UC Davis Football Offensive Preview

Cal will see some familiar faces on the opposing sideline, including the Aggies' head coach, Tim Plough.

This is actually my third time previewing the UC Davis football team (see my 2019 article, or the 2022 offense and defense), and so I have watched a ton of their games at this point. However, this will be the first game without former coach Dan Hawkins, who stepped down at the end of last season. This means that I really have no idea what the 2024 UC Davis offense will look like.

The offense under Hawkins ran the same sort of plays over and over, and trick plays aren’t really tricks when the other team is expecting them.

WR Trent Tompkins wildcat snap absolutely blown up by OSU

For what it’s worth, they did get away from this strategy later in the season, preferring to just hand the ball off to their star running back as they finished the season on a 3-game win streak and narrowly missed the FCS playoffs (defeating Sacramento State, who went on to the FCS playoffs anyway despite similar records). The only possible reason I can think of is that the FCS playoff committee let Sacramento State into the FCS playoffs due to the strength of their FBS win over… Stanford. Just wanted to remind you all that Stanford lost to an FCS team last year (and that by the transitive property, UC Davis is therefore a more dangerous opponent than Stanford).

Also, while we’re on this subject, I wanted to point out an interesting fact. UC Davis actually holds an FBS win over a current ACC team… which also happens to be Stanford, as they lost to UC Davis in 2005 by a score of 20-17 (it ended in a desperation Hail Mary by Stanford, which is hilarious). I was hoping they’d be the last ACC opponent to have lost an FCS matchup, but Jacksonville State defeated FSU in 2021 also by a score of 20-17. And they’re saying that we aren’t good enough to be in the conference?

Nevertheless, UC Davis does hold quite a few wins over FBS teams (most recently Tulsa in 2021) and are routinely in the hunt for the FCS playoffs, so they are still an opponent to be taken seriously, lest you end up like 2023 Stanford.

Tim Plough—Cal’s tight ends coach from last year and a former quarterback for the Aggies—is now the head coach, after previously serving as their offensive coordinator and QB coach from 2017-2020 under Hawkins. When Plough was the offensive coordinator at UC Davis, they ran an uptempo/no-huddle offense, led by the strong QB play of Jake Maier (now with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders) and an NFL wide receiver in Keelan Doss. Now, however, they have a star running back and a lot of receivers who have previously been involved in the run game. Will Plough’s offense borrow concepts from Cal’s offense last year? Will he run an uptempo pass-heavy offense? Or will he run a heavy ball-control style of offense with his star running back?

Again, I really have no idea.

But what I do know is that UC Davis will show up to Memorial Stadium, because they love football:

I believe the shirt reads, “Man I Love Football”

I mean, what’s more relaxing than watching a nice game of football with your family?

Future UC Davis scholars on Family Day

There’s a kid who appears unconscious, another one is actively being beaten, and I don’t even want to talk about that dance. This is absolute pandemonium. I love it! These are people who know how to enjoy football games.

Of course, the real star of the UC Davis football team is their new star receiver retriever, Cori, who fetches the tees during home games. Colorado has Ralphie the Buffalo, Auburn has a golden eagle, UC Davis has a tee retriever… and you’re telling me we can’t have a bear to fetch the tees after (or preferably during) kickoffs? My understanding is that bears are very trainable. Someone please look into this.

Cori the Tee Retriever

Cori “the rocket dog” overshoots the tee

Also interesting is that these two teams have had quite a few mutual transfers. The last time Cal played UC Davis, former Cal tight end McCallan Castles was a prominent feature of the offense. Last year, former Cal linebacker Evan Tattersall was making an impact for the Aggies. This year, UC Davis has Cal transfers DB Tyson McWilliams and LB Blake Antzoulatos. On the other side of the coin, UC Davis’s star linebacker Teddye Buchanan will be starting for Cal. I think Buchanan is flying under the radar right now, but I was extremely impressed with his play last season, and it’s definitely a big loss to the middle of the UC Davis defense. I think Teddye Buchanan is definitely going to be an impact player for the Bears.

All that said, I have to imagine that UC Davis will lean heavily on their run game. There are a lot of similarities between these two teams. Like Cal, I imagine they’re going to give their star running back, RB Lan Larison, as many touches as possible—Cal had their hands full with their last star RB Ulonzo Gilliam last time around. Also like Cal, they have a couple of holes to fill on the offensive line, returning three starters: left tackle Eli Simonson, left guard Izaiah Souriolle (who started last year as a true freshman) and right tackle Ernesto Nava. They’re going to need the passing game to open up to prevent teams from stacking the box on them.

Let’s take a look at some positional previews.

