Al Bagnoli saw his team plummet from a 5-1 start to 5-5 last season, and the coach, who will enter his 15th season as the head man at Penn in September, knows that it will not be so easy to get back to the top of the Ivy League mountain.
After Sunday's first scrimmage with officials in the spring practice season, Bagnoli said that he is still trying to get his team back into the game.
"We're still in the learning curve," he said.
This is especially the case with the Quakers' offense.
The 2006 season will be the first under the direction of Shawn Halloran, who came to Penn after longtime offensive coordinator Andy Coen left for Lehigh's head coaching job in January.
"The kids [are] trying to get a handle on the different terminology and the different tweaks in the offense," Bagnoli said.
After all, by the time the offensive staff was fully assembled, completed with the hiring of offensive line coach Jonathan McLaughlin, the Quakers had only two and a half to three weeks to get ready for the spring practice season.
Today marks the beginning of the second half of the dozen official spring workouts; they will continue until April 14, when there will be another scrimmage with outside officials.
To this point, Bagnoli was not overly effusive in praising the team, but he noted that the short time frame was a big factor in his team's play thus far.
"We've been okay," he said. "We can benefit from more time together."
Bagnoli also said that spring practice was mostly for the coaching staff to see how the current freshmen and sophomores can adapt to being the main players on a particular unit.
"It's about getting back to the basics and getting some of the young kids into the spotlight," he said.
And if all goes well, Bagnoli added, the younger players can use momentum from the spring when September rolls around.
"Hopefully that'll be a great springboard to the season," he said.
Penn has to replace 17 players who started at least one game in 2005.
Still up for grabs
One of the players lost is Pat McDermott, who has started under center in each of the last two seasons. There will be a new starting quarterback for the Quakers in 2006.
The frontrunner right now is sophomore Bryan Walker, who is no stranger to the starting lineup. He subbed for an injured McDermott in the last two games of 2004 (going 1-1) and the last five in 2005 (going 0-4 after replacing McDermott in a win over Yale).
"Bryan Walker has the most snaps and the best recall of some of the things we did," Bagnoli said.
But the coach said that the sophomore is also being challenged by some of the younger players on the team, and this could be the first season in a long time when the starting quarterback is not known very far in advance. McDermott, Mike Mitchell and Gavin Hoffman have been the starters every year since 1998, and the latter two hold multiple Penn records.
"It's still up in the air," Bagnoli said.
"On paper, Bryan has ... the most experience and should be able to accomplish some things based on that pedigree," he added.
"But it's going to be a spirited battle."
Ailing Quakers
On the injury front, junior running back Joe Sandberg had shoulder surgery in the offseason, and sophomore linebacker Andrew Allen is also recovering from in-season injuries. Both are out for the spring season but should be ready in the fall.
So far, Bagnoli said, the only injury in the spring was suffered by freshman wide receiver Michael Cortese, who twisted a knee in Sunday's scrimmage.
His diagnosis has not yet been made.
