Cal Poly football preview: New group of young players, core returners gear up for fall
The first full season for Cal Poly head football coach Beau Baldwin begins Sept. 4 at University of San Diego, kicking off a slate of 11 games, including five at home.
The Mustangs home opener is Sept. 18 against South Dakota, followed by an Oct. 2 contest at Alex G. Spanos Stadium versus Weber State.
Fans will be allowed in the stadium this year, a change from the team’s only 2020-21 home game last March that kept fans away due to COVID-19 safety protocols. Tickets are currently on sale.
Currently, no limits or requirements on attendance have been put in place, though university officials say that’s subject to change with any new public health guidelines.
“We’re going to take huge steps,” Baldwin said. “Effort and energy is non-negotiable, but I sense a level of grit and energy. You’ll see a team that’s fun to watch because of the emotion they’re playing with. ... It’s a different level than even five months ago. With that will come results over time.”
The Mustangs begin Big Sky Conference play Sept. 25 at Montana.
Games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and ESPN Radio 1280AM/101.7FM.
Rebuilding with new players
The Mustangs hope to get off to a better start than their brief 0-3 spring season, hindered by COVID-19 disruptions and two blowout road losses.
Cal Poly canceled its abbreviated spring season halfway through, citing several injuries and a shortage of players.
This year’s Mustangs’ squad includes 31 players who were redshirts last spring or injured, and almost 40 newcomers, including up to eight transfers from other four-year schools, according to a university news release.
“Guys have been more ready to play than they have been in the past at a young age,” Baldwin said in the release.
He added: “High school programs are at a different level, both in offseason training and the programs themselves are at a level to where that young guy might be in a better position to come in and play early compared to the way it was before.”
The team also will have a new face at quarterback after Jalen Hamler and Hunter Raquet, who shared signal-calling duties in the spring games, each transferred to new schools.
Hamler, Cal Poly’s starter in all 11 games in 2019, transferred to San Jose State, and Raquet is now playing at Jacksonsonville State.
Nevertheless, the Mustangs — now in the midst of fall camp practice sessions — return a core group of seniors who opted to play one more season instead of graduating after an unfulfilling spring.
Those include running backs Lepi Lataimua and Chuby Dunu, and linebacker Matt Shotwell, all key contributors in recent years.
“As a team, we have to compete,” Lataimua said. “Obviously in spring season, it didn’t look good and it didn’t pan out the way we wanted. But this season, we have a good group of guys, and Coach Baldwin and the other coaches have put a lot more on our plate, a lot more plays, and we have to be ready to compete.”
Baldwin said: “More than anything, I want to see us grow as a team and process.”
He added goals are less about results and more about how to keep building on strengths and overcoming weaknesses.
“I’ve been fortunate in my career to have some really good records (including a 13-2 mark and a FCS national championship in 2010 at Eastern Washington),” Baldwin said. “We were always more process-oriented and how we were going to grow as a team.”
Local players listed on the Mustangs’ fall roster are: offensive linemen Charles Lincoln (San Luis Obispo High); Timothy Miller (whose hometown is SLO but he graduated from St. Joseph in Santa Maria); and Carson Leedom (SLO High); tight ends Seth Robasciotti (Atascadero High) and Brayden Groshart (Nipomo High); and defensive lineman Mason Barbour (Templeton High).
Six Cal Poly QBs compete for starting role
Conor Bruce, a redshirt junior out of Garces Memorial High in Bakersfield who has completed one pass for 11 yards in his Cal Poly career, enters fall camp at No. 1 on the depth chart, according to a Mustangs news release.
Other players competing for the starting role include: Spencer Brasch, a sophomore transfer from Cal Berkeley; Jackson Pavitt, redshirt freshman from Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa; and Kahliq Paulette, a redshirt freshman from Converse, Texas; along with true freshmen Bryce Weiner of Bullard High School in Fresno and Jaden Jones of Oxnard High School.
Brasch targeted Zedakiah Centers, a freshman wide receiver from Servite High School in Anaheim, for an 80-yard touchdown in an early camp practice, according to a news release.
“We don’t have a quarterback named yet,” Baldwin said. “That’s something we’ll have to determine closer to the start of the season.”
Baldwin added in the news release: “Quarterback competition is a good thing. We don’t look at it as a controversy.”
Top receiver targets are expected to be Centers, converted tight end Michael Roth and Xavier Moore.
Senior Quentin Harrison moves from wide receiver to tight end.
Baldwin said fans should expect a pass-run blend on offense, with variation depending on the opponent.
“I haven’t been around too many championship-level teams that are too heavy on pass or run,” Baldwin said. “To keep the defense off balance, you have to be balanced.”
Improving on challenging 2020 season
The Mustangs will seek to improve after Baldwin’s brief inaugural 2020 campaign, affected by COVID delays and injuries.
The Mustangs ended with lopsided losses to river UC Davis and Eastern Washington, looking greatly overmatched.
But at a recent practice, players cited the energy level and enthusiasm of a fresh start.
“We’re always on a high level every time we come out here,” Shotwell said. “We’re trying to keep the intensity and level of play as high as possible throughout practice the entire time. As we keep going into camp, we’ll build that stamina. It’s called ‘game shape’ for a reason. You don’t get that with offseason training.”
Lataimua said the team is still learning how to gel, and the team’s success will be about “coming together.”
“We have some good individuals, good players,” Lataimua said. “We have to play together and get some wins in us.”
Seniors return rather than graduate
Linebackers Laipeli Palu and Lance Vecchio joined Shotwell in deciding to come back for a second senior year, allowed to play under NCAA rules that didn’t count the 2020 spring season against eligibility.
Tight ends Nick White and Harrison also opted to play one more year, as well as defensive back Freddie Gaines.
“Your senior year is supposed to be your funnest year,” Shotwell said. “It was rough to have only three games last year. When presented the opportunity to come back and have a full senior campaign, I was really excited. I wanted to weigh all my options with career and schooling, and the decision worked out just fine.”
Shotwell (the last of four Shotwell brothers to play football at Cal Poly, including former NFL player Kyle Shotwell), led the Cal Poly defense with 89 tackles in 2019 and 90 tackles in 2018.
Lataimua (143 rushing yards on 38 carries in three games last spring and 274 yards on 33 carries as a junior in 2019) and Chuby Dunu (100 yards on 27 carries last spring) figure to play key roles, along with redshirt Mark Biggins.
Lataimua said a personal goal is to stay healthy, after persevering through two shoulder surgeries.
“I’m a small guy, about 5-8, 5-9, and I feel like I’ve been getting banged up,” Lataimua said. “Staying healthy is one of my biggest keys.”
Season and single-game tickets for all five Cal Poly home games are on sale.
For more information, go to www.GoPoly.com/tickets.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Cal Poly football preview: New group of young players, core returners gear up for fall."
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