UC Davis quarterback Treynor Cleeland was on his own in the second half of last Saturday’s game at San Diego. The radio system that allows head coach Tim Plough to send plays to the redshirt freshman was on the fritz. Plays are also signalled to the huddle, so Cleeland resorted to joining the crowd.
Cleeland gets more than play calls when he connects with Plough between plays. Plough alerts Cleeland to any defensive ploys the opposing team might pull and could call an audible to throw a counter punch. One audible paid off for the Aggies in a convincing 49-17 victory at Torero Stadium.
A 42-yard punt return by Zach Jones put the Aggies as their 45-yard line with 2:06 to go in the first half. Plough saw the Toreros were aligned to bring pressure from Cleeland’s blind side, so the play was changed to a screen to wide receiver Sam Gbatu Jr. Gbatu went 24 yards to the San Diego 31.
“We were able to check down to a screen and throw it to Sam. Sam had an explosive play on that,” Plough said. Cleeland followed with a pass to running back Jordan Fisher, who made a leaping catch in the end zone to make it 28-7. Cleeland finished the first half with three touchdown passes.
Cleeland added his fourth in the third quarter and sixth-year running back Matteo Perez dashed 79 yards to score, stretching the lead to 42-7. Cleeland capped his second start by tossing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Gbatu with 7:30 remaining. Cleeland completed 22 of 31 passes for 294 yards.
And with that Cleeland leads the Big Sky Conference in passing yards with 581 and is tied with Cal Poly’s Anthony Grigsby Jr. for the lead in touchdown passes with seven. Plough admits to being “probably way too hard on (Cleeland),” but occasionally rattling Cleeland’s cage is working thus far.
Cleeland was not rattled when he could not hear Plough. “That can be a little unnerving for a young quarterback, but I thought it was a great building block for him. What a great learning lesson for him,” Plough said. “That could happen in any game. I’m not always going to be able to talk to him.”
Plough had plenty to say about Perez at his press conference last Monday. Perez submitted paperwork to the NCAA in hopes of getting a sixth season after missing nine games last season with an ankle injury. Little has gone right for Perez in his career with injuries and being buried on the depth chart.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, Perez has been behind the two greatest tailbacks (Ulonzo Gilliam and Lan Larison, who made his NFL debut last Wednesday) in the history of the school,” Plough said. “He’s behind another great back right now (Jordan Fisher) and maybe the best one in the country.”
Fisher ranks with the best FCS backs, but he is second to Perez in rushing yards for the time being. Perez has 14 carries for 142 yards. Fisher has gained 131 on 26 carries and has caught six passes for 101 yards. Fisher should exceed his career highs of 26 receptions and 287 receiving yards in 2025.
Perez endured offseason workouts without knowing if he would be granted a sixth season. He also had to convince Plough about why he wanted to return. “I wanted to make it clear to him that if you want to come back, I want you to really enjoy this,” Plough said, “and to be the best version of you.”
