Light was shed Saturday afternoon on the reason for much-hyped true freshman quarterback Andre Broadous being in street clothes rather than practicing with the rest of the Cal Poly football team when its head coach, Rich Ellerson, explained the situation.
Following the Mustangs’ only live preseason scrimmage, Ellerson said Broadous’ transcripts from Grant High in Portland, Ore. were sent to the NCAA late, a “foul-up” on behalf of the high school, making him one of a handful of Grant products around the country forced to wait until the paperwork is properly processed.
Ellerson added it’s unknown when that might happen, but Broadous is still in the mix for future consideration at quarterback.
Four other true freshmen opened camp as quarterbacks but of that bunch, only Doug Shumway remains at the position.
Speaking of true freshmen, one who is being relied upon to make an immediate impact is Asa Jackson, a 5-foot-10, 172-pound cornerback from Christian Brothers High in Sacramento.
“We told him, ‘You’re not redshirting — you’re playing,’ ” Ellerson said of Jackson, who made a sensational, leaping interception Saturday.
The 90-minute intrasquad affair, which Ellerson said “generated a lot of information” and “a lot of great tape,” didn’t pit the first-team offense and first-team defense against each other.
Instead, each of the “ones” got to go against scout teams made up of mostly true freshmen likely to redshirt — until offenses and defenses each entirely comprised of younger players squared off in turn.
Most of the superficial depth chart was already settled, Ellerson explained.
“In most cases, we know who the first one-and-a-half (players at each position on the depth chart) are,” Ellerson said. “I don’t know that anybody’s going to come out of left field and get that. There are one or two positions where it’s a little bit unsettled as to who’s going to be in that (primary backup) role.”
Offensive highlights included senior, starting quarterback Jonathan Dally throwing a pair of touchdown passes (as did junior and likely third-stringer Harlan Prather).
Dally, who connected on six of his first seven throws, played a part in touchdowns by hitting senior receivers Ramses Barden (for 11 yards) and Tre’dale Tolver (for 94).
“It’s real important to keep everybody healthy, but we had a chance today to go full speed and keep it live,” Dally said. “It was really good to see the young guys get after each other.”
Prather, a transfer from Cabrillo College, found redshirt freshman wing back John Yessner for a 50-yard strike and true freshman wide receiver Ryan Taylor (one of those converted from quarterback) on a 40-yard bomb.
Other scores came when senior running back James Noble sprinted 93 yards to paydirt and Shumway scrambled 10.
On defense, junior strong safety David Fullerton twice converted turnovers into scores, returning a fumble seven yards and running back an interception 86.
Sophomore defensive end Gavin Cooper also recovered a fumble, and redshirt sophomore nose tackle James Chen recorded a sack.
Ellerson said he “was hoping for a little more bounce in (the Mustangs’) step in the end, and (the coaching staff) got (the players’) legs out from under them in two hours.”
Cal Poly opens its season Aug. 30 at San Diego State.
“My sense is that we’re on track,” Ellerson said. “We’re doing OK, but we’re not where we need to be in two weeks.”
A mock game will be held at 9 a.m. Friday at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
Donovan Aird is the Mustang Daily sports editor, a journalism senior and blogger. He can be reached at mustangdailysports
@gmail.com.