49ers look to bounce back

Before the 2010 season began, longtime Yuba College head football coach Ted Hoal made the difficult decision to jettison 22 players from his team for off-the-field issues.

With the move, he lost 17 returning starters, forcing many of his freshmen to see significant playing time during a difficult season that saw the 49ers finish 3-7.

But a lot has changed since then.

This year he has a full roster to work with, and with so many returners, Hoal is upbeat and confident about his team entering Saturday night's home opener.

"The biggest change is we have a true sophomore class this year," Hoal said. "It makes a huge difference having sophomores and this year we've got a legitimate sophomore and freshman class."

Though playing mostly freshmen last year wasn't exactly what he planned, Hoal thinks it should help his team this season. Those green freshmen from last year are now experienced veterans, and their leadership and field presence gives the team something to build on.

"I think it helped us because they all had the ability to get on the field right away," Hoal explained. "They got beat up, there's no doubt about that, but experience is second to none."

So far, so good.

Yuba opened the season strong with an 18-16 victory at San Jose City College last Saturday, a team that was coming off a league title and a victory in its bowl game a year ago.

And for Hoal, it was just the start he was looking for.

"I was pleased," Hoal said. "To go down there and play well against a pretty good football team was big."

While there are changes all over the place at Yuba this year, perhaps the biggest comes on the offensive side of the ball where Hoal opted to scrap the spread offense his team ran for the last three seasons.

Now, the 49ers will go to a pro-style offense, a move that should bode well for starting quarterback Jon Garcia (Sutter High), who missed all of last season with a back injury and played just three games his freshman year before being sidelined with a concussion.

"Getting away from the spread and into a pro-style offense is a good fit," Hoal said. "He's better suited for that and it's a good system for him." Hoal said the spread offense works well at the collegiate level when teams have the likes of Heisman Trophy winners Cam Newton and Tim Tebow running the show, however, those types of quarterbacks are rare. Recently, the 49ers' biggest problem has been keeping their signal callers on the field after a carousel of quarterbacks lined up behind center, took their licks and went down with injuries.

"After three years of getting our quarterbacks' brains beat in, we decided it was time for a change," the coach said. "It was really difficult keeping them healthy so I think everyone is relieved to get back to what we had been doing."

Lining up behind Garcia will be a trio of backs, all of whom could start, Hoal said.

Juan Johnson (Seattle), Jeremy Williams (Florida) and Charles Smith (Oklahoma) will each see carries out of the backfield and will alternate series. Johnson was the main man on Saturday by rushing for a pair of touchdowns, but all three can do the job.

"We have three running backs that we're rotating freely," Hoal said. "We don't have one clear-cut starter, but all three kids are playing well which we're proud of."

The wide receivers are Cameron Worthy (South Carolina) and Devin Rahming (a transfer from Florida Atlantic University), while Wheatland High product David Wilson (6-foot-4, 240 pounds) is back as the team's tight end.

River Valley product Francisco Romero (6-3, 300) will play right tackle, Marysville's A.J. Paul (6-4, 300) will play right guard and Wheatland's Zac Zapata (6-7, 300) will line up at left guard, giving Yuba three local players on the offensive line.

South Carolina's Jahki Brown (5-10, 330) will also see time at guard, while Napa's Ryan Barragan (6-0, 280) will play center and Vanden High alum Tré Tablit (6-5, 305) will man the left tackle position

On the other side of the ball, the 49ers will be led by the return of defensive end Juan Castillo (Lincoln High), who was named to the preseason all-state team. He will be joined by host of other lineman, giving Yuba some much-needed depth along the defensive front.

Nevada Union's Zach Vallejo is back as the team's inside linebacker and will be joined by Earnest Norman and Yuba City's Max Flores on the outside. Norman is a transfer from Navarro Junior College (Texas), which won the JC national championship last year.

He originally signed with the University of Nebraska, but decided to attend Navarro after the Cornhuskers wanted him to red-shirt his freshman year. He came to Yuba after his wife was transferred to Beale Air Force Base.

All-Bay Valley Conference pick James Thurston returns as the team's lock-down corner along with newcomers Gregory Williams at cornerback and Maurice Royal at strong safety. Jared Kuhn (River Valley) will also see time in the defensive backfield, as will Sutter grad Cameron Brown, who started the season opener at free safety.

"This is one of the better defensive units I've had," said Tomas Rodriguez, who was named assistant coach this season after serving as the 49ers' defensive coordinator for the past decade. "With enough reps, we should be pretty good by the end of the season."

If there's been one constant with the 49ers over the years it's been the coaching staff. Longtime assistant J.J. Rodriguez will take over the defensive coordinator duties from Tomas Rodriguez, while Todd Anderson returns as offensive line coach and Bob Miller is back as defensive line and special teams coach.

"We've been together so long, we're like a married couple finishing each other's thoughts," said Hoal, who pointed out that the group has been together for more than 10 years.

This year they will be joined by new offensive coordinator Scott Albertson, who was head coach at Lindhurst High in 2008.

The 49ers host West Valley in the first ever night game at Yuba's new outdoor facility Saturday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the team is looking for fans to pack the newly-installed grandstands.

"Tell everyone to come out Saturday night," Garcia said. "We need a big crowd."