Cal Poly Opens 2021 Football Season at San Diego on Saturday

Saturday, September 4

San Diego, CA

1:05 p.m.

San Diego

Kahliq Paulette (1), Conor Bruce (7) and Spencer Brasch (13) have been competing for the starting nod from head coach Beau Baldwin in Fall Camp the last three weeks.

Cal Poly Opens 2021 Football Season at San Diego on Saturday

8/31/2021 9:30:00 AM | Football

WEEKLY NOTES: CAL POLY | SAN DIEGO | BIG SKY
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Beau Baldwin will begin his first full season as head coach of the Cal Poly football team Saturday afternoon as the Mustangs (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky) travel to face the University of San Diego Toreros (0-0, 0-0 Pioneer) at Torero Stadium (cap.: 6,000).

Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio (1280 AM and 101.7 FM) with Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer (play-by-play) and Stephan Hodges (analyst) calling the action. Pregame show starts at 12:30 p.m. Links for video and audio streams as well as live stats are available on the football schedule page at www.GoPoly.com.

The Beau Baldwin Era at Cal Poly officially opened last spring, more than 15 months after he was named Cal Poly's 17th head football coach on Dec. 11, 2019. The Mustangs fell 34-24 to Southern Utah at home and dropped a 73-24 decision at UC Davis and a 62-10 verdict at Eastern Washington.

Baldwin was head coach at Eastern Washington for nine seasons (2008-16) and was an assistant coach for the Eagles from 2003-06. An offensive coordinator at Cal for three years (2017-19) before coming to Cal Poly, Baldwin guided Eastern Washington to an 85-32 mark, five Big Sky titles and six FCS playoff berths.

San Diego won four of six games last spring, finishing tied for second place in the Pioneer Football League with two other schools, a half-game behind Davidson.

Ninth-year head coach Dale Lindsey (68-21, Western Kentucky '64) welcomed back 44 lettermen, including 19 starters. Leading the group of returning veterans are running back Emilio Martinez, who rushed for 461 yards and two touchdowns in six games last spring, and safety and kickoff return specialist Hunter Nichols, who was second on the team with 37 tackles and three pass breakups and averaged 26.8 yards on 13 kickoff returns.

Quarterback Mason Randall also returns after completing 128 of 202 passes for 1,561 yards and 10 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Five Toreros caught 10 or more passes last spring and all of them return, led by Michael Carner (35 catches, 538 yards, four touchdowns), Christian Brown (25-347-2), Derek Kline (22-287-3) and Martinez (22-125-1).

Other top Torero returnees are two-time All-Pioneer Football League offensive lineman DJ Wright, linebacker Kyle Bilchik (team-leading 38 tackles, including 2.5 sacks, in spring) and cornerback Michael Hawkins (35 tackles, two interceptions).

Cal Poly fans are anticipating major changes, particularly on offense, with Baldwin at the helm. The Triple Option is gone and the new offensive package likely will result in three or four wide receivers on most plays with one running back instead of two slotbacks, a fullback and a pair of receivers in the formation.

Baldwin and his staff welcomed 48 returning lettermen to Fall Camp three weeks ago, including 23 on offense, 21 on defense and four specialists on special teams. The returnees include 26 players who started at least one game during the shortened spring season -- 13 on both offense and defense.

Also on the fall roster are 31 players who were redshirts last spring or injured, and almost 40 newcomers, including up to eight transfers from other four-year schools.

The group of veterans includes seven seniors who opted out of the second half of the spring schedule in order to preserve one final full season of eligibility this fall. They include linebackers Matt Shotwell and Lance Vecchio along with running backs Lepi Lataimua and Chuby Dunu and tight ends Nick White and Quentin Harrison. Defensive back Freddie Gaines, a member of the 2019 Big Sky Conference Football Community Service Team, also returns for a sixth year.

Shotwell led the Mustangs in tackles for the third straight year last spring and enters his final season as a Mustang with 217 career tackles, No. 17 on Cal Poly's all-time career tackles list. Vecchio made 19 tackles, including a sack, last spring while Lataimua (143 rushing yards in three games last spring) and Chuby Dunu (100 yards) head the list of returning ball carriers.

Topping the depth chart at the three wide receiver positions heading into Fall Camp were Fresno State transfer Chris Coleman at X, Xavier Moore at Z and Zedakiah Centers at F. Moore made three catches in the spring and caught a touchdown pass for Cal Poly's only points against Oregon State in 2019. Centers caught eight passes.

