The San Benito High football team participated in the second annual USA Football/Max Preps Media Day presented by the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on July 13. In all, 33 teams from Northern California and as far away as central Oregon took the stage in a press conference setting to answer questions from a dozen media members.
Bryan Smith, the longtime assistant coach who was promoted to the head position in the off-season, brought four players: Hunter Raquet, Richard Justo, Michael Camacho and Vincent Chavez. After Smith and the players fielded questions for roughly 10 minutes, they were escorted to the 49ers practice field, where they received equipment demonstrations from a Riddell representative and participated in a Heads Up football tackling drills from USA Football.
Raquet, an incoming senior quarterback, said his favorite part of the day was fielding questions from the media at the press table. Raquet actually practiced his responses with his dad. Perhaps that’s why Raquet didn’t look quite as nervous as some of the other players from other teams who took the stage.
After all, most of them had never taken questions from several media members at the same time. The Balers actually received a bonus 20-minute tour in the 49ers Museum, which has plenty of interactive elements, including a gridiron challenge where fans can run, pass and kick the ball in a simulation game.
Justo talked about the rich football tradition in Hollister.
“Hollister is known for football,” said Justo, whose two uncles also played for the school.
Camacho answered a question about making reads on the field, and Chavez was asked about the difference in coaching between former coach Chris Cameron and Smith.
“It’s a big change from coach Cam to coach Smith, but the intensity is still there,” Chavez said.
Smith worked right alongside Cameron for many years as the team’s offensive coordinator. The two have a great relationship, as evidenced by Cameron helping out with the zero period weight-training program.
“Coach Cam has been nothing but supportive in this process,” Smith said. “So the transition has been very smooth.”
The Balers return five players on offense and eight on defense. They open the season on Aug. 27 at Sacred Heart Prep, a perennial Central Coast Section power. The rest of their non-league slate includes traditionally strong teams in Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Wilcox.
“With the new alignment (that was instituted last year regarding playoff classification), there’s no reason to play anyone in the lighter magnitude,” Smith said. “We want to play the best competition. We have 82 guys on an everyday basis at 6 a.m. We’ll carry a roster of about 67 going into the season.”
The following two days after Media Day at Levi’s, the Balers hosted their camp, where the parents were invited to watch their sons go through combine-like drills and other exercises. Raquet has been impressed with the potential of some of the wide receivers, including Isaac Regalado and Adam Mendoza.
At last week’s camp, Smith said the team accomplished its goal of playing a bit faster without thinking as much. Afterward, Smith thanked the parents who were in attendance for instilling in their sons a sense of commitment and dedication to stick things through the 6 a.m. summer workouts.
The Balers have their first padded practices on Aug. 5 and 6, and the players will be overly excited to start hitting. However, Smith knows he has to ease his team into tackling, since they haven’t been able to play with pads on since the end of the 2015 season. Smith is encouraged by the fact that there are several players competing for spots on the line on both sides of the ball.
