Greeley – In the press box at Nottingham Field on Saturday, the theme was “Bigger Skies Ahead” for the Northern Colorado football team under new coach Scott Downing.
Down on the field after the Bears’ spring game, the theme was bigger bodies. Make that bigger, stronger, indefatigable bodies as the Bears start their first full season in the Big Sky Conference.
“I think we have some areas to shore up,” Downing said. “But I also think that we’ve got some people in the program, that if they continue to develop, we can compete at the Big Sky level. Because you have to remember that these kids have played a lot of Division I-AA games.
“We’ve got to get stronger, and we’ve got to raise our level of conditioning….So if we can do that, then we’ve got a chance. But until we get there, it doesn’t matter how much talent we have.”
After watching the Blue team of veteran first-teamers beat a White team comprised mostly of redshirts and underclassmen 14-10, Downing said he was excited about the Bears’ progress during 15 practices.
“Our big theme this spring has been finishing,” Downing said. “In other words, we’ve got to be strong in the fourth quarter, we’ve got to finish plays, we can’t stop before the whistle blows, and I think we got that accomplished today. I was pleased with the way we executed offensively and defensively, for the most part. The guys knew their assignments. We didn’t have any major busts.”
At quarterback, Downing was most encouraged by the player in street clothes on the sidelines, incoming junior college transfer Dominic Breazeale (6-feet-6, 235), an all-conference performer at Mount San Antonio (Walnut, Calif.) College last season.
“We’re very excited about Dominic,” Downing said. “He showed some initiative in coming to the spring game from California. He’s hung out with our guys, he’s been around them.
“He brings a different presence to the field, I’ll tell you that. He’s got that size and he can throw the ball.”
In the West Coast offense Downing brought from Nebraska, there are a lot of three- and four-wide receiver sets. Besides speedster Andy Birkel, who had two catches for 79 yards Saturday, the Bears don’t have a lot of depth. But Downing said he’s excited about the pass-catching threats the Bears have at running back in Patrick Ealy, who scored both touchdowns for the Blue team, as well as Andre Wilson and Jahir Waterman.
“You’d like to have eight, nine receivers that you can can count on and roll them in and out of there,” Downing said. “So we’re going to continue to develop that, and what’s really helping us is that we have three really exceptional tailbacks who can catch the ball.”
Birkel, a transfer from Nebraska last year, said the team is adapting quickly to the new offense and new coach, but that it won’t be until the fall that it actually takes on Downing’s personality.
“That’ll come,” Birkel said. “I think everybody’s really excited about it.”
“They’re getting there,” Downing said. “This is just 15 practices, but they’re getting there.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
N. Colorado schedule
Sept. 2 Cal-Davis TBA
Sept. 9 at Portland St. TBA
Sept. 16 at Texas State TBA
Sept. 23 Western Illinois TBA
Sept. 30 at Weber State TBA
Oct. 7 Idaho State TBA
Oct. 14 E. Washington TBA
Oct. 28 at Sacramento St. TBA
Nov. 4 at Montana St. TBA
Nov. 11 Montana TBA
Nov. 18 N. Arizona TBA