Quentin Harrison, who led the team with 10 catches, two for touchdowns, last spring has moved to the tight end spot.

Among other things, Baldwin and his coaching staff have been focusing on in Fall Camp were major vacancies at quarterback, running back and cornerback plus the shuffling of offensive linemen and wide receivers.

Still to be answered is who will start at quarterback. The signal-calling position has been a three-way battle between Conor Bruce, Spencer Brasch and Kahliq Paulette. One of them will replace two-year starter Jalen Hamler, who opted to transfer to San Jose State, and Hunter Raquet, who started last spring's game at Eastern Washington and is now at Jacksonville State.

Bruce has completed one pass for 11 yards in his Cal Poly career. Brasch is a transfer from Cal, where he played two games in 2019 against Utah and Oregon State, after completing 359 of 602 passes for 5,522 yards with 78 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions over his final two prep seasons at Higley High School in Gilbert, Ariz. Paulette was a grayshirt last year, spending the year back at his home in Converse, Texas after accounting for over 3,700 yards of offense and 45 touchdowns in 2019 as he completed 117 of 221 passes (53 percent) for 2,500 yards and 28 scores and rushed for 1,200 yards on 121 carries (9.5 yards per carry) and 17 touchdowns at Veterans Memorial High School in San Antonio.

At running back, Duy Tran-Sampson, Mark Biggins and CJ Cole all suffered injuries in last spring's shortened season. Tran-Sampson, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2019, and Cole, a Santa Maria St. Joseph High School graduate who was a 1,000-yard rusher as a senior and caught 64 passes as a junior, have retired from football due to their injuries. Biggins is back for his sophomore season.

Xavier Oliphant, Dawson Hurst and Julian Reed head a young group of players at the cornerback position. The offensive line features veterans Wade Willet (left guard), D.J. Stuckey (right guard) and Nicolo DiFronzo (center) while San Luis Obispo High School graduate Charles Lincoln figures to fill the open spot at right tackle. Redshirt freshman Austin Anderson is No. 1 on the depth chart at left tackle.

Lindsey has guided the Toreros to eight straight winning seasons and FCS playoff berths in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. He was hired as San Diego's head coach on December 29, 2012, replacing Ron Caragher, who was hired as head coach at San Jose State.

Lindsey, San Diego's defensive coordinator in 2012 and linebackers coach in 2008, was at New Mexico State from 2009-11 as an assistant head coach and linebackers coach. His resume also includes over 30 years of football coaching at the high school, college and professional ranks.

Most recently with the Washington Redskins (2004-06), Lindsey also spent time on the San Diego Chargers staff as defensive coordinator (2002-03) and linebackers coach (1992-96). Lindsey played both linebacker and fullback for two years at Western Kentucky.

Baldwin is coaching against San Diego for the first time while Lindsey is 1-4 against Cal Poly.

The Mustangs are 5-1 all-time against San Diego. The two clubs first met in 1959 — won by Cal Poly 36-14 in San Luis Obispo — and played a three-game series from 2012-14 as well as on the second weekend of the 2016 campaign, all won by the Mustangs. The 5-0 streak ended 11 weeks later in the 2016 FCS playoffs as the Toreros posted a 35-21 victory on a wet Saturday afternoon in San Luis Obispo.

Last meeting between the Mustangs and Toreros was in the 2019 season opener at Spanos Stadium. Hamler completed his first six passes, three for touchdowns, and also ran for two scores as Cal Poly earned a 52-34 victory. Tran-Sampson rushed for 172 yards on 15 carries.

San Diego won or shared nine Pioneer League championships in a row prior to the 2021 spring season. The Toreros won four straight Pioneer League titles (2016-19) with perfect 8-0 marks before losing a conference game last spring -- 31-25 to Davidson on April 3 -- for the first time since Oct. 10, 2015. San Diego has qualified for the FCS playoffs five times in the last seven years.

Cal Poly, which captured the 2012 Big Sky title in its first year in the conference, claimed four Great West Conference titles in the eight-year history of the league (2004, 2005, 2008, 2011) and has earned NCAA Division I FCS playoff berths in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016.

Cal Poly plays on the road again next week, visiting Fresno State on Saturday, Sept. 11. Kickoff inside Bulldog Stadium is set for 7:05 p.m.