In a swift transition from the weight room to Wheelock Stadium, Riverside City College’s football team held a spring scrimmage on May 19 as they prepared for the 2026 season. The Tigers finished the 2025 season with a 7-4 record, going 5-2 in Orange Empire Conference play.
The final padded spring scrimmage began at around 2:10 p.m. Head coach Kevin Craft was demanding a fast tempo offense, calling for a team huddle multiple times to remind players of the tone. The coaching focus was on freshman quarterback Christian Cooper as they looked to get him worked in with the offense early, following the transfer outs of quarterbacks Bryan Wilson and Jared Doolittle.
“Last spring, there were a lot of uncertainties with returning players and guys we were trying to recruit.” Craft explained.
With the departure of quarterbacks Doolittle and Wilson, the extra time comes as a luxury to develop Cooper.
Craft, now heading into his second season leading the Tigers, navigates roster integrity and retention, in a sense that a coach in the junior college field has to acknowledge that the environment is a transfer-out process. Players usually only spend a season or two before ideally being pumped out to bigger Division 1 programs like Doolittle, Wilson and seven other Tigers were last year. It’s that “last chance” mentality of players doing whatever it takes to make it to the next level. As Craft mentioned, the goal is to find everyone a home at the end of their time with the team.
The environment may initially come off as chaotic and fast-paced, leaving little room for units of players to get on the same page or to even grow close as teammates. However, words from the members of the defense erased every preconceived thought about the brotherhood of junior college ball.
Incoming transfer safety Jayden Dougherty from San Bernardino Valley College makes the firm statement that while the results from last year do not affect him, “we’re here to ball out and win a state championship,” adding that he’s ready to work with other players to push one another to find success.
Statements like Dougherty’s reflect the grind players go through each season, just to have another chance to prove themselves and get their names in the college field, to make it up to the next level. This also meets the recent success stories of RCC alumni like Los Angeles Rams running back Dean Connors, who transferred out to Rice, then finished his collegiate career at Houston.
With the constant rotation of athletes and the inevitable inner team clashes, Craft pushes the message that his guys shouldn’t be competing against one another; they should be competing with one another to find success as a unit.
