Maybe Theo is not playing football. He’s not on the 2021 roster.

This got almost no attention here.

Lance Der Manuelian is an Aggie; 6'4" WR. From Sutter Creek, ran 4x100, won high jump, and MVP of his soccer team.

Michael Fesili also overlooked here? 6'3", OL from Long Beach Poly.

Fall roster update posted last week.
Fesili was first team all league for Long Beach Poly. Teammate of Chubba at Poly.
From a story about the Poly scholarship signees:
“I’m hyped for the competition up there. Chubba has been telling me there’s some dogs up there, so I’ll see once I get there.”

Good to see Suani’s name on roster, he was making an impact in 2019 but didn’t play this spring.
There is a JC transfer DL, Justin Martz who enrolled in Northern Colorado but they didn’t play 2020 so now he’s here. Good performer at JC level.

New additions (details):

Justin Martz - DL 6'2" 265 #s.

Juco stats: Justin D. Martz@justinmartz52

"Nov 30, 2019 - JUCO 2 X 1st Team All Conf - 2019 Conf Tackles Leader - Career stats 139 Tackles - 13 sacks - 28 TFL’s - 3 FF’s"

Michael Fesili - 6'3", 310#s, OL from Long Beach Poly. More size.

The Team has an impressive array of beards, mustaches, ponytails and afros.

Martz had a full scholarship at Northern Colorado, transferred via the portal.

ANTONIO OLIVIERI. transfer from Azusa Pacific. Played a little as a freshman there. Good size at 235.
High school report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oAgPI29grk

Also gleaned from the roster is that the team promoted to assistant offensive line coach Jacob Thomas who was offensive line quality control this spring. He was run game coordinator at Azusa Pacific. Played at Azusa under a NFL Hall of Fame O lineman. That sounds like a good addition.
Cody was an Offensive coordinator at College of Idaho, Thomas was run game coordinator at Azusa, Speckman has been a head coach and offensive coordinator. Lots of offensive strategy experience on staff under the two Hawkins.

Wow. Let me dream on. Olivieri could be our next Magic!

We get defensive stud Erron Duncan back. Yuuuge.

Could Martz be a sack man?

We’ll have to wait and see how he does in comparison to the other defensive ends, I’m guessing that’s his position. But he seems like he’s a good prospect based solely on his size and numbers. Not saying he’s better than anyone else but seems like he adds depth.

The new version of the roster has updated weights of the players. This was something I was irritated about because with rare exceptions the roster weight of players never changed. But the new weights show some surprises. Some of these weight changes may have taken place over years, except for the newer guys. Here are some notable ones

Hunter Rodrigues is now 170 lbs, down from 180
Jaylin White is now 180 lbs up from 158
Lan Larison is now 199 lbs, up from 180
Trent Tompkins is now 189 down from 200
Luka Nixon is now 279 lbs, up from 230
Colton Lamson now 296, up from 285
Bryce Rodgers is 311, up from 285
Nick Eaton 237, up from 215

I'll start with the good news.

Tysean White, JR, LB, 6'2", 230 - new addition - from Navy (hometown San Diego). DNP for Navy. 12 sacks as a HS Jr. One year of prep school post graduation. Welcome!

Erron Duncan is back. Big.

Lance Babb II - not on the roster? Number 2 receiver in 2019, number 3 WR in spring, explosive playmaker. (FWIW, selling clothing line, pics on Instagram.)

Other weight adjustments

DL Maee, down 12 pounds
DT Suani down 16 at 313
OL Fonongaloa, down 30?
LB Buchanan up 13
DB Budgett up 8
DB Sean Harlston, 6'3", hasn't seen the turf yet (?), up 23 pounds. A 6'3", 228 pound DB
DL Martz at 245

Really bummed to hear about Babb not being on the roster. Fast, tough, slippery, capable hands and rarely went down without a serious fight for additional yards. Oh well. As the saying goes, "next man up!"

I stopped in practice last week, coaches are high on White and Seeley. Both and physical and will be big additions.

Sad to lose Babb. He was the most dangerous receiver after the catch. Good running the fly sweeps too.

Tysean White seems to have lost a lot of eligibility due to his one year of playing at the Naval Prep Academy. I guess that started the clock. We’ve got guys who’ve been on the team four seasons who are sophomores.
Who is Seeley?

Smalley

You mean Jayce
Smalley? 6'0", 232 LB, via UCLA. Smart young man.

Given that we now know Hawk wasn't interested in the Spring playoffs, it's possible he held back a few experienced players like Duncan and Smalley... save them the wear and tear?

Babb posted several pictures inside cryotherapy... maybe he's rehabbing.

my reputation for misspelling player’s names continues!

babb’s posts are a little cryptic. Some NLI stuff which would lead you to believe he’s still athlete. His LINKEDIN shows an internship with a marketing group starting July 2021, as well as a NLI partnership with US Cryotherapy. Taking his redshirt ?

Linebacker is probably the most unsettled area of the defense, not for lack of talent but because there are a lot of guys in the mix.
Humorous error on player statistics for Zach Jones. He has inherited another Zach Jones stats. The prior one a walk on from Napa “hit like a sledgehammer” so maybe this one will too.

Lost RB Peyton Dixon to the portal

https://twitter.com/peytondixon_/status/1426340873818710018?s=21

That's really too bad. He seemed like he was very talented and a great student as well.

I wonder if Dixon felt like he may not get that much playing time right away with Gilliam and Larison ahead of him?

He’s going to have competition wherever he goes.

Hate to see him go. Didn’t show much last year when given a shot - looked tentative.

+1. And maybe some of our other RBs are shining? (Deep @RB?)

There are a lot of RBs on roster, most untested. I recall one year Biggs had nine running backs which was unusual for his teams and commented on how useful it was for practice. We have eight not counting Dixon
I’m curious how Chukwudobe looks with his 195 weight. He had good speed, 10.99 100 meters in high school. The teams website has a profile of him from 2020 where they understate his track speed by a full second! Hope he still has the speed.. Speckman calls him “Shifty”.
Lots of underclassmen who we haven’t seen much of.

A few others missing from the current roster. Early graduation possible for some. We wish them all well.

RB Niko Harris, converted QB, overcame injury
DB Amir Knox
DL Will George
OL Ari Sallus
WR Theo Goodwin, now excelling in track

OL Albrecht has also climbed to 326 #s (up 16).

[Edited for accuracy.]

I do think there is a lot of talent on this team. I confess when I am waiting for someone in a restaurant or bar I doodle football plays on a napkin. You know, the types of plays that “cannot possibly fail to gain lots of yardage.” I am very good at this even if the plays were never tested on the field. My latest napkin play is this situation: “under 4 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Ags down by 6 are on the opponents 45 yard line. Third down 6 yards to go for a first down. Do have we have Whelan kick inside the 5 and hope for a T/O? No. Not enough time. Better: bring in Tompkins, UG and Larison in the blocking positions AND Whelan in punt formation. Direct snap to Tompkins with UG and Larison flaring out left and right. Tompkins reads the situation and either runs it up the gut or tosses to UG or Larison in the flat. FIRST DOWN! How can that play possibly fail? Maybe I should email it to Hawk?

Julian Alessi is listed as of 8/11/21 roster
Number 88