2015 Spring Football Prospectus
Right here. Right now.
For interim Head Football Coach Bruce Barnum and his team, the lyrics to that Van Halen song are apropos for the 2015 season.
The Vikings, having gone 12-23 over the past three seasons, feel like they have a lot more to offer on the football field. Twenty-three seniors will have their final go-round at a winning season in 2015 while Barnum, who is working on a 12-month contract, will try to impress Portland State administration enough in his first head coaching stint to earn a long-term contract.
The urgency of that 2015 season begins next week with the start of spring football on the PSU campus. Barnum and his staff will be working with a large group of returners that includes 61 letterwinners, 16 of whom were starters, and 21 returning redshirts. The Vikings will also have six new players on the field, all of whom are transfers from junior college or four-year programs.
The Vikings begin on Tuesday, March 31 and will practice 14 times prior to the annual Spring Game on April 25. This year's practice schedule will run over the course of four weeks and include a majority of morning workouts (see practice schedule below). There will be scrimmages on the afternoons of April 10 and 17. The Spring Game will be played at Stott Community Field with a start time to be announced.
Spring football will begin an important stretch for both players and coaching staff at Portland State. A program that has managed just one winning record and one .500 record in the past eight seasons will try to turn the tide in 2015.
Though the Vikings may have underperformed a bit in recent seasons, both coach and players feel the pieces are in place to accomplish their goals - right here and right now.
"We do have a sense of urgency here," said Barnum. "But the plan is to maintain that this year and beyond.
"We are going to try to have an exact duplicate (in spring practice) of what we want to do when they come back in the fall, just to keep re-teaching that, so once we hit game one in Pullman (against Washington State) they are reacting. I want the team reacting on the football field - no thinking - and just playing the game we love as hard as we can, with discipline."
Expect some changes on both offense and defense from recent seasons under former coach Nigel Burton.
"We will have some tweaks. And, we will have a new group of people joining us, seven new guys, so it will be part them joining the team we already have, earning a spot and showing us what they can do," said Barnum.
Barnum was the Vikings offensive coordinator the past five years. He plans to run more of a West-Coast spread style offense and still incorporate some elements of the Pistol that PSU has run in recent years. Seventh-year Viking assistant Steve Cooper will now assume a coordinator role as well as work with the quarterbacks.
"Offensively we have (looked at) people that run a similar offense to what we will do. We will bring in some of those tweaks and take a look at them in the spring."
"Defensively, we are probably going to simplify things a little bit from what you have seen, under new defensive coordinator Malik Roberson. I like what we are doing over there, and we will run it a little simpler in what we are asking kids to do on that side of the ball. All of that will be looked at during the spring and then we will decide what we are going to go into the fall with."
Barnum's offenses have shown great production the last five years, including 2,000+ rushing yards each season, with PSU record-breaking marks for total offense (540.5) and rushing yards (263.0) in 2013. One area the Vikings will need to improve is in giveaways. PSU had too many turnovers in 2014 with 29 in 12 games.
Conversely, the Viking defense will need to produce more big plays, having forced only 14 turnovers last season as PSU had a -12 turnover margin - ranking last in the Big Sky Conference. The defense gave up 443.2 yards per game in 2014 - the most in four seasons - including 282.3 yards through the air - the second-most in school history.
Barnum feels his Vikings are definitely up to the task, even with a formidable schedule that includes two FBS opponents for the second year in a row (Washington State and North Texas) and three FCS playoff teams (Eastern Washington, Montana and Montana State).
On Tuesday, an experienced group of Vikings and their interim Head Coach will begin to show the urgency of right here and right now.
NEW VIKINGS FOR SPRING
Portland State will have seven new players joining the team for spring football. All seven signed national letters of intent or aid agreements in the off-season.
New to the Vikings in spring are: Trent Riley, SO, WR (UNLV); John Jackson, FR, DT (Wyoming); Alex Kuresa, JR, QB (Snow JC); Casey Eyman, JR, P (Fullerton College); Za'Quan Summers, JR, RB (Scottsdale CC); Austin Wolff, JR, LB (Palomar College); and Tyler Foreman, SO, S (UCLA).
PRO DAY
The Portland State Football program will host its annual Pro Day on April 1 from 1-4 p.m. at Stott Community Field. Among the Viking athletes participating will two-time consensus All-American punter Kyle Loomis, Rimington Award winner (top FCS center in the nation) Cornelius Edison, and the Vikings' leading receiver the past two seasons, Kasey Closs.
Professional teams planning to attend include the Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers, Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens, BC Lions and Edmonton Eskimoes.
Pro Day will include strength testing, vertical leap, broad jump, 40-yard dash and position drills.
SEASON TICKETS
Portland State football season ticket renewals have already been mailed and should have been received. New season tickets orders and single game ticket sales will begin on June 1. For additional ticket information, call 503-725-4647.
SPRING FOOTBALL PRACTICE
Tuesday, March 31 7-9 a.m.
Thursday, April 2 7-9 a.m.
Friday, April 3 7-9 a.m.
Monday, April 6 7-9 a.m.
Tuesday, April 7 7-9 a.m.
Thursday, April 9 7-9 a.m.
Friday, April 10 3-5 p.m. (scrimmage)
Monday, April 13 7-9 a.m.
Tuesday, April 14 7-9 a.m.
Thursday, April 16 7-9 a.m.
Friday, April 17 3-5 p.m. (scrimmage)
Monday, April 20 7-9 a.m.
Tuesday, April 21 7-9 a.m.
Thursday, April 23 7-9 a.m.
Saturday, April 25 Spring Game
2015 PORTLAND STATE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 5 at Washington State
Sept. 12 at Idaho State*
Sept. 19 bye
Sept. 26 WESTERN OREGON at Providence Park
Oct. 3 NORTH DAKOTA* at Hillsboro Stadium
Oct. 10 at North Texas
Oct. 17 MONTANA STATE* at Providence Park
Oct. 24 at Cal Poly*
Oct. 31 MONTANA* at Providence Park
Nov. 7 at Northern Colorado*
Nov. 14 SOUTHERN UTAH* at Providence Park
Nov. 21 at Eastern Washington*
*Big Sky Conference game
