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Saturday, Oct. 03, 2009

College football: Merced College readies for Feather River

Unlikely quarterback to fill role for Blue Devils

When Juan Diaz came to Merced College, head coach Mark Kaanapu gave him a choice.

Diaz had spent his past two years at Atwater High as a speedy wideout, but in his heart he had always wanted to be behind center taking snaps.

Diaz jumped at the chance to play quarterback again.

"I liked receiver, but quarterback has always been my position," said Diaz, who completed his only two varsity passes, both going for touchdowns. "It's where I feel most comfortable. I like having that leadership role."

Diaz's choice to play quarterback seems all the more fortuitous for the Blue Devils with starting quarterback Brendan Crawford suffering a knee injury and backup Jeremy Jacobo parting ways with the team, all last week.

Just five games into his college career, Diaz will start his first game behind center since he was sophomore playing for the Atwater junior varsity team. Sophomore Justin Fausone, a Le Grand graduate, has given up his redshirt to assume the Blue Devils' backup role.

Diaz will attempt to help MC (2-2) end a two-game losing streak when the team travels to Quincy to face Feather River (1-3) today. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

"I've done everything I can to get to ready this week," Diaz said. "I'm taking extra reps. I'm watching a lot of game film. I'm meeting with Coach K to make sure we're on the same page. My teammates have been really supportive, and I just want to go out and give us a chance to win."

One thing that should help Diaz is having an almost full complement of starters around him.

Kaanapu said the Blue Devils have finally shaken the flu bug that wreaked havoc on the team the past two weeks.

"You can just see how much healthier we are," Kaanapu said. "It's been the best week of practice we've had in a while.

"There's been a lot of firsts this season, and I think the players can feel we're in need of our first bounce-back game."

Running backs Stephon Mathis and Emmanuel Brooks are healthy for the first time since Week 2, so expect Kaanapu to ease Diaz's burden with the run.

"We need to give our guys the best opportunity to be successful," Kaanapu said. "JD is a guy that is much more comfortable moving out of the pocket, so we're going to adjust the game plan to his strengths."

Diaz was 8-of-16 passing in relief of Crawford last week, but Diaz never looked comfortable.

The freshman's timing with his receivers was off and he occasionally missed badly, especially on his one interception.

"It's all stuff that's just going to get better with the more reps I get," Diaz said. "I really want to improve my accuracy this week and just keep my head up the whole time.

"I've seen what the game is like, now it's up to me to make the adjustments."

Feather River finds itself in a similar situation, also losing its starting quarterback, Matt Koman, to injury.

Backup Shakur Pontoon went 3 of 7 for 151 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a 35-14 loss to Modesto last week.

The Feather River offense struggled in that game, recording just five first downs and rushing for only 29 yards.

"On tape, we like some things, but we don't know which version of Feather River we're going to get," Kaanapu said. "The thing that really meant a lot to me is the way our team rallied around each other last week.

"These kids believe in each other and are going to be ready to play."