Yep....every starting QB has a 1st start. Pinnick turned out nicely. I think Cleeland is going to be a good one as well. If there's one thing I'm not worried about, its QB1.

SF, you are so right about QBs at UC Davis. I go back to the Bob Biggs era. And I have seen Davis come out with great QBs over the years. I think we only had several Great QBs. I think I can name several.
How anout.Kevin Daft, Scott Barry, Akari Jones, JT O'Sullivan, Miles Hastings, Jim Speck, Mike Moroski, Ken Obrien AND several more who all were great QBs. It seems we always have a superb QB. I never worried about this position. We will be just fine whomever Plough chooses.
It was like listening to other people at
K about UC Davis needed to replace their QB who graduated and this was a huge question mark in Davis' success last year. All we could come up with a guy who was a great QB. This year,
I expect no difference just another great QB.

Did anyone do lunch w ball coach this week? any insights you can share?

Its next week. I’ll be there. I go to most of them. If you’re local, stop by. We have a good group.

Saw that the first kickoff time for 2026 was listed, 7pm at University of San Diego. Gives us time for an 11pm victory parade through the Gaslamp, quick crossover into TJ, then hit any burrito joint ending in -berto's on the way back? Oh, to be 22 again

I heard that USD doesn’t like the fact that we play here at 7 - they can’t fly back commercially after the guns due to airport restrictions. So, they are ‘returning the favor’ snd making us play at 7. Not a problem for our charter and much better than playing a hot 1:00 g as bd in front of 1000 fans.

They serve margaritas in old town until midnight - we’re good!

Those afternoon games in SD are brutal. Do they have lights, lol?

yep. The first couple times we played there was at night. Only loss was a night game. We stunk up the place that night.

Road night games can be tricky, even against lesser competition. Same with empty stadiums. We are their opener, school should be in session, hopefully a decent crowd and pre-game tailgate scene.

I think I could live in Old Town. Just find myself a little adobe hut and I can be the town blacksmith or bartender or something. Get me a floppy Bangora with an oversized brim, good livin'!

2008 and 2010 were both night games; 2008 was weird in that it was the final game of the season and it seems like the players weren't too excited about playing. 2008 they had about 4500 fans and they treated the victory like a super bowl (first win against a scholarship program). 2010 had about 2500 fans. The last two in 2019 and 2021 were both 1:00, with about 2000 folks. Tailgating there isn't great -> parking is spread all over the place for the visitors.

My wife and i always stay in Old Town. Used to stay at the Hacienda up on the hill but the quality there has gone downhill terribly. We'll stay in area this time just at a different place. Old Town itself is great, and having the trolley right there is really convenient. Mariachi bands and margaritas in the plaza -> really cool environment.

It can get sneaky hot there. The campus is on a hill so parking and flat areas are at a premium. Probably best next to the Jenny Craig? We'll figure it out. Or we can rally in Old Town and convince the trolley driver to take us up the hill maybe. Yankees visit Petco the same weekend the Ags are in town. If you haven't visited Petco Park, especially on a Sunday afternoon when the young Marines from the Depot march to the ballpark, it might be worth staying for. I hate the Padres and most things about them, but their ballpark and their early-80s uniforms are among the finest.

It would be a big deal for the bullfighters to beat the Ags. Bigger in 2008 than in 2026 since USD has made a playoff appearance now, but with Davis likely rolling into town with a Top 5 ranking, this is a classic trap game. Plough coaching in his home town will mean something, hopefully a large margin of victory!

Vavae forgot to mention his reserve players. Trey spoke about the depth in receivers. I notice in the roster they moved a freshman WR to DB. Quite a change from last Spring where they had Perez running routes..

Not directly connected to football (for now) but saw Plough posted about MW+. Assuming this is the new streaming platform for Aggie games in conference?

dont know but I do hope we're on ESPN plus again this season. the conference run streams don't seem to be great outside of P4

P.S> noticed a couple OL commits on instagram recently. Xander Grayson and Braiden McKenna

Good pod. Recruiting Hawaii takes contacts, hard work, and local knowledge. Seems like the Ags are scratching the surface on being a top destination for high academic kids from the Islands. Being able to pipeline some of those guys, especially on the offensive and defensive lines, will be important moving forward.

Both the OL commits come from top HS programs, fired up to welcome those cats

Pinnick had two years and legs. I guess we have one candidate w those qualities, and a big gun.

Hero Sports is releasing its top players returning for 2026 by position. According to them, we’re in pretty good shape.

Porter Connors-10th best LB in nation (Jackson Sievers snubbed)

Jordan Fisher- 8th best RB

Stacy Dobbins- 18th best WR

Sam Gbatu- 3rd best WR

DB’s haven’t released but I feel FOUR of our guys should be on that list.

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2026-wide-receivers-bzbz/

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2026-linebackers-bzbz/

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-returning-2026-running-backs-bzbz/

DB’s haven’t released but I feel FOUR of our guys should be on that list

Richardson missed enough games that he doesn’t have the stats. Hayden John doesn’t have the resume. Cofield and Rex Connors are going to be on the list.

I’m pretty sure the roster has John’s eligibility wrong, I mdon’t think he ever redshirted.

Advice to whoever maintains the roster: pick a method and stick to it. The players who have been here their entire career are mostly listed by academic year, and if they are fifth year players they now list them as red-fifth. Thats as good a way as any. Now do it for everyone including whoever transferred here too. And go back to listing HS graduation year.

In addition to Gbatu and Dobbins another Davis wide receiver, Zach Jones, scored 5 touchdowns on 15 receptions, and added another two TDs on 3 carries.

I think is spot-on regarding John and Richardson. This deal is a statistical beauty pageant, which those guys don't have. We know we're stacked on the back end.

Cal Poly Linebackers, two in the top 11, get recognized because their team sucks and they're on the field a long time so they get monster stats :rofl: With all due respect, D'Amato is a ball hawk, kid makes plays on top of plays. The other guy, Olson, is just a rock solid run stuffer type. They have an outstanding duo there. I think Seivers will make the list next year but he's a year away. I remember looking at Niekamp going into the ISU game, he's a man. Davy from URI as well, good football player.

I was poking around on the Hero Sports site and read the Montana preview. They spent some money in the portal, that's for certain. Defense needed it as they lost a lot of talent. I really like the fact that they play the Beavs in Corvallis the week before seeing the Aggies in Davis.

absolutely! Out of a fast bunch, Jones may be the fastest. I think he will have a breakout season if our TE’s aren’t as effective as prior years.

I thought Plough said he ran a 10.5 100m this last track season during our zoom.

I would offer some cautionary fast guy stuff. I saw Kopper Kupp play against the Aggies i think ten or so years ago. He was not fast but he was a great WR. I saw him out fake our DB so badly he actually fell down and Kupp scored a TD untouched. Pure WR speed over rated IMHO.