jdredmon@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

This fall marks the first time since 1998 that the Mavericks have a new head football coach. But while Russ Martin will be leading the team into the regular season for the first time on August 30, it won’t be the first time he has worked with them. He coached spring football earlier this year.

“In the spring what we wanted to do was to kind of develop a situation as far as work ethic, we wanted them to have the chance to understand our expectations and we really challenged them physically in the off-season,” Martin said. “We felt pretty good overall with what we accomplished, but we told them that summer was gonna be just as important, if not more important, than spring. What they did over the summer and how much they’ve improved or progressed will determine how good we can be.”

If Martin’s 26 years of coaching have taught him anything, it’s that while implementing a new system is important, the most vital aspect is adapting to the players you have, rather than trying to force something to happen.

“As a coach you may believe in something, but at the same time, you gotta be flexible enough and be able to adapt to fit the talents and the ability of your players,” Martin said. “You can’t fit the square peg in the round hole.”

The team’s open quarterback competition has been a story that’s gained a lot of attention since spring football first kicked off back in March of this year. Martin said any one of the quarterbacks could end up leading the team into Arcata, Calif. for the opener against Humboldt University. It just comes down to which QB makes the team, as a whole, better.

“Coming out of the spring, Deke Cisco was probably the leader, but it was really close,” Martin said. “Jason Haferman had probably the best spring game out of anybody. Chris Henderson really started to come on, had a decent spring game and in the scrimmage before the last one, he probably had the best scrimmage. With those three guys returning and then we brought in a transfer quarterback, Austen Fales that lead Hartnell Community College to a 10-1 record with the first conference championship they’ve out there in I don’t know how many years. So all of them are capable quarterbacks and I think they’re ready to go for us.”

The fact that it’s Martin’s first season at CMU isn’t affecting how he thinks the team will do this season.

“Our expectations are high,” Martin said. “We expect to compete for a conference championship, but in order to do so the things that will really become important for us, starting with the constant day-to-day evaluation of ‘are we being the best we can be, are we doing the things right that we’re trying to do.’ If we can play smart and with great heart and great effort, the scoreboard will take care of itself the majority of the time.”