2009 Glendale Community College Football Preview:

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — It’s been 10 months and a little over a week since last season ended, but when the Glendale Community College football team kicks off its 2009 season at home against West Los Angeles College on Saturday, it will be 11 months to the day since the Vaqueros last won a game.

For the entire team, but particularly the 20 returning sophomores second-year Coach John Rome welcomes back, much of the focus during the buildup to the new season has centered around improving on the previous one, in which the team showed early promise, but splintered under the weight of a rash of injuries and a five-game losing streak to play out the schedule.

“We’re real excited, we’ve been working out here every day, rain or shine, no matter what,” sophomore linebacker Kalii Robinson said during a recent team practice. “We’re real dedicated to this season and we want to turn it around from last season. ...It’s a new season and we’re ready to go.

“We want to just get our names out there and show Glendale what we’re really about, so people don’t sleep on Glendale college.”

There’s an intriguing mix of freshman arrivals to assist that turnaround and many of the returners already have experience playing key roles last year.

“There’s more talent on the field,” said sophomore right guard Tanner Farwell, who graduated from Crescenta Valley High in 2008. “[Coach Rome] has done a great job of recruiting.

“This team is different than last year — we bonded quicker and we’re already a team. There’s less individualism and more leaders on all levels. We’ve got freshmen here that know how to lead.”

Rome, who led the Vaqueros to a 3-7 record (1-5 in conference) last season, has been busy assembling this year’s recruiting class, while continuing to draw players exclusively from within the state and heavily from the valley areas.

But in addition to new players, the coaching staff has been expanded, as well, and one of the first repercussions of that was a shift in the team’s defensive formation.

New defensive coordinator Doug Bledsoe, who played at Glendale college in the late 1980s, has installed a scheme identical to the one that longtime Vaqueros Coach John Cicuto ran when he was the team’s defensive coordinator.