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Fort Lewis College football will only be as good as its seniors

Luckily for 2015 Skyhawks, they have plenty of them to depend on

Three years into the head coaching position at Fort Lewis College football, John L. Smith can finally gauge the progress he has made at a program with only 10 winning seasons and one conference championship in 51 years.

Smith, with a Division I pedigree that includes stops at powers such as Arkansas, Louisville and Michigan State, certainly hopes to deliver the team’s first winning season since 2006 during the 2015 campaign.

“I feel better about the team than I have felt the last couple years,” Smith said Tuesday in a phone interview with The Durango Herald before the team’s season opener Thursday night at Montana State. “... I believe you’re always only as good as your seniors. If we can stay healthy, we have a definite opportunity to send these guys out as winners. The No. 1 goal of the program is to send ’em out as winners.”

A big reason for optimism is this year’s senior class. After losing only 10 seniors from last year’s squad that went 3-8 and 2-7 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, this year’s squad has 19 seniors, most of whom have plenty of starting experience.

One of those seniors is third-year quarterback Jordan Doyle of Cedar Falls, Iowa.

“We got a lot of guys working together well; a lot of seniors together,” Doyle said. “We’re excited for the year. ... Everyone is understanding where everyone is going, reading the defense as one unit. I think we can put up a lot better numbers this year.”

Doyle is coming off a gruesome leg injury that included a broken fibula and tibia. He suffered the injury halfway through the conference schedule last year at Colorado Mesa. At the time, he was the team’s leading passer and rusher, and the passing game limped to the finish after his exit. He exited with six rushing touchdowns and an average of 53.5 rushing yards per game to go with 10 passing scores and 1,509 yards in eight games.

It was uncertain if Doyle would be ready for the 2015 opener after the injury, but he participated in spring workouts and entered camp 100 percent.

“Just my senior year and my final chance. I knew this is a year where we have a chance to do something big,” Doyle said when asked what his motivation was during rehabilitation.

“The seniors’ goals are to go out winners. We want to go out above .500 and have a top-three offense in the conference,” Doyle added. “It’s something we can do this year.”

With an experienced offensive line in front of Doyle, Smith is confident the offense will be able to pass the ball more in 2015 after a run-heavy approach the last two seasons. Smith has confidence in Doyle’s ability to read defenses, and both are excited about the receiving group headlined by 6-foot senior Juquelle Thompson, who was an All-RMAC selection as a special teams return man a season ago.

Doyle also is encouraged by the preseason performances of receivers LyDell Williams, Esley Simmons III, Mason Hatton and Durango native Jordan Gillen.

Smith said the tight end position, led by Austin Shaw, is as solid as he’s had at FLC, too.

Running back depth should help the Skyhawks stay healthy. The team battled injuries at the position all of 2014, forcing Smith to move linebackers and defensive backs into the position. Fresh off an injury is sophomore PJ Hall, who rushed for a team-high 704 yards in 10 games and eight starts a season ago.

Hall will share time with talented freshmen Gabe Ogbonnaya Jr. and Zai Harris, among others. Junior running back Drake Griffin, a junior college transfer from Los Angeles, is nursing a knee injury, but big things are expected from him later in the season.

While all the weapons on offense have the Skyhawks looking forward to scoring more than 21 points per game in 2015, it is the defensive line that has Smith most excited for the season.

The unit is led by seniors Sione Folaumoeloa and Dalten Lane. Folaumoeloa was a Preseason All-RMAC honoree, and Smith has said Lane will be a stalwart of the defense.

“The defensive line is the strength of the team,” Smith said. “And once we get (2014 leading tackler) Ryan Ross back in a couple weeks, the linebacker crew will be very good.”

Last year, the Skyhawks surrendered more big plays than any other team in the RMAC. It helped lead to three blown halftime leads in the final three games of the season. Smith still has a few questions about the secondary, but he is confident it will perform better than last season.

“We have to be much better at not giving up the big one. We’ve concentrated on that,” he said. “We’ve tested our defense a lot. It’s a little bit of a wait-and-see with those guys, but hopefully they’ll be as good as we anticipate.”

Smith said the added depth has made for an improved special teams unit. And he likes the team’s kickers in senior Kipp Castanha and sophomore Joseph Cavale. Castanha was 9-of-13 on field goals and 27-of-28 on extra points a year ago, and he was instrumental in the team’s upset win against eventual Division II national champion CSU-Pueblo with directional punts that led to fumbles.

FLC will play two non-conference games before beginning RMAC play. It all starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at Montana State, the No. 11 ranked team in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman seats 17,777 fans, and the Skyhawks know to expect a raucous environment.

“It’s going to be a fun game and a great experience for all of us,” Doyle said. “We are going to see where we stand against higher competition. Playing in a big stadium in front of that many people, we’re looking forward to it for our first game.”

Smith said the key will be getting through the first quarter and getting acclimated to the crowd noise. To make it a competitive game, he said the Skyhawks can’t turn the ball over and will need to earn a few extra possessions by creating turnovers of their own.

But the biggest key to Thursday, he said, is staying injury-free.

“We’re going to get there, get rest, get up the next day for a walk-through, have meetings, get to the game and hopefully play well,” Smith said. “The biggest thing is to get out of there healthy and get our tail back here to get ready for (Oklahoma) Panhandle State the next week.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



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