First-year head coach Chris Musseman is putting his own stamp on Ripon’s football program.
The longtime right-hand man for previous coach Chris Johnson, who was 77-53 with two Trans-Valley League titles in 12 years, and the Indians wrapped up summer workouts Thursday and will take the remainder of the Sac-Joaquin Section Dead Period off. They’ll go back at it on Aug. 8, the first official day of practice.
It was an important summer for a successful small-school squad in transition. With no more than three starters back on both sides of scrimmage, Musseman spent a lot of time implementing new philosophies. The Indians went 6-5 and earned a share of the TVL championship last season.
“We’ve mixed it up a little bit,” Musseman said of the team’s offseason program. “We definitely increased the intensity of what we’re doing and revamped the weightlifting and conditioning program. We spent a little more time getting fundamentals down and working on base plays of our offense and defense.
“A lot of our routine and core exercises are the same, but the focus is a little bit different,” Musseman said. “A lot of what Johnson did is still set in place. Let’s face it, he took a struggling program and turned it into a competitive one, so we’re not going to change everything — that would be crazy.”
Scheme-wise, the Indians will continue to operate out of the shotgun/Wing-T but are looking for more balance out of the offense with use of play-action.
What hasn’t changed is the lack of emphasis on 7-on-7s over the summer. Ripon had scrimmages with teams like Modesto Christian and Central Valley, but other than Tracy’s passing league it did not participate in tournaments. Ripon joined larger schools such as Heritage and Freedom out of Brentwood, Kimball and East Union from the competitive Valley Oak League on Wednesday nights at Tracy’s Wayne Schneider Stadium.
“We got to see some athletes that we’re not going to see in league, but our offense does not led well to 7-on-7s because we’re a three-step, play-action team,” Musseman said. “We’re not sending more than four guys out on patterns. That’s not who we are.”
Basketball standout Aaron Paschini (54 receptions, 781 yards, two TDs) broke out as Ripon’s top wide out in 2015, but three-year starting quarterback Nick Price has graduated. Senior Andrew Durrer, a tight end/linebacker last season, is competing with sophomore Ryan Daggett for snaps behind center.
“We have a good competition going between a senior and a sophomore — they’re close,” Musseman said. “I can’t really say that one is a whole lot better than the other so we’ll see what fits in best with our team.”
Few changes have been made to the nonleague schedule. Out are Western Athletic Conference power Patterson and the Lathrop, which beat Ripon last year and qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for the first time. Replacing them are San Juan (Sept. 2) and Grace Davis (Sept. 16).
Heavy hitters remain, however, and all of them are defending section champions. Ripon kicks off with SJS Division IV and CIF State Division IV-A champion Sierra at Stouffer Field on Aug. 26. Two weeks later the Indians travel to SJS Division V champion Sonora, then on Sept. 23 they wrap up pre-league action at Sutter of the North Section. Sutter lost to Sierra in a NorCal Bowl Game.
“Our preseason is still going to be pretty tough and it’s going to help set us up for the TVL,” Musseman said. “The only way to get better is to play better teams. As rough as the preseason was last year, we went into league and rolled off four straight victories.”
