Air Force Academy — Troy Calhoun took on the role of a baseball manager when he talked of settling on a rotation Monday after putting his Air Force Falcons through a crisp practice session.
He obviously wasn’t talking about starting pitchers, but instead about guards and tackles in his game plan for Saturday’s opener against South Carolina State at Falcon Stadium.
With injuries still limiting several offensive linemen, Calhoun planned to use a rotation of senior Caleb Morris and sophomores Nick Charles and Peter Lusk at guards and senior Chris Monson, junior Keith Williams and freshman Matt Markling at tackle.
“We might play seven linemen Saturday,” Calhoun said. “You could see us rotate linemen in the middle of series, especially in the first half.”
Junior free safety Aaron Kirchoff returned to action last week and the performance was good enough to put Kirchoff on the depth chart behind Bobby Giannini. Kirchoff had been idle because of minor surgery to remove a cyst on a hip.
“He (Kirchoff) did some good things Saturday, but I still want to see him go through a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and hold up,” Calhoun said, indicating Kirchoff could see playing time against South Carolina State.
Senior tailback Jim Ollis also competed in Monday’s practice, but didn’t get the same high marks.
“I’m going to tell Jim that if I see the ball on the ground again there’s no way he’s ready,” Calhoun said. “He had one ball on the ground today, and if I see it again that tells us all we need to know. We’d need to put him on the back burner for another week.”
Calhoun indicated that senior fullback Ryan Williams could see some playing time Saturday.
Williams, the starter early in preseason practice, has been slowed by a shoulder injury.
“I feel good today, but at the same time I could feel bad tomorrow,” Williams said. “It would be nice to feel good Saturday. We’ll see.”
As Calhoun speculated, his depth chart Monday had five freshman on the two deep, including Markling, tailback Savier Stephens, linebackers Andre Morris and Ken Lamendola and cornerback Reggie Rembert.
“We’ve got to get to the point in a couple of years where we have maybe only one freshman on the two-deep,” Calhoun said.
Junior defensive end Ryan Kemp missed Monday’s practice to return home to Mannford, Okla., just west of Tulsa, because of the death of his grandfather. Calhoun expects Kemp to return by Wednesday.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
