BACK FOR MORE: Pasadena City College quarterback Justin
Posthuma is healthy again after suffering a knee injury in the second
game last season.
(Leo Jarzomb / Staff Photographer)

Here’s the Pasadena City College football season preview. I will post PCC news this season.

By Keith Lair, SGVN
twitter.com/KeithLLair
In some ways, the 2012 Pasadena City College football season already is unusual.
For the first time in several years, the roster is made up primarily of Valley and Los Angeles area players. There are only 17 non-Southern Californians on the team. Two of them are from foreign countries (Australia and Russia).
“It’s called community college,” second-year coach Fred Fimbres said. “We absolutely want to be playing games where we represent our immediate communities.
“We were not actively recruiting out-of-state guys. They recruited us.”

Two years ago, 42 members of the Lancers came from outside Southern California.
“We were doing more discouraging of the out-of-state guys,” Fimbres said. “We’re getting talent and resources from students who all have easy access to get here.”
The Lancers are unusual in another way, too. Of their 91 players, only 15 are sophomores.
“I realize that sometimes they don’t know what the level of play is,” Fimbres said. “They think it is like going from their first year of (high school) varsity (football) to their second year. We all know it is absolutely different than that.”
That might lead to interesting outings early on. PCC begins the season Saturday at Citrus College.
“I’d like to line them up against the sophomores to get them to know what it is really like,” Fimbres said. “But in practice we’ve had to have young guys against young guys. It’s been like a (high school) all-star game for them.”
The question, Fimbres wondered, is when will the freshmen get up to speed.
“I think the challenge is trying to be seeing how quickly they adjust to the speed of the game,” he said. “We won’t know until Saturday.”
Fortunately, one of those freshmen, quarterback Justin Posthuma, has a lot more than freshman experience.
The St. Francis High School graduate began his collegiate career at UCLA. He transferred to PCC last year and was the starting quarterback, but he blew out his knee in the second game and was granted another year of eligibility.
“Justin will be our calming influence,” Fimbres said. “He’s let guys in the huddle know they’ll be OK.
“He’s just really savvy and has an awareness around him.”
The Lancers’ other sophomores include backup quarterback Zeek Julien, linebacker Bryan Luna, defensive back Mike Sepulveda, offensive lineman Jase To’omalatai and defensive linemen Dean Bisterfeldt of Monrovia and Gary London, a transfer from Southern University.
Of the freshmen, Fimbres said he likes what he has seen so far.
The newcomers include running backs Zander Anding, Cameron Washington and Marciss Grigsby.
“I think we have a three-headed monster,” Fimbres said of his backs.
There may be only one returning offensive lineman, but Fimbres said players such as Raul Martinez-Mier, Karl Lele, Monrovia’s Kevin Spencer, Lester Quintana and Rosemead’s Salvador Chavarin will be in the mix.
Tyree Marshall is making a push at linebacker, as is Darius Andres, a transfer from UNLV.
“We’re young and if we keep learning and make something happen it could be good,” Fimbres said. “We are trying to prepare for certain things and what challenges we will have and how we can most likely adjust to that.
“That is the really unknown.”
PCC, which went 3-7 last year, drops into the National Southern Conference. The Lancers’ home opener is Sept. 8 against Orange Coast.