Player Blog: John Torsey "Off-season at the CATDOME"

My name is John Torsey and I will be Senior receiver next year at the Catdome. The team is ready and eagerly awaiting the start of the year. Even with the season just around the corner, it cannot come soon enough. Our performances at the seven-on-seven sessions with Portland State have left us confident and ready to unleash our offensive attack on the NWC. A great recruiting class combined with the addition of outstanding transfer players has only added to the excitement.

I took the last year off from Track to be with the football team and I couldn’t be happier with the decision. Coach Fendell put together a great workout plan for the team and the camaraderie we forged five days a week at 7AM workouts will undoubtedly aid us in the upcoming season. We spilled the same blood in the same mud so to speak. As a receiver, it gave me great confidence to watch our linemen in the weight room. It’s a special thing to see a 300 pound man seamlessly transfer from repping 450 lbs in the squat cage to a surprisingly agile one footed box jumps.

The summer has gone equally well. All of our seven-on-seven practices with the defense have been very competitive. Our defense has preformed well even when playing incoming freshmen. The same is true for the offense. I won’t talk too much about the defense, I’ll leave that to the defenders, but from an offensive standpoint they are tough. The defense is simply hard to plan for. They have a 230 pound weak side linebacker who has the speed and presence of mind to easily play safety in any situation, a strong d-line and linebacking core, great coaching, and the corners have gone from one of the shallowest positions on the team, to one of the deepest. Those are just a few reasons I am confident the defense will come up with big plays when we need them. We compete every time we show up. If the offense gets a score, the defense will get it back next series, and vise versa.

Our running back core is as good as I have seen in my time here. They have been working hard and pushing others.

The receiving core looks strong as well. For the most part we are unproven in game situations, but that by no means hinders our confidence for the upcoming season. The youngest Lemon brother, Mikey, has been playing very well. The Junior class has been stepping up as well. Gunnar Cederberg and Chris Slezak are working into the offense and have been making big catches daily. Some of the important receivers have not been able to practice with us this summer, but I know they are working hard and will be more than ready to play when the fall comes.

I am excited to watch our pass and run games compliment each other. We will have a very well balanced team with the ability to beat teams on the ground or in the air. All the weaknesses in our team have been eliminated. Where we saw wholes last fall, we are solid, and where we were shallow, we are deep. I am looking forward to a successful season at the Catdome this year.