At 6 p.m. on Friday, the Cal Poly Football team took the long, slow walk from their locker room under the home bleachers up the sideline and onto Mustang Memorial Field at Spanos Stadium.
The walkout was quiet, but the rest of the evening was anything but. For the first time since their final home game in November, the Mustangs took the field in front of fans for the first-ever “Friday Night Lights” event held by the team on April 17.
A crowd gathered in the shaded seating under the press box, and for the next two hours, saw the new roster cycle through stretching, drills and intrasquad scrimmaging.
For Cal Poly’s newly hired Head Coach Tim Skipper, it was a chance to give the team’s supporters a look at who they’ll be watching in 2026.
“We just wanted to give back to the community,” Skipper said. “Our whole thing as a team is being community contributors, and tonight was part of that.”
Fans in attendance also had a chance to meet the players and get autographs at the end of the practice.
2026 will likely be a season of major change for the Mustangs. A year after going 4-8 overall and 2-6 in conference play, Skipper promised a new brand of “hard-nosed football” at his introductory press conference back in December.
The team added a large class of transfers and signees headlined by Boise State linebacker Chase Martin and former four-star Hawai’i quarterback Demaricus Davis.
Davis took the field Friday alongside a crowded quarterback room that will get a lot of attention next season. Last year, the team opted for a rotating, two-quarterback system with Ty Dieffenbach, who transferred to UCLA, and Bo Kelly, who is returning to the team.
READ MORE: Cal Poly Football revamps roster with seven new transfers
Skipper said these early practices, of which this was their eighth, are a good test to see which players may emerge down the line as contributors in key roles.
“Every single day you’re evaluating and seeing how guys are going to perform,” Skipper said. “I can’t wait to go watch the film, get my evaluations going, then we’re back out here on Monday.”
During the open practice, the team rotated between position-specific drills to head-to-head work between the offense and defense, culminating in full-contact drills with both sides playing physical football.
“The more energy you have, the better the practice is gonna be,” Skipper said. “We do a lot of things to get the energy going … and it carries through to the game, because we’re going to play four-quarter football.”
They will be looking to continue to build on that energy as the season inches closer and closer with their first game taking place on Aug. 28, when many of Skipper’s first big moves as head coach will be seen on the field.