32 2020-21 Cal Poly Football Season Preview are working toward that and I respect that," Baldwin added. "The reality is that there's only one football and, in our offense, just one running back most of the time, not all the time. You've got to be patient, gotta grind and gotta compete. Plus, there's always the possibility of guys potentially having position flexibility somewhere else."
Bradley Mickey made 21 tackles and broke up three passes as a junior a year ago. A holder on special teams as well, Mickey intercepted a pass in the season opener against San Diego.
When a fullback is needed, Tran-Sampson, Stewart and Semone are available. Wide Receivers While the candidates carrying the football have just one spot in which to compete, the number of positions for those catching the football has grown from two to as many as five. "We definitely could use three, four, could even get to five wide receivers, but definitely three or four wide receivers at a time," said Baldwin. "That is a big transition for our players and coach Nick Edwards did a real good job with that in the fall. "Some of our quarterbacks were familiar with that type of offense in high school, so it wasn't as big a transition for them. Some of
our wideouts had the same transition, but had to relearn those skills sets, running those three-, four- or five-route combinations and understanding that what you're doing will open up space for others," Baldwin added. "They're not just running to get open, but they're understanding spacing, pre-snap spacing and just relearning skill sets to run a much more extensive route tree than they may have had before." J.J. Koski, Cal Poly's leading receiver the last three seasons, is now wearing a Los Angeles Rams uniform, but the Mustangs have plenty of depth heading into the preseason. Senior Quentin Harrison caught 17 passes, five for touchdowns, in 2019, while sophomore Xavier Moore made three catches, including an eight-yard scoring toss against Oregon State. Junior Eli Shelton caught one pass.
Quentin Harrison is the top returning receiver as he grabbed 17 receptions for 362 yards and five touchdowns as a junior in 2019.
"Q has made a lot of plays, so he steps out," said Baldwin. "Xavier steps out as a really well-rounded guy. He was in a little bit of a different role in the previous offense, which was quite a bit different for him. With Q, there are some similarities with what he's done before and what he's doing within our offense." Juanie Campbell missed most of the 2019 campaign due to injury, playing in just the
final four games to preserve his redshirt option. He caught three passes and rushed for 195 yards and two touchdowns as a junior in 2018. "Juanie gives you a lot within that slot position," Baldwin said of the 5-7 senior. "He is definitely a little different with what he's doing in our slot position. A number of other guys have made plays as well and I am excited to see what they can do." Other candidates high on the preseason depth chart include junior C.J. Cole and redshirt freshman Mitch Anderson. In addition to pass catching duties, wide receivers in the Triple Option were adept at blocking as well to spring the slot backs loose. "They might not do quite as much blocking in a game nowadays, but it's definitely not less of an emphasis when we do do it," said Baldwin. "Even when we threw for a lot of yards at Eastern Washington, our wide receivers took a lot of pride in playing the game within the game. Blocking is all a part of the 11 players on the field. "No, there is not less an emphasis at all in blocking, but we might just do it a little bit less in a game and a season than before," Baldwin admitted. “That’s the only way you get big plays. Big plays in the run game come
