Spartans look to crank up the scoring in 2017

San Jose State ranked 103rd in the nation in points per game last season

New San Jose State football coach Brent Brennan, like his Mountain West Conference counterpart Jay Norvell at Nevada, is a career-long assistant in his first assignment as the head man. And, like Norvell, he’s changing everything. That’s just fine with Spartans players Andre Cachere and Nate Velichko.

“From my point of view (the transition) is going great,” Cachere, a senior cornerback, said late last month at the Mountain West Media Summit in Las Vegas, Nev. “I feel like there haven’t been any hiccups or anything like that.

“All the players have transitioned really well, and coach Brennan has done an amazing job of getting everybody together and kind of getting to know everyone on a personal level.”

It helps, perhaps, to know the territory. Brennan, a San Jose native (but a UCLA graduate and a former Bruins wide receiver) spent six years as a Spartans assistant under Dick Tomey and Mike McIntyre. He came back to SJSU, following the dismissal of Ron Caragher (19-30 in four years), after a six-year stint as receivers coach at Oregon State.

The San Jose State offense was anemic last year, averaging 24.4 points per game — 103rd nationally and 10th in the 12-team Mountain West en route to a 4-8 record.

Brennan’s response in the spring was to drastically increase the tempo and the physicality.

Heads were swimming and tongues were dragging. But Velichko, a senior offensive tackle, said the mission was accomplished.

“It’s been pretty smooth, learning the new system,” he said. “… There’s a crazy amount of energy from coach, so it made it fun every day in practice.”

Fun? That sometimes depended, Cachere said, on which side of the ball one was on.

“On the offensive side, from the defense’s point of view they’re going crazy fast,” he said. “The uptempo offense, it works. It’s amazing.

“They had us on our heels the first couple of days, but then on the defensive side we’ve adjusted really well to it.”

Brennan’s defense, as well, presents some new challenges for the offense.

“They do a lot of shifts, a lot of different things that keep us on our heels,” Velichko said, “just like the uptempo offense keeps them on our heels.

“It’s been a really good transition, getting to know one another’s system. … It’s one of our toughest opponents, facing ourselves.”

Offensive and defensive systems, in and of themselves, don’t win games. But Brennan does have some talent with which to work.

Cachere, the 2016 Mountain West leader in pass breakups , and linebacker Frank Ginda, a preseason all-conference selection, lead the defense.

On offense, several quarterbacks are vying to replace 2016 starter Kenny Potter. Leading rusher Malike Roberson (508 yards, a 5.1-yard average per carry returns. Justin Holmes (39 catches, 613 yards, three touchdowns) is the top returning receiver.

It never hurts to have an all-conference punter, which the Spartans do in senior Michael Carrizosa (a 44.3-yard average last season).

“I feel like we definitely have a chance to open some eyes this year,” Cachere said. “We really haven’t finished games so well the last couple of years, but I feel like the new coaching staff has really pushed doing that.”