OGDEN -- Despite losses in several key positions, the expectations are high as the Weber State Wildcats open football camp on Friday.
And the Wildcats wouldn't want it any other way.
"When you think outside the box, and say we're going to be national champs, then we don't have barriers around us," said quarterback Cameron Higgins. "You've got to have high goals and that's how you've got to approach every situation."
Higgins leads the offense which will now have to do without the school's all-time leading running back Trevyn Smith and wide receiver Tim Toone, who caught more passes and touchdowns than any previous Wildcat.
Both players graduated after setting several school records during their careers.
But with Higgins' arm, which has thrown for 7,798 yards and 66 touchdowns during the past two seasons, those high expectations for the Wildcats include making a third-straight trip to the FCS playoffs.
"We expect to win and we expect to be in title contention," said coach Ron McBride. "I think this team is very prepared coming into camp. We should be able to go pretty fast with this team."
That's an encouraging statement for a team that was picked to finish fourth in the Big Sky Conference by both the coaches and the media, and welcomes back just six starters on offense and five on defense. Every college football team has holes to fill each year, but before the Wildcats start finding the new go-to players on offense and defensive studs when they open the season on Sept. 4 at Boston College, there is more important work to be done.
WSU will stage a media day this afternoon, then stage helmet only practices this week. The first full-pad practice is set for Wednesday.
"We need to establish certain perimeters offensively and defensively," McBride said. "From an offensive standpoint we need to be consistent in the red zone. We need to have a better turnover margin and make sure things are tightened up."
But soon enough the coaching staff will direct its focus to the personnel questions, and McBride knows it.
"We have to develop depth on the offensive line and see the rotation of the wide receivers and see who's going to be one, two and three at running back," McBride said. "We need depth at defensive front, and to find out who will be safety next to (Jordan) Brown. There is a lot of competition at corner so have to determine who will be the guys there."
Perhaps the biggest question mark is at running back.
The Wildcats looked to have that spot taken care of until Bo Bolen, who backed up Smith last season as a redshirt freshman, announced that he would be leaving for two years to serve an LDS Church mission.
During the spring, Josh Booker, C.J. Tuckett and Vai Tafuna took turns running the ball, but no one emerged as the clear-cut starter. Three freshmen, Davis High's Tanner Hinds, Springville High's Alema Key and Haini Moimoi, out of Maplewood, Minn., are also now in camp and in the running for the starting job.
The Wildcats also have a pair of new kickers, freshmen Josh Kealamakia, from Syracuse High School, and Shaun McClain, competing for the kicking duties.
The offense, which also lost center Kyle Mutcher to graduation, isn't the only side of the ball with huge holes to fill.
Safety Beau Hadley, cornerback Josh Morris and defensive lineman Kevin Linehan all graduated while defensive tackle Ryan Eastman left the program to walk-on at Hawaii, defensive tackle Caldwell Taylor opted to focus on his studies and defensive tackle Maiah Fa'atoafe was forced to quit because of health reasons.
Smith, Toone, Mutcher, Hadley, Linehan and Morris all earned All-America honors last season, so the holes in the WSU lineup are more like an abyss.
"I think we have the guys in the program to do it," McBride said on replacing the departed stars. "The majority of the players in the program are underclassmen, but they've all been successful where they came from and are proven."
A lot of the optimism comes from a promising summer when nearly every Wildcat participated in player-organized workouts.
"I thought we had a great summer and are itching to get back to practice," Higgins said.
The only way to fully relieve that itch is a national championship, no matter how "outside of the box" that goal may sound.
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