‘Perfect our craft’: Weber State football concludes first spring camp under Mickey Mental
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- Safety EJ Evett (39) meets running back Steven Shoats-Thomas (43) for a tackle during Weber State’s spring game Saturday, April 15, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State receiver Tre Parks-Vinson hauls in a pass during WSU’s spring game Saturday, April 15, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State quarterback Tiger Adolpho (19) runs the football during WSU’s spring game Saturday, April 15, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State quarterback Jakob Hollingshaus, center, spins a pass to Pete Knudson (86) during WSU’s spring game Saturday, April 15, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State receiver Marvin Session (89) blocks Toddrick Dixon (37) to help Steven Shoats-Thomas (43) into the end zone during WSU’s spring game Saturday, April 15, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
OGDEN — Between past camps and recent weather trends, Saturday brought some novelty as Weber State football concluded spring camp with its annual scrimmage at Stewart Stadium.
The spring’s endless march of snow and wetness has subsided, which has left gleaming white mountainsides peering over the bench-nestled stadium on what was a pleasantly sunny afternoon. New head coach Mickey Mental wrapped up his first camp session as the man with the big office and, with fences pressing up against the east sideline, the hillside where that grandstand once was is reshaped as reconstruction work continues.
Under a both-sides scoring system, Weber State’s defense built a 32-3 lead and held off the offense’s late charge for a 34-27 victory, sending the Wildcats into the 3 1/2-month summer.
“My message was how do we approach each day and how do we perfect our craft? I like where we took that throughout our 15 practices here,” Mental said. “There were some young guys who did a lot of good things throughout the spring.”
Saturday’s game opened with Brian Harper at quarterback, leading what mostly appeared as the second-string offense against the twos on defense. That drive benefited from two chunk runs by Steven Shoats-Thomas and ended with Sloan Calder booting through a 38-yard field goal.
Three three-and-outs helped the defense to a 12-3 lead before Abraham Williams picked off Harper and was credited for what would have been a touchdown return of 50-or-so yards — with the nonexistent sideline, the offensive bench was on the field and Williams didn’t actually find the end zone, but the combined feats earned the defense 11 more points for the takeaway and score.
Kylan Weisser connected with Jacob Sharp for an 18-yard gain to spark a promising drive, but that ended with Weisser throwing to the goal line on fourth down and Naseme Colvin picked off his deflected pass, building the defense’s lead to 28-3.
Jakob Hollingshaus completed passes of 11 yards to Jaden Thrower and 12 yards to Devin Ford on the next series that ended in a fourth-down stop for the defense. After Damon Bankston ripped a 15-yard run, Weisser threw 11 yards to Hayden Meacham and 15 to Sharp, but a missed Kyle Thompson field goal put the defense up 32-3.
But much like camp as a whole, balance somewhat emerged.
“This year going into it, we were turning the standard around for the offense. It’s been a pretty good fight between us. We have good offensive days, good defensive days,” Weisser said. “So that’s a big confidence boost for us.”
Helped by starting positions inside the defense’s side of the field, freshman quarterback Tiger Adolpho tossed a 41-yard pass to freshman Jett Vance out of Westlake High, and Vance won the battle for the ball for a big gain. Two plays later, Adolpho picked up an 18-yard scoring scamper to the left for the first offensive touchdown of the day.
With Adolpho still at QB, Shoats-Thomas added 30 more yards to his 69 total on the next series, capped by his 18-yard touchdown run.
Kris Jackson piled up 23 ground yards on the next series, leading to a 30-yard Thompson field goal.
The scrimmage ended with Layton High product Elias West finishing his 19-yard rushing night with a 1-yard TD plunge, making the score 32-27. An incomplete pitch-forward sweep pass on an attempted two-point conversion gave the defense two points, accounting for the final score.
Adolpho threw for 41 yards and rushed for 30. Jackson rushed for 36 yards, and Bankston and Dontae McMillan each rushed for 21 yards.
Nine different players caught passes, with Sharp totaling 32 yards on two receptions.
After interceptions from Williams and Colvin, linebacker Mapa Vaenuku recorded a sack and batted a pass on a blitz. Kam Garrett, Matt Herron and Ashden Oberg each had one tackle for loss.
Weisser, who is currently the QB frontrunner, totaled 39 yards over four series.
“My performance, I think there’s a lot of things I need to work on. Some reads that I missed, some balls I need to put in better spots,” Weisser said. “My offensive line performed well, my receivers ran great routes and the defense gave us some great looks.”
Weisser and Mental echoed that in Ogden, creating any success through the air or on the ground is always a good sign.
“I love our running back room … they came out with a mentality and did a lot of really good things in the run game. A couple wide receivers stepped up and made some big plays one on one against our D,” Mental said. “If you can do that, you can do it against anyone in the country. Defensively, man, they fly to the football.”
Senior cornerback Marque Collins called Mental a “player’s coach” and there’s a clear line from building off the last nine years under Jay Hill and adopting Mental’s Mantra of setting a new standard daily.
“The guys all love him. He’s easy to get along with,” Collins said. “We’re just hopping along with what he wants with his culture and kind of building off that ourselves as well. We’re a tight-knit team and we can get things rolling early this year, I think.”
Though feelings are positive on the field, Saturday also opened the post-spring period where players can enter the transfer portal and be immediately eligible next season. Offensive lineman Jake Eichorn, who became a starter for the last half of the 2022 season, announced earlier this week he would be transferring.
The NIL climate at surrounding schools is a concern but currently, the Wildcats will move forward into the next offseason.
“Just expand the culture, keep the message simple and come to work each and every day to perfect your craft. And never be satisfied,” Mental said of what is ahead of his team. “How can I make sure I’m getting better as a person and how do I put that into my position group, my side of the ball and the team? If you can take that approach … good things happen.”