Falcons football team is spread thin

   Air Force senior quarterback Shea Smith surveyed the players around him and knew he had to call an audible.

"Sai," he said, turning to sophomore tailback Savier Stephens. "You mind playing some cornerback?"

It was Tuesday afternoon on the practice fields behind the Falcon Athletic Center, and a group of Air Force football players had gathered to run 7-on-7 passing drills.

One problem: They had only 11 players.

While most big-time Division I programs have nearly all their scholarship players on campus throughout the offseason, Air Force players are spread out across the globe during the three three-week periods that divide the academy summer.

So on Tuesday, like a bunch of kids at a park using "ghost runners" to make a baseball game work, the Falcons improvised. Stephens lined up at cornerback. Sophomore backup quarterback Will McAngus lined up at receiver. Senior tight end Keith Madsen, when he wasn't at his normal position, snapped the ball to Smith or junior quarterback Eric Herbort. And just one-half of the field was used at a time.

"We make it work," Madsen said.

And things are a lot easier now with both Smith and Herbort - the leading candidates to replace graduated four-year starting quarterback Shaun Carney - at the academy. During the first period of summer, there were no quarterbacks at the academy, so 7-on-7s were just about impossible.

   "We're different from anywhere else," Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. "Anywhere else you have them there all summer and they're doing all their workouts and all their skill development and they're watching tape. Where at our place ... they're all over
the world right now."

   Cadets get one period of leave each summer and spend the other two periods in a variety of ways. Most report to an Air Force base for at least one period. Some go through flight training. And some spend one or more periods on campus working basic training or taking a class.

   But even those on campus have widely varied schedules.

   Strength and conditioning coach Matt McGettigan runs morning and afternoon conditioning sessions four days a week, and some players stationed on campus can't make either.

   Senior tackle Keith Williams, for instance, began his lifting and movement workout Tuesday evening by himself when the afternoon group was almost finished.

   "Even for the guys that are here, if they're working basic training or something, that's a full day's work, that's a full load," McGettigan said. "So then they've got to try to come in and find the time when they can make it in and do the workout."

   Nineteen players participated in Tuesday afternoon's lifting and conditioning session. And because some of them were linemen, the Falcons had a skeleton crew for passing drills.

   That's light years away from what's going on just up the road at the University of Colorado.

   According to a story that appeared in The Boulder Daily Camera this summer, the Buffaloes were "approaching triple digits" at their player-organized workouts thanks to returning players staying on campus and incoming freshmen.

   Air Force's incoming freshmen, meanwhile, are in the midst of basic training. And some of the sophomores at the academy are participating in global engagement, a mock deployment that takes place in Jack's Valley on campus - but doesn't allow for time to hit the weight room or the practice field.

   Other veterans are on Operations Air Force. Senior outside linebacker Hunter Altman, for instance, is at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, and sophomore Kyle Halderman is at Mildenhall Air Force Base in the United Kingdom.

   So those who are on campus have to be willing to adjust on the fly - even if that means playing a new position in 7-on-7 drills.

   "I've been so impressed with everybody on the team, everybody's so unselfish," said Smith, who said Tuesday's 7-on-7 drill had particularly low attendance because it was a busy day for cadets.

   "During the season when coach asks somebody to switch positions, everyone says, ‘Sure, coach, no problem, whatever helps the team.' It's the same way in the offseason. When you don't have that much time off, you'd like to spend it by the pool or something, but everyone's making sacrifices and doing their best to get better." 

   CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0365 or jake.schaller@gazette.com. Check out our Air Force blog at gazetteafasports.freedomblogger.com