Head coach Tony Caviglia of the Fresno City College football team is expecting his team to continue the winning tradition that he has brought to the squad since he became head coach back in 1999.
This season’s crop of guys will have some new starting faces. Freshman Bryant Moniz will be replacing last year’s starting quarterback Derrick Shaw who has been suspended indefinitely for personal reasons.
When Moniz was asked if he was ready to lead the team by Caviglia via text message, he responded by sending a message back to the coach that said, “Guaranteed coach, I was born to do this.”
The Rams running philosophy mirrors University of Southern California’s during the 2005 season. Reggie Bush and LenDale White hit opponents with a one-two punch.
The Rams one-two punch is anchored by the freshman Raymond Neil. Neil will mainly be used to run outside of the tackles followed by Kenny Hendrington (Bullard). Hendrington will be featured more as the power running back for the rams.
The key to the Rams’ wide receiver bench is their depth. Caviglia will be using four and five wide receivers sets more often this year than he has in the past.
Sherman Lang will lead a crowd of wide-outs. Freshmen Ronnie Hattin (Edison), Jon Blea (Yosemite High), Marcus Russell (Buchanan High), Erin Banks (Clovis East), and Dontrell Lee (Riverview Garden Mo.) will be spreading out the Ram offense all year.
The Ram defense, in many ways, is ahead of the offense, Caviglia said. The defensive line is locked down two-deep with potential Division I prospects.
According to the FCC football web site Caviglia said “Defensively, we are an attacking gap control defense. We are a zone team 65% of the time and the other 35% is some form of man-to-man defense.”
He added, “We like to attack offenses using a variety of alignments and we want to pressure them into bad plays. We like to play 8 or 9 defensive linemen during the game, and at times 5 or 6 defensive backs. Depth on defense is a primary goal so we can stay fresh for 4 quarters.”
Utilizing depth won’t be difficult for the Rams on defense. However, Caviglia considers this season’s road schedule to be one of the toughest that he has seen in a while. If his team is to be successful this season they are going to have to win on the road.
