Contra Costa College forfeits football season
SAN PABLO Calif. - Contra Costa College fans will not be able to hear or see any touchdowns this fall. The football program decided to forfeit their 2024 season.
"Basically, there were a few guys who were sad and there were some tears," said Contra Costa College head football coach Marcus Davis.
CCC was a premiere junior college football program throughout the years. They won several division championships and even had a few comets make it to the NFL.
Their athletic director, Kyle Alvarado, details why they made this decision.
"So the number one concern was the safety for the student-athletes in terms of not having enough players, specifically at certain positions, and the aspect of asking those young men to do too much in terms of going both ways, specifically on the offense and defensive line," said Alvarado.
Alvarado said that the football program usually targets having 60–100 players, but in the summer before the season kicked off they had fewer than 50. He added that due to play eligibility rules, it was in the student athlete's best interest to cancel before the season kicked off.
"The minute you play, and you're a full-time student, and then your clock starts. So if we play one or two games and the season had to fold because we had a bunch of injuries piling up, they've used their eligibility, and they've used their clock at both the NCAA level and lower division level" said Alvarado.
The Comets may have lost a number of players due to the loss of their season.
However, their current core group is seizing the opportunity of an additional off-season.
"Might as well stay. The weight room is nice, everything is here that you need to become better, a better person, a better all-around athlete, and it's just a year to develop" said Comets quarterback and wide receiver Lamont Smith.
The majority of the current roster has full-time jobs, including sophomore quarterback and wide receiver Lamont Smith.
"He's a loyal man. He's never turned me down. He always gives us good info that we need to get better every day. He helped me personally get on track and stay focused and doing what I got to do" said Smith.
The Comets aren't allowed to have football practices until the spring of 2025. In the meantime, they will work out in the weight room, and work on speed and agility on the field.
Hercules native and Comets head football coach, Marcus Davis, is changing the program off the field and on.
In the past, previous head coaches used to recruit in the southern states like Texas, Alabama, and Georgia to try to give the program an advantage with more size and speed. Davis wants to change that approach by recruiting local talent instead.
"The plan is to get back to big Bay Area sports. We've been contacting a lot of the local high schools. We've actually made contact with over 60 high schools alone. [The] majority are here in the Bay Area. A lot of coaches have been supportive and sending rosters," said Davis.
Davis has a message for all Comets fans and potential players who are considering joining his program.
"If they look for us, they're going to understand they're going to get an opportunity here. We don't do the favoritism. Everybody has to earn a spot and our plan is to [build] guys' character, building guys on and off the field as young men," said Davis.