Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles -- There they were: Marcus Brady, Jaumal Bradley, Aaron Arnold, Brennen Swanson and Chazz Moore.
The doubts have been erased. The core of players who led the Cal State Northridge football team to second place in the Big Sky Conference last season all reported to the first full-squad practice in preparation for the upcoming season.
The disappointment of losing head coach Ron Ponciano and offensive coordinator Rob Phenicie was nowhere to be seen.
This kind of focus and optimism can be traced to several players-only meetings in the last month. Bradley, a senior fullback who was a first-team All-Big Sky selection last season, helped organize the meetings in the aftermath of Ponciano's firing in July.
"Some of the talks we had were so energetic," said Bradley, who was voted a team captain. "There was a lot of emotion and a lot of compassion."
The first meeting, Bradley said, was the toughest. A few key players, including Aarnold and Marcus Brady, had talked openly about transferring in the weeks leading up to Ponciano's departure.
"We pulled everybody to the table and asked them (where they stood)," Bradley said. "It was a serious, emotionally draining meeting."
Marquis Brignac, a freshman running back from Taft High and one of CSUN's top recruits, said he was "skeptical" about coming to CSUN after Ponciano was fired. But he was turned around after meeting players such as Bradley,
Brady, who was the Big Sky's Newcomer of the Year in '98 as the Matadors' starting quarterback, had fleeting thoughts of transferring during the tumultuous week when it appeared Ponciano wasn't going to return. But he pledged his support to the program.
"My home is here," said Brady, a sophomore. "This is where I wanted to be."
The NCAA Div. I-AA Matadors will open their season at home on Saturday against Western Oregon, an NAIA-affiliated school.
The Cal State Northridge will travel to Kansas, one of two NCAA Div. I-A schools on its schedule, on Sept. 11. CSUN's other top-level foe is SMU (Nov. 13 in Dallas).
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