Hancock football team has a mix of returners and newbies

Caden Harris is back for his sophomore year at Hancock College.

Harris is listed at 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, but he ran through a lot of tackles en route to running for 1,445 yards and 19 touchdowns last year. The Las Vegas native was adept at both running through would-be tackles and out-running would-be tacklers.

Harris is one of the few returning skills position starters from the 2023 Hancock team  that went 7-4, 6-1 and earned a share of the Northern League title. San Diego Mesa beat the Bulldogs 42-20 in the Strawberry Bowl, ending a string of three straight Hancock bowl wins.

The Hancock starter at quarterback last year, Jackson Clavel, graduated. AJ Vele, Clavel’s back-up in 2023, will be the starting Hancock quarterback this year. Vele completed three of his seven passes, and threw one touchdown pass and one interception in limited action.

The relative lack of experience, save Harris, at the Hancock skills positions didn’t seem to faze second-year Bulldogs coach Ricky Aguilar as the team’s Saturday season opener at Orange Coast College (kickoff time, 6 p.m.), approached. Despite not coming on to the job until last summer, Aguilar guided Hancock to a successful 2023 season.

The offensive has five returners from last year, but no returning starters. That didn’t seem to faze Aguilar either.

“Joe Parker and Kris Dutra do an excellent job with these guys,” said Aguilar. Parker is the Hancock offensive line coach. Dutra is the associate head coach and offensive coordinator. Dutra was Hancock’s head football coach from 2001-2020 and holds the record for wins among Hancock football coaches.

Hancock is a perennial team league rushing yardage leader. The run-first Bulldogs offense is a throw back. Hancock often operates out of the I formation, and the Bulldogs offense perenially features a lot of tough, between-the-tackles running. Long ago, the shot gun formation became a staple for offenses around the nation.

“Our formation can be tough to defend against,” said Aguilar. “(Defenses) aren’t used to seeing that.”

Wide receiver Makai Puga is another returning skills position starter for the Bulldogs. Puga, who graduated from Arroyo Grande High School, was the second-leading receiver on the Hancock team last year, with 18 receptions for 152 yards. He was also a factor on kick returns.

In fact, Puga returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last year, one of those being a 99-yarder against Antelope Valley College.

“We have a lot of guys who want to play this year and are ready to go,” Puga said. “The attitude’s a lot better.”

Tight end Daylan Letisi said, “We have a lot of new guys who are excited to play and are developing well.” Letisi was a Hancock reserve last year.

The Bulldogs have four returning defensive linemen but no returning starting linebackers or defensive backs. Defensive back Jack Gentile did see significant playing time last year. He played in all 11 Hancock games and intercepted two passes. Gentile is back this year.

Teams tend to throw a lot against the Bulldogs, and Gentile thinks it will be no different this year.

To defend the pass, “We’ll be in a lot of different coverages,” said Gentile.

Hancock showed a knack for winning the close ones last year, and Gentile sounded confident that will help the Bulldogs this year. Four of Hancock’s seven wins last year were by eight points or less.

“The returners are passing good leadership on to the new guys,” said Gentile.

Linebacker Mark Pullman, the 2024 Times All-Area Football Team Defensive MVP as a senior at St. Joseph High School last year, is on the Hancock roster. So is Ben Walz, who was a standout running back for Arroyo Grande last year.

Here’s a glance at Hancock’s season opener at Orange Coast.

The Bulldogs gave the Pirates a 73-14 thrashing to start the season last year and, though Hancock lost a lot of starters from last year, the Pirates will likely be up against it when it comes to going against the Bulldogs this year.

For starters, Harris didn’t really get rolling until last season was well underway. Now, he figures to have a full head of steam for Hancock’s season opener.

Dutra and Parker are adept at getting a pretty new set of skills position players clicking with a pretty new offensive line. The Bulldogs have slammed out plenty of rushing yardage even when teams jam eight defenders into the box. Hancock figures to be able to run plenty on the Pirates.

Orange Coast College does have its starting quarterback from last year, Zach Congalton, back. Congalton threw three interceptions against Hancock in the 2023 opener. With a year of collegiate experience under his belt, and having seen the Bulldogs pass coverages last year, that should work in Congalton’s favor, unless Hancock changes things up a lot in its pass coverages from last  year.

Still, unless dynamics, change, look for another one-sided Hancock win against OCC.