Quarterback

UC Davis is led by senior quarterback Miles Hastings. When I covered Hastings prior to the Cal-UC Davis matchup in 2022, I watched his entire freshman season (2021) and thought he showed a lot of promise, with some issues that could be fixed with some better coaching. And indeed, Hastings had a strong 2022 season, throwing for over 3,000 yards (leader of the Big Sky conference) with 20 TDs to 6 INTs (and 2 of those INTs were to Cal in the season opener). However, he took a big step back in 2023, throwing for 2,368 yards, with 14 TDs and 10 INTs. He was noticeably worse than I remembered from his freshman year, and “freshman mistakes” are far less excusable in your 3rd season as a starter.

UC Davis reduced Hastings role to more of a “game manager” position, throwing a lot of quick slants, tunnel screens, and “one-read” throws, but mostly just handing the ball off to the star running back.

Further, UC Davis’s offense was stale and repetitive, and all their jet sweeps and motions were no longer fooling defenses. Hastings showed some nice arm strength his freshman year, but last season he rarely took deep shots down the field.

He briefly showed flashes of his old self:

QB Miles Hastings makes a nice throw dropping it in to TE Josh Gale for 22 yards

But for the most part, he struggled to connect with his receivers deep down the field:

QB Miles Hastings throws too high for his TE Josh Gale

QB Miles Hastings overthrows WR Samuel Gbatu Jr for his 3rd INT of the game

By far his most glaring flaw last season is that Hastings has been reduced to a one-read quarterback, throwing to his first read rain or shine. Hastings absolutely stares down receivers the entire way, and plenty of defenses took advantage. Worse, he was often slow to process the field, and being a beat late or taking an extra hitch often allowed the defenses to recover as his throwing windows closed.

Here is a simple out route in the first game of the season, and the defensive back has no trouble jumping the route for an easy interception:

QB Miles Hastings bad throw on the out route for an INT

Here’s an example where Hastings has a miscommunication with his receiver, but the defensive back never takes his eyes off Hastings and has a better read on where the ball is going than his receiver does:

QB Miles Hastings INT on a miscommunication with TE Ian Simpson as the DB reads his eyes the whole way

Yet another example of a throw he shouldn’t make, forcing it to his first (only?) option for a pick-6. Even when interceptions weren’t returned for touchdowns, they often put UC Davis in awful field position for their opponent to capitalize on:

QB Miles Hastings stares down his first read and the route is jumped for a pick-6

Here’s an example of Hastings ignoring the open man underneath to force a throw to a well-covered receiver. Absolutely not the right read, and another costly INT:

QB Miles Hastings throws an INT as he stares down his receiver again ignoring an open WR Trent Tompkins underneath and throwing into coverage for WR CJ Hutton

As a freshman, I interpreted Hastings’s willingness to throw into tight coverage as confidence in his arm talent, but which I now view as an unwillingness to let go of his first read. Rarely, it does work out (even when he ignores an open receiver on the other side of the field):

QB Miles Hastings fits it into double coverage to RB Lan Larison for 24 yards

Far more often, however, Hastings willingness to throw to double- and triple-covered receivers ended in disaster.

Here he throws across his body into traffic:

QB Miles Hastings throws across his body into traffic for an INT

And here I can’t even fathom what he saw, as he throws into a sea of white jerseys:

QB Miles Hastings throws into triple coverage for an INT

Hastings absolutely has the talent to be a good quarterback, but he needs to work on the mental side of the game; moving on from his first read, not staring down his receivers, and making better decisions with the ball. Luckily for Hastings, Coach Plough is a former Aggies quarterback and a QB coach himself, so he’s likely to see some improvement this season.

The presumptive backup to Hastings is Grant Harper, who only played a handful of snaps, but did flash some nice arm talent:

QB Grant Harper makes a nice throw over the defender to WR Andre Crump Jr for 30 yards

However, with his limited playtime, he didn’t have the same chemistry with his receivers that Hastings did:

QB Grant Harper miscommunication with his receiver for an easy INT

Lastly, UC Davis is excited for a freshman quarterback, Damon Wrighster, who was a 3-star recruit with offers from Arizona, SJSU, and Liberty. I haven’t seen him play, but he’s supposed to be mobile and athletic, and may provide a good change of pace from the pocket passers Hastings and Harper.

Running back

The real star of the show is the running back Lan Larison (“LL” to his fans), who led the FCS with 137.6 rushing yards per game (best as I can tell, anyway; FCS stats are spotty) and 12th in the FCS in total rushing yards, despite missing 3.5 games to injury and not playing in the postseason. The offense ran through Larison last season, to the point where he took wildcat snaps for entire quarters (minus some 3rd and longs) late in the season, and scoring all of UC Davis’s touchdowns even without a proper quarterback on the field.

