AIR FORCE FOOTBALL COACHES Q AND A … With Mike Thiessen

This is the first installment of what will be an ongoing series of interviews with Air Force football’s position coaches. The series, which will continue throughout the preseason, kicks off with beat writer Jake Schaller’s conversation with wide receivers coach Mike Thiessen.

JS: In addition to losing Spencer Armstrong to graduation, Sean Quintana has become a tight end and both Jaquon Robinson and Anthony Hemphill no longer are with the team. So who’s back at X receiver?

MT: Well, the two guys back that played last year are (junior Kevin) Fogler and (senior Josh) Cousins. Cousins (team-high 16 receptions in 2008) was a good athlete that was a quarterback and just finally came into it last year and figured it out. He made a few plays for us, and he’s kind of the senior leader of the group. Fogler (11 catches, 214 yards in 2008) is going to have to be the other one that’s in there and solid. He’s been there and done that. He had a little bit of an injury there at the end of the year, but he should be back and he’s a big, long body. Should be pretty good to throw to as a possession receiver type. And then, after that, we’ll see. (Sophomore) Zack Kauth is sitting in line. He’s got some things to prove, but he’s there and he’s got the best shot right now to take that third spot. We play three Xs normally in a game. If I have to, I can play two.

JS: How about Saj El-Amin (a senior basketball player his first season with the team)?

MT: Saj has a chance. He’s got to grow up. We’ll see over the next couple weeks how much he progresses. … I think another kid, we’ve got a freshman that’s coming in, Brandon Hirneise, that’s a pretty good player. We’ll see how fast he gets his legs back from Basic (Training) and see how see where he fits in there somewhere. … So it’ll be Kauth, Saj and Hirneise fighting it out. And, obviously, there’s a couple other sophomores there who are trying to fit their way in.

JS: How about Z receiver?

MT: It’s (junior Kyle) Halderman and (sophomore Jonathan) Warzeka. They’re going to work it. And after that we really don’t have anybody. Brett Skene is going to be a junior, but he’s hurt. He broke his ankle in the spring, and it’s still not back from that. Jon Escamilla is on probation, so he won’t be available. So we’re looking for a third one right now. It’s going to have to come from that freshman group somewhere. We’ll take a look at a couple of them.

JS: Will you get Escamilla back this year?

MT: At some point. Probably about halfway through.

JS: How about freshman Cody Getz?

MT: I think he’s going to be a tailback. … Whether we need him at tailback or Z, he can play either of them. He’s got good ball skills, but he can run the ball too. So we’ll see. He’s just a freshman.

JS: What more do you want to see from Kyle Halderman this year?

MT: Kyle’s strengths are the fact that he’s played a little bit already – he’s still just a junior, but he’s gotten a lot of snaps – and his route running and ball skills are very natural for him. So last year we took advantage of that with some of those big hitters. Not a whole bunch of them thrown to him, but when we did, they were good ones. He’s got to do a little bit better with just getting into our option stuff … blocking and that kind of thing. He’s still growing up. Becoming a junior, you get to be more physical, your body’s maturing, and he’ll be able to go beat on bodies a little bit better.