Here at Mountain West Media Days, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun gave a rundown of his team heading into training camp, which starts on Aug. 3. There were some interesting personnel developments, and I’ll break it up into offense and defense.
Quarterback: No surprises here, Connor Dietz is the guy. But Calhoun did note that Dietz threw the ball “really well” in the spring – which is the biggest question on him coming into camp.
“He’s made quite a bit of improvement in the last three years as a passer,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun said whether the offense will be as balanced as it has been the past couple years will depend on if the receivers develop, which we’ll touch on in a moment.
Running back: The move of Wes Cobb to tailback, something Air Force did in the spring, is official. He will start camp there. Mike DeWitt will be the starting fullback. Calhoun singled out DeWitt for getting in great shape during the offseason and said he thinks DeWitt can be even better this season. Depth at tailback is a potential problem, however.
Cody Getz, who is coming off a knee injury suffered late last season that kept him out most of spring practice, will start camp as the primary backup at tailback. Fullback is pretty well set, with Scott Day and Broam Hart backing up DeWitt (that’s one reason the Falcons could move Cobb to tailback), but tailback depth is something worth watching.
“That is an area you say could be a tad thin,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun said perhaps a freshman or sophomore could emerge behind Cobb.
Wide receiver: The Falcons are replacing Jonathan Warzeka and Zack Kauth, two productive receivers, and this is an area that Calhoun has some concern about. Ty MacArthur had an impressive spring and is one starter, though he has to stay healthy. At the other receiver spot, Calhoun said Dontae Strickland has taken the lead for the starting spot. Others like Mikel Hunter and Brandon Hirneise have experience but Calhoun wants to see them have a good camp. Right now, he’s unsure about the depth at the position.
“That’s what we’re going to find out in August,” he said.
At tight end, Calhoun said Austin Briehl will enter camp as the starter.
Offensive line: The Falcons feel pretty good about this group. Left tackle Jason Kons and left guard Jordan Eason are two of the Falcons’ three returning starters on offense. Center Michael Husar, right guard Drew Kerber and right tackle Alex Huskisson played well in the spring to enter camp as starters, and tackle Evan Kaufman was singled out as a top backup by Calhoun. With a lot of uncertainty going into camp, the line is pretty well set.
Specialists: The Falcons obviously feel good about preseason all-conference pick Parker Herrington at kicker. But punter?
“Nobody emerged in the spring,” Calhoun said.
And long snapper?
“You got any eligibility left?” Calhoun said.
David Baska, Air Force’s punter last season, and Will Conant will battle for that job. Calhoun said the snapping job is wide open.
What happened to Jonathan Lee?
I hear alot of kids will not be playing for academy/air force reasons, most if not all of the kids that were involved in the drug scandal were fb players, or recruited to the academy by calhoun and no longer play football, and a good 50 percent of the recent cheating scandal happened to be fb team members. These guys have been embarassing off the field as well as highly overrated and underachieving as a fb team. This would explain the depth chart missing certain names, look for some to get off shortened probation just before the start of the season.
Sad is someone who would make those claims and not have his/her facts straight. The question concerned Jon Lee and your assumption that he wasn’t mentioned because of the issues you brought up is completely inaccurate. At the appropriate time I am sure Coach Calhoun will address Cadet Lee’s status as a player.
Anthony LaCoste is also available for TB duties after recovering from surgery and also wasn’t mentioned; are you including him in your blanket statement as well?
There are many lessons to be learned at the Academy and some of the greats had to learn them i.e. Tim Jefferson with academics etc. Jon Lee has the potential to be one of the greatest RBs AF has ever had and maybe he is simply learning one of those lesson so give the young man some slack before you pop off with bad info.
Mike
Sad bird what a reckless statement….you are the reason blogs are bad….Jon Lee is agreat kid who is not in any trouble besides getting his academics going….and half of the drug deal was not football players…you must be a disgrunteld academy fan or employee to say all that stuff…..you are truly sad!
Last year, I saw Jon Lee in only limited action (usually at the end of games with straight-forward running plays). Yet, I was impressed with what I saw. A couple of times he lowered his shoulders and put a hurt on some tacklers. Not bad for a freshman. Would have have liked to see what he could do with the “whole playbook”. Based on what little I saw of him, I thought he deserved more snaps, especially considering AF had a number of one-sided games (wins and losses).
I also wish Calhoun would allow the reserve offense to have a little more fun (variety) at the end of games. As long as the reseves are in, I don’t accuse the coach of “running up the score”. As a reserve in high school, I was jazzed to get in the game relatively early in the fourth quarter and have some fun (not just dives up the middle). The bus ride home and Saturday film sessions were always more fun when the second team scored a TD (even if it was late in the game).
Frank – Do you have a similar opinion that AF is not making the most of one-sided games (sans Parent Day games) by giving the reserves more PT (with the whole playbook)?
Jay – agree with you on the HS level – fun to clear a bench and let everyone who worked hard all week get signifigant playing time…………D1 college FB a different animal……..What do you want coach to do in that 1st game? Give unproven starters limited time before the trip to the Big House? Not work on all you need to work on against UNLV and Colorado St. prior to Navy? If starters need more game action work – regardless of score – they should be in there – only reson to take starters out without working on all you need to work on is risk of injury.
I put my faith in Troy!
Hi Ken,
I understand the difference between D1 and high school. My primary point was that when the reserve offense gets an opportunity to play in the fourth quarter, it is important to let them play all-out (rather than five dives up the middle and let the clock run out). While they’re out there, let them show what they can do. How about a few short and medium range passes? With repect to the above post, I would have liked to see Jon Lee run a wider variety of plays. Ditto for seeing what the OL, receivers, QB et. al. can do. These are often your players of the future. And yes, don’t minimize the energy and motivation to be had by allowing the reserves go all out (rather than merely run out the clock).
Jay –
As a coach your job is to win now, not to develop players in blowouts for the next guy if you go 5-7. That being said, Calhoun is about as safe as any coach can be and will probably get a mulligan in ’12 w/anything better than 3-9.
My nephew was a reserve OL last year -and I had no issues with how much/little the 2nd team played last year.
Thought Calhoun was very generous w/PT in the ND game – name another game where the 2nd team SHOULD have played more last year – S Dakota? The starters did not look good and needed work. Tenn. St? looked bad 2 weeks in a row and had Navy the next week….(BTW – Lee and the 2nd team got, if memory serves at least 2, maybe 3 series) N. Mexico about the only game I’d say you have a point….but you were up 30+ at half time….glad to see the Academy had enough class – regardless of who was out there – to take the foot off the gas.
Think you’re splitting hairs about a minor issue with a great coach AF lucky to have.
Same folks who want to see Calhoun play backups more going to give him a pass if they blew an 18-point lead and lost because the backups were in earlier than they should be in the fourth quarter? I’m gonna guess not.
Jon Lee and Anthony LeCoste are on the roster and in the media guide on goairforcefalcons.com. People, please consult resources before you start spouting off about a players status. Just because Calhoun didn’t mention them at media days doesn’t mean they won’t be a factor.