Jimmies football wraps up spring with annual spring game

Apr. 23—JAMESTOWN — The University of Jamestown football has finished its spring season after 15 practices in five weeks.

The Jimmies finished spring practices with their annual intrasquad scrimmage on Friday, April 19.

"We had a really good spring," Jimmies head coach Brian Mistro said. "We pretty much went live in almost all of our practices and ended up getting around some 300-plus live reps. So the spring game was just a culmination of letting everybody get a shot, and families are in town and being able to see different guys in different spots playing with different dudes. It was really good for us to get an evaluation that way and our guys have just been hungry to keep getting better every day."

One player who is changing positions this spring is senior Rashawn Benners, who is moving from safety to cornerback.

"It was a real good transition honestly, there was no real confusion knowing our defense and being older," Benners said. "So it wasn't no hard transition."

Benners said he was happy with the team's performance during the spring game.

After the spring practices, Mistro said he was impressed with how the team's age showed itself. Mistro said less explanations were needed in the spring practices because of his team's experience. Mistro said the team's veterans were running practice.

As of April 22, the Jimmies are expected to have 15 fifth-year seniors returning.

"We had some fifth-year senior guys coming back, the fourth guys are really taking the lead," Mistro said. "It was pretty fun for us as coaches to watch the maturity level of our team grow and our practices go a lot smoother."

Mistro said his team worked on different coverages and schemes on both sides of the ball. He said many players improved this spring including Benners, Parker Chaffee and Hershell Jefferson as older members of the secondary. He said the linebacker corps of Jackson Walters, Jed Rantz, Mason Parker and Gabe Krick also got better.

Mistro said he saw improvements from the offensive line, which has been helped by adding the offensive line coaching duties to offensive coordinator Jason Challeen's responsibilities.

Mistro added multiple running backs including Gavin Blomdahl. One of those running backs who is also a veteran is Carlos Julian, who is heading into his fifth season. Julian said he wanted to work on his pass blocking and running this spring.

"We worked on it (pass blocking and running) every day, every day, it became like an everyday drill for us," Julian said. "I like the work we did on it."

Julian said it is important to become a good pass blocker in order to help his quarterbacks stay upright. Through the summer and fall camps, Julian said he wants to continue to work on all areas of his game.

"(I want to improve upon) conditioning, strength, catching, speed," Julian said.

Benners said he wanted to improve on his speed and his ability to get his teammates on the same page.

"Honestly, being a leader is just making sure everybody is keeping their head calm, making sure we get through plays, make sure that we're practicing at 100%, make sure all the guys know what they're doing," Benners said. "The speed of the game is making sure everyone is up to pace with it because I know for some of the younger guys the speed is kind of different. So I know we all in here working."

One of the biggest subtractions from the Jimmies' defense that they worked through this year was the departure of Paul Vandal, who is graduating this year.

"Paul Vandal leaving is gonna be a big hole for us to fill," Mistro said. "I think we supplement that well with some of the speed and the guys that we have coming up underneath him. I think Daniel Erlandson had a really good spring. There's guys that are gonna step up in that role that I think are gonna do a pretty good job."

The Jimmies only have three quarterbacks on the roster this spring, Nick Martinez, Johnny Grann and James Lewis. Mistro said the quarterback competition heading into the fall will be between Martinez and Grann. Mistro said Martinez and Grann will need to force the coaching staff's hands to win the starting job.

"There needs to be some leadership that comes out of that position group and someone needs to take the reigns and someone needs to take control and someone needs to go out and get the job," Mistro said. "I think that's the biggest thing I want to see. I want to see somebody that just takes it by the horns says it's mine and let's go and makes our decision for us pretty simple."

Now that spring camp has ended, Benners said he will continue to work out but also take time off to spend time with his family.

Julian said he will continue to workout throughout the summer.

"No days off," Julian said. "We already had our vacation, that was in the winter, it's work time."