To say the 2023 college football season was a challenge for Texas A&M-Commerce would be an understatement. The Lions opened their second season of transition from NCAA Division II against two teams ranked in the FCS top 20, including a road trip to the defending national quarterfinalist, Sacramento State. 

Injuries and a lack of quality depth wreaked havoc on the roster from Week 1. The Lions had 31 players unable to suit up for the season finale, with 21 requiring surgery last year. The result was a 1-9 record for Clint Dolezel, who was entering his first season as a collegiate head coach at his alma mater following an illustrious career in the Arena Football League.

Significant changes were made amongst the coaching staff during the offseason, including Dolezel assuming offensive coordinator and play-calling duties for the upcoming campaign.

“We’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year, and I’m excited where we’re headed,” Dolezel said. “We knew we needed a few more guys to be ready to compete in all our games. We think we’ll hold our own against conference teams this year.”

“A few more guys” wasn’t coach speak for needing more talent. The Lions needed more bodies. 

“Going into the season, we earmarked two guys as players we can’t lose, and they were out for the season in Week 1 and Week 3,” Dolezel said. “We were forced to play a lot of freshmen. We could not redshirt a couple of our freshmen like we wanted because of our lack of depth.”

However, Dolezel was focused on adding quality depth. The Lions signed 25 players to their 2024 recruiting class, including 16 transfers.

“We were so depleted from injuries last year, so our depth alone is much better,” he said. “We focused on securing some guys we’d feel comfortable putting into the game if we have some injuries.”

Dolezel’s coaching background might be arena football, but he understands the importance of a solid rushing attack. After posting a paltry 1,339 rushing yards and nine touchdowns as a team last season, Dolezel has been laser-focused on improving the run game.

“I’ve been hard on our run game (during the spring). Honestly, our run game has been very good throughout the spring,” Dolezel said. “We’re only so deep on our offensive line for the spring game, and we didn’t have our core group together. We still want to get better on the offensive line and get bigger guys.”

The battle for starting quarterback is between Trinity Valley transfer Darion “Ron” Peace and Eric Rodriguez, who started 14 games in 2021 and 2022 before suffering injuries to both ankles that forced the redshirt junior to sit all of last year. However, Dolezel isn’t interested in having the quarterback competition linger into the regular season.

“I’m not a two-quarterback system guy - I want someone to win it. I believe in the old saying that if you have two quarterbacks, then you don’t have any,” Dolezel said. “No one stood out and won the job during the spring. We may bring in a transfer if it’s the right fit, and we have some walk-ons who are playing pretty good.”

Dolezel made another significant change on defense by relieving Kyle Williams of his defensive coordinator duties in late February. Linebackers coach Jack Tyler was promoted to DC, and defensive line coach Michael Smith was promoted to assistant head coach four days after the spring game in April.

“I was on the headset for every play call last year on offense and defense. I thought Jack Tyler had a lot of great things to say on the headsets and had a lot of productive input on the plays we called,” Dolezel said. “It was a no-brainer to promote Jack and Mike. They work well together. Add in (new defensive backs coach Geoff Terry), and we feel much better about our defensive staff.”

While Dolezel expects to be competitive against Southland Conference teams this year, that’s not the standard he is setting for the Lions program.

“I don’t want to just hold our own against conference teams. I want to be competitive against the good football teams we’re playing in non-conference,” Dolezel said. “We’re still hitting it heavy and actively trying to improve our team.”

DCTF’s Take

The transition from NCAA Division II to FCS is steep. The most significant difference is quality depth, which is why the NCAA requires teams to take four years to transition. The problem with the four-year transition is that recruiting is challenging without the ability to participate in the postseason. 

Depth along the offensive and defensive lines was a glaring weakness for a Lions team that was undersized last year. Unfortunately for Lions fans, coaches who have taken a program through the transition to FCS believe the third season is the toughest. 

The Lions' success this season will depend on their improvement in running the ball and stopping the run along the line of scrimmage. It will be another long year if they don't significantly improve on the line. The good news is recruiting will become easier starting in 2025.