Cal Poly football set to open 6-game spring season. Here’s how the team stacks up
After last playing a game on Nov. 23, 2019 — and postponements of their first two Big Sky Conference games amid the COVID-19 pandemic — the Cal Poly Mustangs football team is set to begin its modified six-game season Saturday at home against Southern Utah.
Cal Poly’s first two games, planned for Feb. 27 (UC Davis) and March 6 (Weber State), were bumped to March 20 and April 17, respectively.
Fans won’t be allowed in Alex Spanos Stadium to start the season, but games will be broadcast on gopoly.com/sports/football/schedule.
KSBY will air the three home games on The Central Coast CW 5, with Chris Sylvester handling play-by-play duties.
On a recent Monday, the Mustangs took to the practice field working on offensive execution, firing screen passes toward the sideline and deploying play action calls, a marked transition to the run-heavy, triple option offense of past years.
The Mustangs’ defense, led by linebacker Matt Shotwell (the last of four Shotwell brothers to play football at Cal Poly, including former NFL player Kyle Shotwell), called out offensive reads, while a cornerback and receiver fought for a tipped ball on a near interception.
“All the starting and stopping has taken a toll on morale, and we’ve had to get back up,” Shotwell said. “But we’re feeling pretty good. ... It’s mostly getting your body right and knowing what we got to do every play. We’re definitely making strides, and thankfully we have (enough practice time) to get it going.”
Cal Poly will be trying to right the ship after three straight losing seasons — 3-8 in 2019 (2-6 in Big Sky) after going 5-6 (4-4 conference) in 2018 and 1-10 (1-7 conference) in 2017 under former Head Coach Tim Walsh, who retired after the 2019 season.
“A lot of times coaches come in and have a mantra to change the culture and change things around, but that’s not the case here,” said first-year Cal Poly Coach Beau Baldwin. “(Former Mustangs Coach Tim) Walsh and his staff built a tremendous foundation. I know some of the results at the end weren’t what they wanted, but the foundation was there.”
Will Cal Poly continue to play the triple-option?
Transitioning from the triple-option offense that defined Cal Poly’s program under previous coaches Walsh and Rich Ellerson, Baldwin will use “a lot of elements of a spread offense, but at the end of the day, it’s a multiple” option attack.
“We’ll still get under center, we’ll still play with two tight ends, we’ll still do things that aren’t necessarily in the spread family,” Baldwin said. “You’ll see reps where we have four wideouts on the field and you’ll see reps with two tight ends on the field.”
Baldwin said that the Mustangs’ offensive line has put in a tremendous amount of work to adjust to a new offense as well.
“The O-line is working really well together and that’s one of the hardest positions when you’re changing from a triple-option to a multiple (offense),” Baldwin said. “The work has been really impressive in how they’re buying into the whole process.”
Who will start at Cal Poly quarterback?
Still without a designated starting quarterback, Jalen Hamler, a 6-2 redshirt sophomore out of Lawndale High, and Hunter Raquet, a 6-4 redshirt junior who previously played at Monterey Peninsula College and redshirted a season at Fresno State, mixed in repetitions behind center, both showcasing accurate passing and speed while scrambling out of the pocket.
In a 90-minute scrimmage Saturday, Hamler completed 11 of 16 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns, while Raquet — in his first year at Cal Poly — threw for 49 yards. Juniors Conor Bruce and Kyle Reid showcased their skills as well inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium, Cal Poly officials said.
Baldwin said he’s going to break down film and keep on evaluating before deciding on a starting quarterback.
”We’re not going to announce that until game week,” Baldwin said.
In Saturday’s scrimmage, Hamler completed a 71-yard scoring pass to Michael Roth and a 32-yard touchdown to fullback Ryan Rivera. Hamler also scored on a two-yard run as did Raquet during short-yardage situational plays.
C.J. Cole carried the ball 10 times, totaling 41 yards, while Chuby Dunu added 35 yards on eight trips.
Hamler started all 11 games at quarterback as a redshirt freshman in 2019, tallying 1,689 yards in total offense and completing 57 percent of his passes (62 of 108) for 1,167 yards and 12 touchdowns with just five interceptions. He also rushed for 522 yards and nine scores.
Baldwin’s coaching background
Baldwin said that he has been able to accumulate coaching knowledge at his last two stops at Eastern Washington, where he is the second-winningest coach in Big Sky history with an .806 percentage in conference games over nine years.
As offensive coordinator at Cal, the Bears won 20 of 38 games with appearances in the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl and the 2019 Redbox Bowl, guiding former Mission Prep star Patrick Laird, who now plays for the Miami Dolphins in the NFL.
“Every group of guys you’re around, coaches, players, you just keep learning,” Baldwin said. “You just keep growing and learning with each spot you’re in. If you’re not able to take that stuff and grow, then you’re wasting some of those great opportunities around those great programs and people you’re in.”
Baldwin said at Cal Berkeley, he worked under a “great head” coach, Justin Wilcox, and learned about balancing sports and classes at a a school with rigorous academic experiences, which he’ll need to consider at Cal Poly.
At Eastern Washington, he learned to understand “how to be around a winning culture for a long time.”
“You understood how to be resilient and how to respond year to year, not just the tough times but also success,” Baldwin.
Baldwin said his Cal Poly experience so far has “an absolute blast.”
“I want to play the games, but just being out here with these guys has been awesome,” Baldwin said.
A Cal Poly veteran transitions under a new coach
Shotwell, a redshirt senior who led the Cal Poly defense with 89 tackles in 2019 and 90 tackles in 2018, said it has been a learning curve for the offense and defense to study an entirely new playbook, but players are becoming more comfortable.
“We have lots of different calls, but we’re picking it up pretty fast,” Shotwell said. “There are just little things here and there to fix. But at the end of the day, it’s football.”
Shotwell said he has achieved his dream to play college football at Cal Poly, and he’s enjoying the process of playing under a new coach.
“He just loves football,” Shotwell said. “He loves being out here with the guys. Everyone stops and listens when he talks. The pace that he practices, everything’s detailed. Even when we were shut down, it was about, what can we do in the weight room and getting better every day.”
Shotwell said a turnaround in wins and losses will take a “strong belief we can do it.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Cal Poly football set to open 6-game spring season. Here’s how the team stacks up."
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