A QB spark

Coming off of his first year as a sophomore starting quarterback, a shoulder injury and having to hit the books hard to learn a completely new offense, one might think those would fill up starting quarterback Robert Irvin's offseason agenda.

But believe it or not, running was his top priority.

Last year backup quarterback Bryan Walker often came in for a series or two to lead a wide-open, scrambling offense. Irvin, though certainly not particularly unathletic, was not mobile in the pocket, so coach Al Bagnoli often looked to Walker for a little spark off the bench.

In new offensive coordinator Bill Schmitz's scheme, Irvin wants to be a more well-rounded option.

"I tried to work on the running game because we're going to be running a little option, a little bit of quarterback keep stuff," Irvin said. "I tried to do a lot of running -- that was the main thing I worked on this summer. We have a big offseason package with agility drills, sprint drills, endurance drills, so I just did that."

Bagnoli did say that Walker will play some this year, but with the new offense Irvin hopes that won't have to happen too often.