If last year’s spring practice brought San Benito back to its
offensive roots, last week’s rain-soaked session allowed the Baler
football team to further develop and build upon those roots from a
year ago.
”
We’re a step ahead of the game than we at this point last
year,
”
San Benito head coach Chris Cameron said.
The team’s return to a triple-option offense last spring helped
morph the Baler attack into a far more formidable force last season
when it scored a league-high 364 points, a drastic improvement from
the two previous seasons when it combined for just 231 points.
HOLLISTER
If last year’s spring practice brought San Benito back to its offensive roots, last week’s rain-soaked session allowed the Baler football team to further develop and build upon those roots from a year ago.
“We’re a step ahead of the game than we at this point last year,” San Benito head coach Chris Cameron said.
The team’s return to a triple-option offense last spring helped morph the Baler attack into a far more formidable force last season when it scored a league-high 364 points, a drastic improvement from the two previous seasons when it combined for just 231 points.
Cameron said last year that the Haybalers had run a similar option-oriented attack in 1998, which eventually hit its peak in 2004 and 2005 when San Benito advanced to the Central Coast Section Championship in the Large School Division two years in a row.
But offseason tweaks to the attack moved the Balers away from what they had initially started with, meaning last season’s return to the triple option was new for each and every player involved.
This year, despite having lost plenty on both sides of the ball, San Benito’s learning curve is lessened simply due to those returning players.
“It’s our second year into it, so we’ve got kids who have been there and done that,” Cameron said. “Last year at this time, it was all new to everybody, every single guy.”
Key returners for San Benito on offense will be backs James Flook and Cody Hendricks, while last year’s backup quarterback Tyler Decker, who filled in for the injured Trevor Fabing through two CCS playoff games last year, handled the majority of snaps last week behind center.
Freshman Michael Bocksnick also saw some work at the quarterback position, but suffered a back injury that sidelined him for a portion of the week.
“I’ve got some guys coming back that know some fundamental skills and understand something about scheme,” Cameron said, “so it’s nice.”
San Benito’s defense will be very green, however, as it will lose two of its three down lineman, all of its secondary and a “gigantic chunk” of the linebacking corps, Cameron said.
Prior to spring practice, though, the San Benito coaching staff met up with Chuck Petersen, who is an assistant coach at North Texas and who was the offensive coordinator at Air Force where he spent 17 seasons in various capacities.
Petersen, whose teams at Air Force were triple-option heavy, educated the Baler staff for two days on offense, breaking down defenses, watching film, and learning ways on how to teach all of it to the players.
“We’re not changing a ton of things because we’re successful doing stuff, but we’re learning better ways to do things and adding some wrinkles here and there,” said Cameron, who has known Petersen for some time. “In a sense, it’s expanding on some of the things we did last year … with some variations of what we’re doing.”
The biggest changes for the Balers this season, aside from the different players, may just be on the sidelines. Bryan Smith, who has been San Benito’s offensive coordinator for the last three seasons, will coach quarterbacks and fullbacks in the fall. The former Haybaler is trying to complete classes at Cal State – Monterey Bay.
While Smith still plans to help out the offense where he can, the offensive coordinating duties will be manned by Bob Rawles, who coached running backs and was the special teams coordinator last season.
“We’re a little young in terms of skill positions, but our guys are working hard,” Smith said.
The Balers have a whole summer of workouts ahead of them, of course, starting on June 14. In order to work out, though, each and every player needs an updated physical — administered between June 1 and June 12 — and their $85 transportation fee.
Meanwhile, first official practice is scheduled for Aug. 13. San Benito will also travel to Live Oak High to take part in a scrimmage on Aug. 27, with the team’s first game of the 2010 season slated for Sept. 3 against Andrew Hill.
“Our kids have worked really hard this year, for the most part,” Cameron said. “We’re gonna make strides … and put the best product out on the field.”