Larison is an all-around back, but his best attribute is his running back vision. He does a great job anticipating the defense, seeing how his blocks will develop, and navigating between-the-tackles.

Here he beats the safety to the edge for a nice gain:

RB Lan Larison shows good vision to beat S Kitan Oladapo outside for a 38 yard gain

Larison does a good job of navigating tight spaces and preventing tacklers from getting ahold of him:

RB Lan Larison finds a seam for the 25 yard TD

Here, Larison is patient until his blocks develop, and then he turns on the afterburners:

RB Lan Larison makes a nice cut back to break off a 78 yard TD

Larison took a large number of wildcat snaps, especially later in the season. As mentioned in the 2022 article, Larison was a quarterback in high school, so he definitely has the ability to throw it himself if needed, but mostly this was a way to give Larison an extra blocker on runs:

RB Lan Larison patient run and breaks tackles for a 12 yard run on the wildcat

When the game was on the line, UC Davis looked to Larison to make something happen:

RB Lan Larison again in the wildcat - practically QB this game - finds a lane for the 23 yard TD

Of course, he did put his passing ability to good use from time to time to keep defenses honest:

RB Lan Larison throws it on the trick play for 15 yards to WR CJ Hutton

RB Lan Larison wildcat and nice throw against coverage

Larison does a great job of anticipating his blocks and leverage to find the best hole:

RB Lan Larison gets a hole for a 60 yard run

Although Larison often prefers to run through weak arm tackles, he has plenty of ability to make defenders miss in space:

RB Lan Larison hurdles a TAMUC defender

And although he lacks elite breakaway speed, he has enough speed to break off big runs, even though he is usually chased down:

RB Lan Larison breaks off a 50 yard run to the outside

Of course, Larison’s versatility extends to the passing game, and he is dangerous out in space:

RB Lan Larison catches the pass in the flat and breaks multiple tackles for the 47 yard TD

RB Lan Larison takes the short out to the endzone for 73 yard TD

It’s clear that the Cal defense will have their hands full with Larison, and will look to limit the damage he can do on the ground.

When Larison was injured last season, UC Davis converted the similarly versatile former high school quarterback and current wide receiver Trent Tompkins to running back. Early in the season, UC Davis ran a lot of plays with multiple backs and jet motions, with e.g. RB Lan Larison, WR Trent Tompkins, and WR CJ Hutton all as threats to take the ball out of the backfield, although they abandoned the trickery in later games, opting for a simple wildcat snap play. When Larison was injured, Tompkins assumed wildcat snap duties as well.

As a running back, Tompkins is also good at identifying his lanes and cutting through tackles:

RB Trent Tompkins finds a lane for a 25 yard run

Although Tompkins is not as powerful a runner as Larison, he is perhaps a bit more elusive:

RB Trent Tompkins makes a couple men miss for a nice run

For more traditional running backs deeper on the depth chart, it’s probably anyone’s guess as to who gets the snaps. I am a bit higher on the sophomore RB Jordan Fisher than the senior RB Matteo Perez. Here Fisher takes the screen pass to convert on third down:

RB Jordan Fisher takes the screen pass for 15 yards

And here Perez finds a lane to get into the open field for a touchdown:

RB Matteo Perez gets a big hole for a 37 yard TD

After 7 seasons of former coach Dan Hawkins, it’s anyone’s guess as to how the offense will be run under new coach Tim Plough, but it’s a pretty safe bet that Lan Larison will be the focal point of this offense.

Receivers

The Aggies don’t have any single dominant receiving target, and spread the ball fairly well amongst its receivers, mainly through its short passing game (which may be subject to change with a new head coach). The most often targeted receiver, however, is still the all-around talent Trent Tompkins. After playing quarterback in 2021, he was converted to a wide receiver in 2022, although he still lined up all over the field. The objective with Tompkins was to just get him the ball and let him make something happen (a role that has since been usurped by Larison). It’s worth noting, however, that Tompkins is questionable for the game Saturday with an injury.

Still, though, Tompkins is very shift and elusive, which allows him to often turn nothing into something:

WR Trent Tompkins - “the magic man” - somehow turns this screen pass into a first down

Tompkins has very good balance and is very good at staying upright. He is a patient runner with great vision, great at finding the hole and cutback lane. He also made an impact on special teams with some big kickoff and punt returns. With defenses keying in on Lan Larison, Tompkins has been able to capitalize in the receiving game:

WR Trent Tompkins breaks off a 75 yard TD on a simple route out of the backfield as the defense bites on the run fake to RB Lan Larison

Although Tompkins was primarily used for his running ability last season, he still has solid pass-catching ability to high-point the football and make the catch in traffic:

WR Trent Tompkins makes a nice contested catch and hangs onto the ball through contact

