T.J. Weist, seen working with the offense during preseason camp,
will call the plays from the sidelines beginning on Saturday

Following the departure of head coach Paul Pasqualoni and offensive line coach George DeLeone and with no replacements having been hired as of yet, I was rather curious how things were going to shake out with the offensive coaching staff.

Interim coach T.J. Weist spent the first four games of the season calling the offensive plays from the press box and tight ends coach Mike Foley was right next to him in the booth.

During his press conference today Weist confirmed that he and Foley (who is now the offensive line coach) will be on the sidelines with quarterbacks coach Shane Day and running backs coach Kermit Buggs in the press box.

"I am going to call the plays and they are going to help," Weist said. "They are my eyes and we have been working closely all week long with putting in our game plan, we are going to work together to execute this offense."

It makes sense to have Weist on the field, obviously, since he is the head coach for the rest of the season and Foley needs to be able to make the adjustments with the offensive line in a face to face manner so both moves makes sense. One drawback is that having Day on the sidelines would be of great benefit to true freshman quarterback Tim Boyle.

Since I was curious of the dynamics, I asked Weist who deals with Boyle first when he comes to the sideline at the end of each series.

"It is going to be me, he is going to come off the field and see me more as an offensive coordinator more than anything," Weist said. "Coach Day wanted to be there with him and I told him this ‘I need your eyes up in the box.’ I just spent the last three years at Cincinnati with Coach (Mike) Bajakian as the offensive coordinator so when the Cincinnati quarterbacks came off the field they came right to me as the receivers coach and I sent them right to the phone to (talk) to the coordinator. I am going to make my comments from an offensive (coordinator) standpoint and I will get them on the phone with Coach Day and he will talk him through it, I will get the receivers, running backs, offensive line, the whole offense ‘this is what we are doing, this is what we are getting and this is where we are going.’ It is not going to be an issue from our standpoint, we are going to have communication every series between me, between him and between Coach Day."

Weist has had experience calling plays from the press box and from the sidelines so he isn't anticipating there being too much of an adjustment on his end.

"Sometimes as a veteran coordinator play calling it is easier to do on the field but I don’t think any play caller can do it without some eyes in the box, the timing of how their timing fits with disguising defenses," Weist said. "When you have veterans in the box who help you, it is just as good."

Weist said graduate assistants Doug Shearer (a former Shelton High standout) and Mike Digman have been working with the tight ends and receivers respectively since Foley, the tight ends coach, has been spending most of his time working with the offensive line and Weist has plenty to worry about as interim head coach and offensive coordinator that he doesn't have as much time to devote to coaching the receivers.

Weist said no decision would be made on reinstating running back Joseph Williams until "the legal process take its course, we are not going to make any decisions, there is no decision to be made."

Williams had his larceny case continued until next month during his court appearance today.