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A complete 2014 Portland State Football spring prospectus will be released on April 7

Portland State's spring football practice is less than two weeks away, and the Vikings will have a number of new faces on the field and on the sidelines. 

Notably, the Vikings welcome six new junior college signees and transfers to the roster who will be participating. They include five defensive players and one kicker: JR S Patrick Onwuasor (Arizona), SO DE Michael Doman (BYU), JR LBs Zack Berg (Wyoming) and Anthony McNichols (Golden West CC), SO DB Max Lyons (LA Pierce JC) and SO K Ian Boozer (Fullerton JC).

All six players will be battling for significant playing time or to start in 2014. Their familiarization with the Viking program during the spring will be invaluable. 

On the sidelines, the Vikings have changes as well, with some new coaches added to the staff.

Veteran offensive line coach Steve Morton joins PSU in 2014. Morton worked most recently at Weber State as offensive line coach and associate head coach. He has spent 40 years in the coaching profession. A 1977 graduate of Washington State, Morton has spent more than a decade at his alma mater - in two different stints - and worked at four Pac-12 schools during his career. Morton has also coached at Iowa State, Washington, USC, Nevada, Stanford and San Jose State. He replaces Brad Davis who moved on to be co-Offensive Coordinator at James Madison University following the 2013 season.

"We are fortunate to have a guy with not only Steve's experience, but his energy," said Viking Coach Nigel Burton. "If you are around him, you have no idea he has coached that long. We always try to bring in great players that are better people, but he is a great coach that is a better person. The guys he has coached have so much respect for him. It is tough to replace Brad Davis but Steve is a guy that can do the job as well as anyone."

Mike Preston is the Vikings new tight ends coach. The last two seasons, Preston was the offensive line coach and run game coordinator at Division II Lindenwood. He has previously coached at Yale, Wingate, La Verne, Western Illinois, Ottawa and Washington. 

"Mike brings a ton of experience to coaching tight ends. Originally, we interviewed him for the offensive line job and he was so impressive we had to figure out a way to get him on our staff. He is a great recruiter as well with good experiences at a lot of places," said Burton.

With the addition of Preston, Matt Leunen moves over to take on the role of Offensive Quality Control. Leunen is in his fourth season with the Viking program. 

Returning to the Viking coach staff in 2014 is defensive line coach Malik Roberson. The defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Central Washington the past two seasons, Roberson was PSU's defensive line coach in 2011, when the Vikings turned in a 7-4 season.

"We are excited to have Malik back," Burton said. "He did a great job with our defensive line in 2011. The best part is he comes back as an even better coach, having been a defensive coordinator and coaching other areas on the defense."

Roberson also has coaching stints at Washington State and Eastern Washington during his career. He replaces Mike Scheper, who left the PSU program for a position with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League.

Head Coach Nigel Burton has also added Trevor Gentry to his coaching staff as the Defensive Quality Control Coach.

VIKING FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF    
Head Coach    Nigel Burton, Washington, '99, 5th year 
Offensive Coordinator/QBs    Bruce Barnum, Eastern Washington '87, 5th year
Defensive Coordinator/Safeties    Jaime Hill, San Francisco State, '86, 2nd year
Offensive Line    Steve Morton, Washington State, '77, 1st year
Defensive Line    Malik Roberson, Central Washington, '01, 1st year
Running Backs    John Ely, Western Washington, '87, 5th year
Linebackers/Recruiting Coordinator    Lester Towns, Washington, '99, 3rd year
Wide Receivers    Steve Cooper, Portland State, '09, 6th year
Tight Ends    Mike Preston, Washington, '05, 1st year
Asst. Special Teams Coordinator    Michael Casco, Kent State, '05, 4th year
Offensive Quality Control    Matt Leunen, Portland State, '09, 4th year
Defensive Quality Control    Trevor Gentry, 1st year

Director of Football Operations    Jim Fiscella
Asst. Director of Football Operations    Justin Engstrom
Video Coordinator    Wes Warren
Team Athletic Trainer    Randy Logan

VIKING SPRING FOOTBALL
The Viking Spring Game on May 18 will be the culmination of PSU spring practice, which begins on Apr. 14. Viking football will have 14 practice dates leading up to the game.

PSU will practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the week, from 1:30-4 p.m. Saturday practices will take place at 10 a.m. The Vikings will take the week of April 27-May 3 off as the coaching staff will spend that time recruiting. 

Portland State Football Spring Practice Schedule
April 14    1:30-4
April 16    1:30-4
April 18    1:30-4
April 19    10-Noon
April 21    1:30-4
April 23    1:30-4
April 25    1:30-4
April 26    10-Noon
May 5      1:30-4
May 7      1:30-4
May 9      1:30-4
May 10    10-Noon
May 12    1:30-4
May 14    1:30-4
May 18    Spring Game, time and location TBA