career passing yards out of any CMU quarterback, is no longer under center. Senior Rope Ruel and a pair of sophomores, Aaron Howard and Hayden Bollinger, remain as the three competing for the starting spot.
“I need great consistency,” Martin said. “We’re not really putting any of last year’s game tape on to try and evaluate them. We’re just looking at strictly this year and saying ‘Hey, what are you doing now and what are you doing on a consistent basis?’ They gotta manage the game, eliminate the turnovers and help us get a chance to be in the fourth quarter.”
Ruel is in his fifth year with the program and has been waiting his turn patiently and has had more time to develop himself as one of the primary leaders on the team. Both Howard and Bollinger have been improving and impressing since the spring of this year, but a clear candidate for the starter has not broken from the ranks. Howard possesses a unique athletic ability and agility and has proven he can make throws inside the pocket while Bollinger stands at a daunting 6’4″ and weighs 230 pounds in which has helped him truck over any linebacker he wishes.
Bets are being placed on the experience of Ruel to be the deciding factor for who will start week one, but Martin hasn’t counted out using all three quarterbacks as the season progresses.
“I know I’m different from most people in this but go back to 1985 when I was coaching defense for Baylor University; we had too offensive units that we called Green unit and Gold unit and they rotated two series and you would go out. Then in the fourth quarter depending on who was having a better day, that is who we went with.”
There has been no indication that is the game plan that the Mavericks will run with this year but it is plausible more than one quarterback could be seeing the field on a regular basis. All three quarterbacks have been getting reps with the ones, two’s and three’s as well as competing equally in the scrimmages.
More eyes should be paying attention to the Maverick defense. The return of safety Darian Turner will anchor the secondary while the trenches will be controlled by a mix of veterans and some young guns. Mason Newton, Reed Rowan, and Ricky Hayes will be the new senior front on the defensive line but younger players like Kyle Schulman and Logan Bayus will try to move up on the depth chart this season.
“I think people are going to hear and see a lot of new names,” Martin said. “But I think we got some guys right now that are playing well and understand the importance of playing within the scheme of the system.”
The Mavericks will be kicking off their season on the road against South Dakota Mines in Rapid City on Sept. 7 but will have their first home game the following week against Eastern New Mexico University on Sept. 14.
