Isn’t it a little much to expect a player to have a “understanding of the playbook” on day 1 of camp? This is in relation to Carter Vargas. I think its foolish to even publish a position preview at the start of camp, give the new players a bit of time before talking about them. Last year in the offensive line preview they didn’t mention a guy who started the first game.

I don't think the article was really saying that they had expectations that Vargas would know the whole playbook on day 1. What I took from the quote was that they think he's extremely talented and once he's more knowledgeable of the playbook he could be a real impact player for us going forward.

I know there were problems with the OL reporting last season, but hopefully it's been fixed for this upcoming year.

My comment on the preview of offensive lineman last season was meant to convey that they shouldn’t do the previews to early in training camp because they don’t have much to say about the newcomers. What is the rush?
Apparently the NCAA keeps the stats and they have yet to fix the stats issues from last year. They burned the redshirt year of two of our top freshmen last year with a game I don’t think they played in,

I don't think they are necessarily in a rush, but it's a good strategy for fan engagement to have periodical releases of info leading up to the season kick off. I don't think they are really meant to be taken too seriously as analysis of the position outlook. More a teaser than anything. At least that's how I look at it.

I like these position previews and I agree that they serve to introduce players and coaches to the public while generating some early season interest. I'm for all the publicity that the Athletics Department can generate. The more fans in the seats this fall, the better!

Day 1 - Lan Larison, Rex Connors and Coach Plough:

Day 2 - Miles Hastings, Zach Kennedy and Coach Plough:

FTR, Idaho State played 2 QBs last year, had substantial improvement, and nobody died. QB #2 appears to run more, experienced, and threw it.

Day 3 - Trent Tompkins, Josh Gale and Coach Plough:

Can our O Line create some magic at Memorial Stadium?

Having Coach Biggs there is very special.

Day 4 - Ernesto Nava and Markeece Alexander:

Regarding Jalen Harris: Does anyone know what happened or why he isn't on the roster?

Day 5 - Porter Connors, Mitchell Dixon and Coach Plough:

Wow, two microphones. About time.

Day 6 - Matteo Perez and Kavir Bains

DL Position Preview

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2024/8/6/football-2024-aggie-positional-preview-defensive-line.aspx

The video discusses 3 players, Why do they make these so short? Someone besides the three starters will be impact players, and deserve a mention.

I don't disagree with you

Rex got a good stache going there.

Weekly radio interviews with Aggie coaches Tim Plough and Jim Les will be added to Sactown Sports KHTK 1140 AM during their respective seasons.

Live games are carried on the station for football and men's basketball. In addition to live game action, Aggie fans will hear from first-year Head Football Coach Tim Plough and Head Men's Basketball Coach Jim Les weekly during morning drive time during their respective football and men's basketball seasons. In addition, Sactown Sports 1140 KHTK will air three 60 minute 'magazine' shows throughout the year for deeper dives into Aggie Football and Men's Basketball, as well as updates on other sports at UC Davis.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2024/8/7/athletics-uc-davis-aggies-extend-broadcast-partnership-with-sactown-sports-1140-khtk-in-sacramento.aspx

Day 7 - OC Paul Shelton

The "culture" of Aggie football keeps coming up as to why coaches want to coach here and why players want to play here. We heard that in the latest Aggie Football podcast interview with Lan Larison when he talked about his decision to stay here when other schools were trying to lure him away with promises of NIL money. He said he stayed because of the culture here and, now, in this video, we hear how Paul Shelton left his "forever home" in Tennessee because of how special it is to coach at Davis. That says so much about this program.

TE's and WR's preview:

Why don't they give each position coach 5 minutes for these videos? For some reason they make them the length of a top 40 song and split it between two coaches.

Regarding Paul Shelton's comments about the offense, he indicated.that the two returning tackles seemed established but that they had competition in the interior line. This surprised me some because I expected Povey to be established at center after starting there all.last.season but he said they had young guys competing there. The young.guy he mentioned was someone who saw no action last year likely a walkon.

Anxious to see how this team matches up this year with some stiff competition. There are two players in particular, aside from the “stars,” that I’m looking forward to watching. Matteo Perez is going into his senior year. He’s been in Lan’s shadow. I’ve always liked his running. I hope he has a break out year. Mitchell Dixon, moving from QB to TE, 6’4”, supposed to have good hands, 40 yard dash 4.9 (old data). I’m hoping he can be a deep threat.

Perez is not a senior in terms of eligibility. He is a red shirt junior.
I bet if they petitioned they could get another year after that as he only played in four games last season.

Ok, thanks for the correction. The roster lists him as a senior.

Part of the general failure in maintaining the roster is that they have abandoned trying to track player’s eligibility. It is not that hard to know that freshmen who play in 4 or less games are redshirt freshmen in year 2, but you’ll notice all of last years freshmen are now sophomores even if they saw no action. Perez played in 3 games his freshmen year, and only four last year.