Clan is forced to make changes
SFU lost starting quarterback to Div. 1 school but coach remains optimistic
Somewhere along the road to respectability in its new life as an NCAA Div. 2 football program, the Simon Fraser Clan became relevant enough within the world’s largest collegiate sports organization to become a crop worth harvesting.
First, Brigham Young University, a traditional factory for NFL quarterbacks, scooped up Clan offensive coordinator Jason Beck in mid-February to become its new quarterbacks coach. Then, two-year starting quarterback Trey Wheeler, who threw for 3,268 yards and 28 touchdowns for SFU last season, announced he would transfer to a Div. 1 school, ultimately choosing the University of San Diego over both Wyoming and Cornell.
It was at once a pat on the back and swift kick to solar plexus. A Clan team that went 0-8 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and 1-9 overall during its 2010 maiden NCAA voyage, was coming off a 4-6 conference season, and were a win away from a plus-.500 record at 5-6 overall.
The offence? It led the GNAC in total yards and passing yards, and its 306.3 yards passing per game was 14th best in a field of 156 NCAA Div. 2 teams.
So as the Clan begins preparations for its fourth season in the GNAC, SFU head coach Dave Johnson greets a concerned line of questioning in his usual upbeat way.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Johnson explained Thursday, chatting as he took the long walk from the football offices down to a late morning practice at Terry Fox Field, “my MO is that when there is change, the idea is to upgrade.”
That’s Johnson way of stating, in no uncertain terms, that he and his team have set the bar of expectation even higher for the 2013 campaign.
With the season opener at Humboldt State just over two weeks away, and an intra-squad scrimmage set for Sunday (2 p.m.) atop Burnaby Mountain, Johnson becomes fully engaged while speaking about the battle going on at quarterback between holdover Ryan Blum, a former receiver, and newcomer Ryan Stanford.
Of the two, Stanford is the more experienced quarterback. The Phoenix, Ariz., native spent one season at North Dakota State, before transferring to the junior college ranks last season at Phoenix College. Blum, a Santa Rosa, Calif., native, was recruited to SFU as a receiver before Johnson spotted him throwing the ball on the sidelines before a practice and switched him to quarterback.
“Stanford has more game reps,” said Johnson, “but the athleticism and commitment Blum has demonstrated is why he is in this competition. It’s exciting.”
With a talented receiving corps led by former Coquitlam-Centennial standout Lemar Durant, who last season caught 91 passes for 1,318 yards and 17 touchdowns, as well as tight end Jamal Kett, there will be targets aplenty for whomever Johnson names the starting pivot.
And speaking of change, two new co-ordinators are on the scene. James Colzie III, part of the coaching staff that helped Valdosta State win the 2007 national Div. 2 title, takes over the defence. Nick Lucey, last season the offensive co-ordinator at Div. 2 Western New Mexico, assumes the same responsibilities at SFU.
Lucey said that aside from the charms of the Greater Vancouver area, SFU’s breakthrough 2012 season, as well the GNAC’s reputation as one of the best Div. 2 conferences in the NCAA, made his decision to come north an easy one.
“The GNAC is just a very good league, top to bottom,” said Lucey, who during his playing days at the University of Puget Sound, played against SFU when the two schools were competing at the NAIA level. “And Simon Fraser came out and won five games, they knocked off Humboldt State, beat Dixie State twice and had Western Oregon on the ropes twice. That’s no small feat and I think that started to catch a lot of eyes.”
And while Johnson wouldn’t mind a little more stability with his coaching staff, the task now is to go out and win.
“It’s been four years,” he says of playing in the NCAA. “We’re tired of humble pie. We’re at the stage now where we want to make a run (at the GNAC championship). There are no weak sisters in the GNAC, but the good news is that we’re not a weak sister any more. We are excited to see where this thing ends up.”
The Clan plays four of its first five games on the road and doesn’t open at home until Sept. 28 when it faces Western Oregon at Terry Fox Field.