A lot of Tompkins involvement in the offense was through the use of motions and trying to catch the defense out of position, and a lot of his “receptions” were actually run plays:

WR Trent Tompkins takes the shovel pass and runs it in for the TD

UC Davis under former coach Dan Hawkins loved trick plays with their all-purpose players, and so the former QB was still a threat to throw the ball, but the few times he did so last season, he looked a bit rusty:

WR Trent Tompkins takes the handoff but makes a bad throw

The most under-the-radar player for the Aggies this season has to be the tight end, Josh Gale, who I think will be the biggest beneficiary under the new coaching staff. Plough helped develop Cal TE Jack Endries into a freshman All-American, and I think Josh Gale fits that same mold physically that Endries does. He’s a strong receiver, a good route runner, and very tough to tackle. He has been a very reliable receiver. I think he will be a much bigger part of the offense this year.

Here he is shedding his defender to get wide open:

TE Josh Gale beats his defender with a double move for a wide open TD

And here he runs through multiple arm tackles:

TE Josh Gale breaks a couple tackles for the first down

And here he shows some really nice hands on the catch:

TE Josh Gale makes a nice fingertips catch for 26 yards

The next receiver to watch is CJ Hutton, as the Aggies also looked to get him involved in the offense, similar to Tompkins. Despite his smaller stature, he has some nice speed (and hence why he was often involved as an extension of the run game, e.g. a frequent recipient on jet sweeps, etc.), but he can also use his speed and route-running ability to get open:

WR CJ Hutton gets open for a 33 yard catch

And here he takes the handoff and uses his speed to beat a solid Montana defense to the endzone:

WR CJ Hutton takes the handoff and uses his speed to get to the edge for the TD

I think the Aggies’ best pure receiver (or “wide reciever” if you go by UC Davis’s official roster) is the 6’3” Chaz Davis. He’s a big target with the ability to break some tackles:

WR Chaz Davis breaks a tackle for a 27 yard completion

Here he makes a nice catch and just drags the defender into the endzone with him:

WR Chaz Davis carries a defender into the endzone for a 34 yard TD

With the quarterback play taking a step backwards last year, Chaz Davis showed an ability to adapt and make adjustments to help his quarterback:

WR Chaz Davis makes a nice adjustment to the ball for a 22 yard catch

There honestly weren’t a ton of wide receiver highlight catches last season to pull from, but this was probably one of the nicer ones; on a short throw, Davis is able to sneak through the scrum and extend to make the touchdown grab:

WR Chaz Davis makes a nice catch for the TD on the run fake

One of the Aggies’ most consistent receivers is Samuel Gbatu Jr. (pronounced “Bah-too”), who quietly put together the second most receiving yards on the team last season. I say “quietly” to mean here that while he wasn’t making flashy acrobatic catches, he would consistently get open for easy catches to rack up yards.

Here he runs a nice route to get open for a touchdown:

WR Samuel Gbatu Jr makes a nice double move to get wide open on the 14 yard TD

And here he shows good timing on the route with his quarterback for the first down catch:

WR Samuel Gbatu Jr runs a nice comeback route for the 16 yard catch

Here he makes a nice adjustment to the throw downfield:

WR Samuel Gbatu Jr makes a nice adjustment to the underthrown ball for a 33 yard catch

And on the following play, I am not even sure how he got so open. It’s just what he does:

WR Samuel Gbatu Jr gets lost in coverage for a wide open TD

The tight end opposite Josh Gale is Ian Simpson, who was primarily used for blocking, but he also showed a knack for running through tacklers when he did get the ball:

TE Ian Simpson tough to bring down on a 15 yard catch

Overall, it’s hard to foresee how this group will go. They have a lot of players with a lot of versatility and can do many things, but it will be interesting to see how the new coaching staff decides to use them.

Conclusion

UC Davis has a great running back, but so does Cal, and I think Jaydn Ott should be the first RB taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Aggies are going to need their quarterback Miles Hastings to take a big step forward after a disappointing season, or RB Lan Larison will be facing some heavy boxes as teams try to shut down the run (and for what it’s worth, I think Plough is the right coach to help him fix his mental mistakes, and so I would not at all be surprised if he had a bounce back season). While I am sure that the Aggies will accumulate yards on the ground, I think that Ott will be far too much for UC Davis’s interior linebackers, and Ott will have another big day (given he’s not limited to prepare for Auburn the following week). The Cal defense will need to confuse Hastings and force him into making bad decisions that result in turnovers (he threw 2 interceptions the last time he faced Cal). I also think we’ll see some new Cal receivers who will be too much physically for UC Davis’s corners to handle. Cal should likely be in control of the game, but don’t be surprised if the Aggies get some momentum and make the game uncomfortably close for a bit.

Looking forward to another Cal football season.

Go Bears!

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