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CR Football: New Defensive Coordinator Demaro Wheeler

Written by Diover Duario of the Times-Standard

The “black swarm,” they call it.

First-year defensive coordinator Damaro Wheeler brought a mindset to College of the Redwoods’ defense that shapes their collective identity.

“You run on every play. You run even after each play. If you’re in, you’re running. That’s what we live by,” said Wheeler.

Wheeler spent the past three years as the defensive-backs coach at the University of California, Davis. Prior to that, he worked as a graduate assistant for Central Washington University where he met College of the Redwoods’ former defensive coordinator and head coach Taylor Breitzman, who recommended Wheeler to fill his old post,

Head coach Frank Borba hopes Wheeler’s experience and familiarity with Brietzman’s system will make for a smooth but effective transition.

“Honestly, any time you get a chance at a D-1 guy, you’d be a fool not to take it,” Borba said. “And Breitzman recommended him. Their similar styles should help us keep the continuity as close to the same as possible.”

Transitioning to a new system takes time, however, and Wheeler prefers to make steady progress by emphasizing fundamentals.

“Tackling. We need to learn how to tackle properly. If we can’t tackle, it won’t matter what play we run,” Wheeler said.

Since March, Wheeler has worked with the team and relies on players who showed up for spring practice to motivate the younger ones. Sophomore safety Brandon Gardner has taken a liking to Wheeler’s style of coaching.

“He’s cool, laid back and funny. It’s a bit of a stretch transitioning, different players have different responsibilities but we learn something new everyday,” Gardner said.

Among the spring trainees was middle linebacker Luke Punzalan, also a sophomore. “‘Respect’ was only word he needed to describe Wheeler’s approach to coaching.

“He’s the kind of guy you wanna play for, someone with a lot of fire for the game,” Punzalan said. “He wants all eleven guys around the ball, every play. That’s the black swarm.”

Though Wheeler sees the defensive unit as a whole, he expects players like Gardner and Punzalan to serve as an example to the younger players.

“I need the guys who were out here in spring to step up and get everybody else to buy in,” Wheeler said.

Borba is not surprised that Wheeler is making waves with the players and harbors great faith and enthusiasm in his coaching.

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  • Eureka Main Campus
  • 7351 Tompkins Hill Rd
  • Eureka, CA 95501
  • 707-476-4100
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