Even diehard fans of the green and gold could be forgiven if they didn’t recognize a lot of faces at Poly’s Spring game on Wednesday—after all, the Jackrabbits only return a handful of players who saw any significant time on last year’s CIF championship team.  What the good-sized crowd in attendance did see was new talent—and lots of it.

“Yeah, we went through all the numbers in the green jerseys, and all the numbers on the white jerseys,” joked defensive coordinator Jeff Turley afterwards.

Fitting for an all-Poly match, it was a defensive affair that ended with the green jerseys winning 14-13, as they sealed their victory with an interception that came with less than a minute on the clock.  The ‘Rabbits definitely impressed at the quarterback and wide receiver position, and are plenty deep on defense, too.  When we asked head coach Raul Lara what he learned watching the game he smiled and said, “That I’ve got a lot of decisions to make.”

Standout players don’t always just pop out on the field either, but can be found reviewing film or looking back.  Turley says that in his first Spring game a few years ago, last year’s CIF-SS defensive MVP and all-state linebacker George Daily-Lyles actually started on the fourth string.  With so many players on the roster, it can be hard to make sure everyone gets evaluated fully, and that’s a big part of the value of a Spring game where every player gets rotated in for quality playing time.

We are a long way away from the start of the season, but if this early viewing was any indication, Poly should recover from graduating almost every starter last year in their traditional way: reloading, rather than rebuilding.