It has not even been a month since the Cabrillo football team’s 2009 season concluded, but returning players are already hard at work. Weight training began Oct. 30, marking the beginning of a grueling offseason.

It’s an exciting time for many Cabrillo players—and an opportunity to get bigger, faster, and stronger. Although the Saturday Night Lights seem an eternity away, hard work during the off-season wins games in the fall. For second-year players who saw minimal time as freshmen or grey-shirt sophomores in 2009, now is the time to show coaches what they’re made of when the cameras are off.

Cabrillo’s most notable graduates are starting quarterback Ian McGinnis, receiver Nick Johnson, safety Anthony Bendana, defensive linemen Julius Sosaia and Bryce Ridgway, and linebacker T.J. Swedelius.

With countless starters moving on, there are big opportunities for other players.  Santa Cruz High School graduate and CCS- winning quarterback Gino Delucchi returns for his second year as he looks to take the reigns of the starting quarterback position. Delucchi started the last few games of 2009 when then-starting quarterback Ian McGinnis suffered a concussion. Delucchi showed Seahawks fans a little taste of what’s to come in 2010 season.

Second-year players held the team afloat in 2009 with a stingy physical defense. Next year the defense will be younger—but only time will tell their talents. The offense might be catalyst if running-back Byron Newman returns and the young receivers can develop this off-season.

Cabrillo players will break from lifting for a month or so, leaving players to practice on their own. Receivers and quarterbacks will plan running routes without the coaches’ supervision to get their timing down for games. The team will hit the field in the spring with no pads to regain knowledge of the playbook and get in some football-related drills. They are then issued another break in the summer before heading back to the field in late July, this time with full pads.

For a sport that is 95-percent practice the off-season is huge, and for a young team to grow it needs to happen now. Football is perfected off the field, not on it. From December to late August, the Cabrillo Seahawks will be looking to set the tone for the coming season.