Far be it for UC Davis to ever be short of tight ends. The Aggies have five in their three-week spring camp, which ends Saturday, but the quintet is short on experience. Four of the five tight ends have never caught a pass with the Aggies. The one who has is still recovering from a knee injury in 2025.
Winston Williams injured his right knee after catching five passes for 45 yards and a touchdown in the first three games last season. The Aggies were fine without Williams, who made the 2024 All-Big Sky Conference team, because seniors Ian Simpson and Mitchell Dixon were every bit as capable.
Simpson succeeded Williams as an All-Big Sky tight end in 2025 after having 31 receptions for 425 yards and three touchdowns. Dixon added 18 receptions for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Add Williams and the three tight ends combined to catch 54 passes for 672 yards and six touchdowns.
Williams will have to get healthy in a hurry for the Aggies to stand any chance of coming close to the 2025 tight end totals. The other tight ends are redshirt junior Franz Pohlman and redshirt freshmen Jake Houseworth, Edward Khutsishvili and Jordan Rogers. Houseworth is a Cal transfer.
“I definitely have to take more of a leadership role with the older guys being gone,” said Williams, who arrived at UC Davis in 2021 and made his debut in 2023. “It’s my job now to answer whatever questions that the young dudes have and clean up any technique when I feel like we’re missing it.”
Sustaining the energy to navigate one last season will be difficult and Williams admits to doubting whether he can do it. And that was after deciding if he wanted to give it a try. “It was definitely a tough decision,” Williams said. “I had to get myself right to come back. Now I’m fully ready to go.”
— Learning the names of new teammates is a habit Derek Houston wants to break at Sacramento State. The redshirt junior welcomed dozen of newcomers in 2025 after Brennan Marion was hired as head coach and lured players to join the Hornets with promises of an FBS future and NIL riches.
Most of those players bolted at the end of last season once it became clear neither promise would come true any time soon. Houston was close to leaving when Marion resigned and Alonzo Carter was hired. In February, the Hornets achieved FBS status by joining the Mid-American Conference.
Houston bought what Carter and assistant head coach Kenwick Thompson were selling because they had a plan to restore order in the program. Houston is a linebacker and his position coach is Thompson, who has gone from San Jose State to Cal and UNLV to UAB to in 32 years as a college assistant. Thompson also is the co-defensive coordinator.
“(Carter) genuinely cares about us as men, not just football players. He’s constantly checking up on everyone,” said Houston, who missed six games in 2025 with a knee injury. “The staff (Carter) put together is phenomenal. What’s doing is right not only for the school, but it’s for the community.”
— One spring practice was enough of an initiation for UC Davis freshman Robert Beverly. The 6-foot-8, 285-pound offensive tackle was thrown down by edge rusher Sam Goligoski after lunging at the redshirt junior and losing his balance. Goligoski’s advantage was starting all 13 games in 2025.
Once Beverly got to his feet, center Zaire Collier offered a few words of wisdom and advice to his new teammate. Collier speaks from the experience of starting 27 games the past two seasons. He has been in most every predicament a lineman can face and come out unscathed for the most part.
Beverly graduated from Carmel High in December so he could enroll at UC Davis and participate in the Aggies’ offseason workouts. “He tackled it head on” Collier said. “He’s someone who really wants to learn. I’ll try to take him under my wing.” Collier is 6-4. Beverly will have to crouch.
