After 15 months in limbo, UC Davis football team is finally ready for kickoff
UC Davis will kick off its spring Big Sky Conference football season Saturday in Idaho, eager to return to action and to see what it has after the fall season was pushed back and the Feb. 27 season opener was delayed.
Such are the pitfalls of competing amid a pandemic, though the COVID-19 numbers have trended downward to the point games are possible. The Aggies’ home contest against rival Cal Poly was pushed back to March 20 because of a coronavirus outbreak at Poly. Big Sky teams were granted two bye weeks to allow for such rescheduling.
UCD plays the Idaho Vandals in Moscow, inside the Kibbie Dome, a noon start (KHTK-1140 radio and online on Pluto.tv) in what will be the program’s 998th game spanning 101 seasons. The Aggies have won 524 games, with 33 ties.
Spring is normally reserved for drills and an intrasquad contest to cap the weeks of practice. Five Big Sky programs opted out of spring games, including Sacramento State, to focus on the fall.
Idaho has already played a game this spring, beating Eastern Washington 28-21 last week as Mike Beaudry passed for 296 yards and two touchdowns, including a late score to Hayden Hatten. The Vandals are ranked 19th in the Football Championship Series poll.
Whom UCD starts at quarterback is a curious storyline. Even coach Dan Hawkins said he wasn’t sure and it could be a game-time decision. It speaks of the wide-open competition to replace record-setting and graduated Jake Maier, and the skill each candidate has.
The assignment will either go to Gunnor Faulk of Christian Brothers High School, Hunter Rodrigues of Whitney High, Miles Hastings of San Marcos or Trent Tompkins of Fresno.
The Aggies have a veteran receiver in Khris Vaughn, who had 756 yards receiving and nine touchdowns in 2019, and a rock at running back in Ulonzo Gilliam Jr., who has 2,225 career rushing yards and needs 45 more to move into fourth place on the Aggies’ all-time list.
“We love all of them,” UCD left tackle and team captain Kooper Richardson said. “We’re just ready to play some games.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM.