Spring football started on Monday for the Santa Monica College Corsairs. Coach Gifford Lindheim was glad to see 100 players at Monday’s orientation, with 45 of them returning from last year’s 4-6 team.
Spring football is the first opportunity for junior college teams to start practicing, conditioning, getting to know their teammates, learning the system and impressing the coach with speed, strength, agility and football IQ.
It’s also the time for coaches to get to know the players. They have to start realizing their strengths and weaknesses and where they need to fill holes.
“We have a lot of positions that need to be filled, especially at the linebacker position, where the competition is going to get real heated among the incoming freshmen,” Coach Lindheim said. “But we also have some key players coming back. We have several linemen coming back; Demetrius Beaver, Alexandru Cehchir, who is a foreign student from Russia, who I think is capable of playing Division I Football, and Hushun Smith. At the defensive line positions we have Karl Buchanan, Christian Haywood, and Martin Perry – all returning.”
Coach Lindheim added that the team has three quarterbacks returning from last year and expects the competition to get hot between Travis Williams, who played eight games last year before getting hurt and R.J. Rosborough, who started in three games.
“These are guys who have strong arms and are very capable of leading our team on the field,” Lindheim said.
Spring football is open to the public and runs for the next six weeks at the Santa Monica College field on Monday and Wednesday starting at 5 p.m.
