AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Troy Calhoun was asked Tuesday to appraise the three Air Force football teams he has coached. He quickly put a qualifier on his comments.
“There hasn’t been too many times in the history of the Air Force Academy where you’ve won seven or eight regular-season games three years in a row,” Calhoun said.
In regular-season games, Calhoun went 9-3 in 2007 and 8-4 last year, and the Falcons are 7-4 entering Saturday’s game at Brigham Young.
“First year in 2007 we had an older group, but a very hungry group that got a little taste of winning and realized that it was fun,” Calhoun said of his first team as AFA coach.
It was the last of a four-year run at quarterback by Shaun Carney.
“The second group was very young, most of them hadn’t spent a lot of time in our program,” Calhoun said. “And yet we had just enough older players. That group pushed way up against the ceiling of their capabilities.”
Shea Smith began the season at quarterback, but Tim Jefferson came on the scene and took over midway through his freshman season.
“This year we’ve had a very resilient group, with 15 seniors,” Calhoun said. “This group has neat chemistry about it. You love being around these guys.”
Calhoun is correct about his Air Force history. Until each of his three teams recorded at least seven victories, it had happened only once before in the 51 years of AFA varsity football before Calhoun arrived. From 1982-85, Air Force won seven, nine, seven and 11 regular-season games.
Now the Falcons are on a similar run.
“Last year and maybe this year to a degree, in its own way too, has been the most surprising,” Calhoun said. “No two of them have been exact. They’ve been three good football teams.”
Footnote: With the loss of wide receiver Kyle Halderman to a knee injury, sophomore Jon Escamilla and freshman Mikel Hunter are listed as backups to junior Kevin Fogler and sophomore Jonathan Warzeka.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
