Who's front runner for new RB coach?

Have heard or seen nothing as far as the new RB coach. Easiest job on staff, just need to be a talented and connected recruiter and amateur psychologist.

The Aggies have announced Cody vonAppen as the new Special Teams Coordinator. He comes to Davis from Cal Poly where he was the Defensive Coordinator since 2022. Taylor Chapatte will return to his primary role of Tight Ends Coach. Chapatte held both positions last year.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2026/2/26/football-welcomes-cody-vonappen-as-special-teams-coordinator.aspx

Plough made a solid move by not only retaining Chapette as TEs Coach, but by bringing vonAppen in as the Special Teams guy. He has coordinating experience as a DC which will help greatly and I believe he has history with the current staff.

Anything update on the RB hire?

Do we typically produce a 2-deep for spring ball? There are some interesting questions to be answered at several key spots.

I’ve never seen a two deep other than in game notes once the season starts. Late summer they have position reviews posted on team site, but even there they are coy about who is going to play. In spring Plough drops names and you can glean something from those comments, but the transfers are often not in spring camp.

Thanks, makes sense. Keep the cards close to the vest. Always interesting to see which transfers will make the greatest impact. Maybe I'll go to the Signing Day post on the team website and review some film. Beats working...

I want to check out this beer garden in Caldwell!

You play at the rodeo grounds, then a beer garden is a MUST. Would be disrespectful and un-American not to have it.

Again, the renovation at Shredville needs to include a Colorado State-like beer garden pavilion above whichever grassy berm survives, overlooking the beautiful, natural grass playing surface.

Mo's the man, BTW

great interview with Mo. Long flowing blonde locks of yesteryear have gone, but he still seems to have the drive and energy to coach - good for him. I can attest that he was a very good pitcher and a good basketball player although with like “hops”. The baseball team would play hoops on rain days in lieu of practice - column have fielded a pretty wicked IM team.

Really enjoyed the Pod with Buchanan yesterday afternoon as I was fighting body confusion due to the time change. Stayed awake for the entirety of the show and found a new favorite NFL player! That kid is solid and squared away.

Just renewed my season tickets for the 2026 season.

For season ticket holders, better to renew your tickets now than waiting to the end of the summer. That way the ticket office can spend time seeking out new fans instead of spending time tracking down folks that already plan to renew. FYI, while the ticket prices are the same, the license to purchase tickets have gone up. I sure this is all part of the process to build UC Davis into a power at the FCS level and perhaps put us in a better financial position to move to the FBS level (if that level is even around in 5 years).

Good point. Just after the Wine event, you gotta strike while the iron is hot.

Akem breaks down Fish:

Fish is so much fun to watch but that video makes me miss football season even more.

USA-Mexico tonight in the WBC, that'll get me one day closer to training camp

Tuning in on the WBC tonight for sure.

from what I understand, the seat license money goes toward the general revenue sharing pot; the champion Aggie money, if directed to football fund, goes to the program for its expenditures.

Sounds like a good one.

I think Malepeai is great hire for the Aggies. His bio reads like a perfect fit for the Ags and his recruiting experience will be invaluable as well.

From the official announcement:

"When we look to add to our staff it always starts with who they are as people," said Plough. "Vae is a tremendous example of this and that's why we're thrilled to add him. We're excited about his experience as a player at the running back position and his reputation as an elite recruiter. Our goal will continue to be focusing on creating an environment where our staff and players can achieve their best work. We are thankful to have Vae and his wife join the Aggie family."

Malepeai comes to Davis after spending the past three seasons on The Farm as an Offensive Quality Control Analyst working with the offensive line and running backs. Before getting to Stanford, Malepeai was the running backs coach at Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawai'i and he brings extensive recruiting experience that stretches from Hawai'i to New Jersey.

"My wife and I are so blessed to join the Davis family," said Malepeai. "It's an absolute privilege to be able to be part of a culture that I've heard so many great things about. I'm fired up to get rolling with coach Plough, the staff, and the student athletes here. GO AGS!"

As a player, Malepeai put together one of the better running back careers in USC program history. He finished up a five-year career with the USC Trojans from 2017-21 scoring 24 total touchdowns while rushing for 2,005 yards, placing him 21st all-time in USC history. He appeared in 50 games for the Trojans, making 15 starts. He earned the team's most inspirational player award as a senior and was a co-captain of the Trojans that season and during the 2020 season, Malepeai was named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll.

Malepeai takes over an experienced and battle tested room that features returning 1,000-yard rusher Jordan Fisher, along with Kai Acia, Mason Walsh and Weber State transfer Chauncey Sylvester. Last season the Aggies finished 27th in the nation in rushing offense and Fisher came in ranked 15th in total rushing yards after racking up 1,121 yards on the ground.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2026/3/10/football-hires-vavae-malepeai-as-running-backs-coach.aspx

Another coach with Hawaii background - islands are starting to be a focus got out of state talent

We really need to have depth at this position. Fish got worked a lot last season. It seems like thats when guys get hurt.

To have depth beyond the three guys who have game experience, we need some blowouts to get some additional backs game experience. Last year showed having only three players the coaches felt confident playing wasn't enough.because two of them got injured.. Fortunately Kai Acia played as well as he did in his first meaningful opportunities. We have three star recruits in the 2025 and 2026 classes and Walsh who only played special teams, hopefully one or more can play.

Fish, Boogie, and Acia are a really solid unit. One more capable guy and the RB room may be the deepest on the team honestly.

I don't think we'll have an issue with a deep RB room. Davis has kind of been RBU for a while now.

Very good RB room and plenty deep. Experience concerns are limited to the QB room. Almost every other position, aside from Safety in our scheme, is pretty much plug-and-play. OL/DL need the physical development year or two out of HS, but otherwise I would not be concerned about experience behind Fish with the RBs. And those dudes need to come to play for the first 3-4 games as the new QB tries to figure out which way is up at game speed.

I’m looking forward to sitting in on the qb room. Its always impressive to me on the amount of detail they go over analyzing defensive schemes and having a game plan for the unexpected. That’s something Caden had. That innate ability to make something happen when things went south. Hopefully our new starter will have that knack.

Speaking of Qbs, I thought I saw a clip on socials today of Cleeland hitting a 315 hang clean..

Impressive number! Going to be an interesting month of April. I predict someone emerges from the QB pack sooner than last year, just have a feeling...

Other key position battles: Left Tackle, RB2, TEs 2 & 3, Edge, MLB, one of the Safeties