Spring game nears

The past two weeks the Eagles’ football team has been hard at work as they prepare for the annual spring game scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 13.

Coming off a season in which they missed the playoffs despite a 7-3 record, the Eagles are excited to get back to work.

“It feels good to be back in pads,” Cornerback Malik Goss, sophomore of Upland, California, said. “Just running around in t-shirts and shorts; it’s cool for a break and it’s relaxing, but it feels good to hit someone again.” 

CSC is allowed 15 practices leading up to the spring game when the offense competes against the defense to give fans and attendants a preview of the upcoming season.

With the departures of Chris Stein and Jeff Larson, the Eagles will look to Logan Masters as its new offensive coordinator and Craig Jersild as defensive coordinator. The coaching changes mean players are learning new playbooks and schemes.

According to quarterback Dalton Holst, junior of Gillette, Wyoming, the offense is looking to use run-pass-option plays in its new scheme, calling on the quarterback to make more reads at the line of scrimmage before the snap.

“Instead of a built-in play we will have two to three plays we can run off of it,” Holst said.

Holst threw for 2,603 yards and 22 touchdowns last season under previous offensive coordinator Chris Stein, but the Eagles’ leader understands how important spring practice is for learning a new scheme.

“As far as the new offense goes, we need to get accustomed to the new play calls like the verbiage that the staff wants to get in our heads,” Holst said. “The expectation is just getting used to the new stuff that’s coming in and it becoming second nature.”

The defense will also see its share of changes this upcoming season as it plans to move to a 3-3-4 scheme.

“The people who show up (to the spring game), I just want to show them that the defense is coming along well. We are ready for the season and we are going to be aggressive and ready to go.” Goss said.