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PARK CITY — Fresh off a family vacation, Weber State football coach Jay Hill appeared rested and ready for the marathon of a college football season in his appearance at the Big Sky Football kickoff.
His task is steep, as the Wildcats are attempting to improve on their mark of two wins the past two seasons, and the roster, while getting deeper at several positions, still has depth issues which may take a few years to fix. Trying to improve talent, conditioning and depth in the summer is also a bit of a crapshoot with college football, as players and strength coaches must run workouts outside of involvement from the football staff.
Despite the pitfalls, Hill said Weber’s players have used the summer to begin to prepare for the season.
“One of the dilemmas for coaches is we really haven’t seen them since spring ball,” he said. “The strength coaches are very positive about the way summer is going, and we’re getting stronger, I know that. But, other than that, we’re going to have to see exactly where we’re at come Aug. 4 when we get our first practice.”
Defensive lineman Connor Myers, who represented the Weber players at the media event, said the team has been motivated throughout the summer.
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“Team workouts are going well,” said Myers, who will be a senior. “We’ve just been preparing as a team. I feel like we’ve really come together this summer. We’ve had really good lifting, and we’ve put in work running-wise. … I think we’re ready to come back and finally be Weber State that we were a couple years ago.”
The process of changing from the Jody Sears regime to the Hill regime is a challenge, even though it has been mostly positive. Hill said he has noted the changes players are making.
“I think the team is positive right now,” said Hill, who will coach his first game for Weber against Arizona State on Aug. 28. “They’re still buying into the coaches. But that’s a process; that’s not going to happen over night. They’re gaining confidence in the coaches, which is good, and I think we left spring ball on a very positive note.”
The new staff at Weber used the spring season to establish some key areas for improvement, and the biggest need Hill’s staff identified was an improvement at quarterback. Austin Chipoletti, who was listed as the starter throughout spring camp, decided to transfer out, while former BYU quarterback Billy Green transferred in. Joining Green in the mix is returning backup Jadrian Clark and freshman Riley Bradshaw.
As the Wildcats draw closer to fall camp, Hill said the quarterback battle is be a storyline to follow.
“Billy Green is in school, and he’s lifting with us right now, and they say he’s looking great in throwing,” he said. “I think it’s going to come down to (Green, Clark or Bradshaw), but you never know. We’ve got (former backup Chad Leckington), and he showed flashes in the spring of doing really good things. So, I don’t want to discount any of those four.”
Another storyline discussed at the Big Sky media days was how well Weber’s players have adjusted to Hill’s precision style. Myers said the former Utah special teams coordinator has endeared himself to the players.
“Coach Hill has really come in with a especially blue-collar, hard- working attitude,” he said. “We’re going to have a more grind-it-out football team, which we all really kind of embraced over the spring. It’s been real good.”
The Wildcats were picked to finish in the 12th place in the 13-team league, by the media.
In spite of this, Myers said the team’s expectations are high, even against Pac-12 Arizona State in the season opener.
“We personally believe that we could beat them,” he said. “We’ve had a great summer; spring ball was very eye-opening for us. Of course, learning new systems have been difficult, but at the same time, we see the promise of being successful.”
