QB confab: Vike coach Chris
Forcier confers with
Trevor Scully.
(Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Chris Forcier presents a fierce exterior. Think Norse warrior, profile view.
The former St. Augustine star, in La Jolla's spring workouts, never smiles and has an intimidating visage as he marshals his new quarterback corps, baseball cap backwards over shoulder-length hair.
If he can bring further respectability to the Viking football tradition, more power to him.
The average San Diego County resident, when "La Jolla football" is mentioned, doesn't generally associate "intimidating" with the phrase.
More likely that the person will say, "You mean Country Day?", since that is a well-known sports school. La Jolla High, not so much.
Forcier, for the uninitiated, is the middle brother of a renowned local football family. Besides leading the Saints at quarterback in his prep days, the tall right-hander went to UCLA, then transferred to Furman University. He spent time on rosters in the NFL and then-NFL Europe (now the EFL).
From a pair of days watching him up-close in spring practice at Edwards Field, it is apparent he didn't just start coaching as an ex-jock, though. Previously, he was quarterbacks coach at Hoover High, under Jerry Ralph, a respected long-time head coach who is now at El Camino High in Oceanside. Ralph was Forcier's coach in high school.
"Chris brings some knowledge, some great experience," says Tyler Roach, the Vikings' new head coach and former offensive coordinator, who brought Forcier onto his staff this spring. "He's a great guy. He comes from a great football family. We're lucky to have him. He's collaborating with me on offense."
On Tues., May 30, Forcier guided his quarterbacks through intensive drills. There didn't appear to be wasted time, and the tone of the work reflected the look on the quarterback coach's face: all business, no slapping people on the back and saying good job. Very serious.
His quarterbacks, Trevor Scully and Carsten Fehlan, seemed to relish the level of work. They moved repeatedly around a circuit that included stepping high-kneed at separate stations marked by cones several yards apart, carrying the football ready to throw while maintaining a look down an imaginary field, then running rapidly with tiny but pronounced steps in a rope ladder laid on the ground to further agility.
Scully, in the view of a relatively inexperienced football observer who knows athletics overall, seemed to move precisely and quickly, without missing a step. Scully will be a senior next year. Fehlan, one year in school younger, looked almost as impressive. It's early, and a lot of water is going to pass under the proverbial bridge during the rest of spring practice, summer passing leagues, the annual team-building trip in Big Bear, and official practice in August.
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