URI senior quarterback Derek Cassidy, facing pressure from Delaware’s Roger Brown in 2006, will share most of the snaps in training camp with D.J. Stefkovich.

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The Providence Journal / John Freidah

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Darren Rizzi had his staff over for a cookout yesterday.

“The calm before the storm,” the University of Rhode Island’s rookie football coach joked.

Clouds won’t start to build until Aug. 30, when Monmouth will visit Kingston for the 2008 season opener, but between the start of training camp today and the first kickoff, winds of change will swirl around this program for the first time in years.

Who will play quarterback in Rizzi’s more liberal attack? Derek Cassidy, the senior triple-option holdover from the Tim Stowers regime, D.J. Stefkovich, an underutilized junior with passing credentials, or an untried freshman in his first collegiate camp?

Who are the wide receivers on this team that has shed its image as a running machine? Tolbert Evans (Wakefield) and Shawn Leonard, who have shown promise in the past, or transfers Ty Bynum of Milford Academy and Stephen Smalls of Maryland?

Who will line up at running back? Joe Casey, the three-time first-team All-Colonial Athletic Conference fullback, or classmate Jimmy Hughes, who has demonstrated bursts of power and speed, or both?

Questions about the line, special teams and defense abound, but we’ll save them for another day. Only this much is certain. Fans had better buy a program for the Monmouth game because 38 of the 85 players who are in camp were not with the Rams last year.

“That’s a staggering number, and I’ve never experienced that as a coach before,” Rizzi said.

Six quarterbacks are on the roster, but Cassidy and Stefkovich will share most of the snaps during camp. Cassidy is the three-year starter who can run and Stefkovich the backup who came here with big passing numbers from Staples High in Westport, Conn.

“I wouldn’t say we have a starter. Derek and D.J. are battling. The first day we go out Derek will take most of the reps with the number-one unit. D.J. pushed him in the spring and was better than I thought,” Rizzi said.

They will share the reps for the first 10 days of practice and two scrimmages. Rizzi would like to have a starter after the second scrimmage, but if necessary he will wait until the final preseason scrimmage on Aug. 21.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if during the season they both play,” he said. “Decision-making will determine who the starter is.”

Redshirt sophomore Greg Wicks and freshmen Marc Lucarini, Kyle Elliott and Lou Bianchini will vie for attention.

Evans and Leonard were the wide receivers in the limited passing game that Rhody employed under Stowers, and they will get a chance to run their patterns under Rizzi. But the rookie head coach expects Bynum and Smalls, a redshirt sophomore, to have an impact.

Bynum broke his arm in the spring and required surgery. When he is ready, he will probably start. Smalls, 6-foot-1, 201, was in a wide receiver logjam at Maryland and wants to play, which is why he is in Kingston. He did not catch a pass last year for the Terps.

Nick Del Grosso, a 6-5, 210-pound wideout who did not play last year, returned to the squad in the spring after learning of Rizzi’s wide open attack.

“He was grossly out of shape, but from the reports I’ve received he had a great summer. He’s a wild card in the mix. If he comes in in good shape, he can give us a boost,” Rizzi said.

Joe Bellini (Burrillville), a running back for two years, is a receiver now and will line up in the slot.

Casey was the fullback for three years, but in the Rizzi system he is the S back.

“We call it the Super Back because he has to do everything. He has to run the ball. He has to catch the ball on screens and in the short passing game, and he has to pass protect,” Rizzi said.

Casey did all three in the spring.

“It was good to see him catch the ball because we had questions about that. And he definitely can be a good pass protector because he is strong and has the mentality,” Rizzi said.

Casey’s body type (5-10, 205-210) fits the S back prototype, Rizzi said, and the fact that he will line up all over the field should enable him to avoid the pounding he took as an up-the-middle fullback,

“In the last three years the guy probably had six years worth of hits,” Rizzi said. Shoulder injuries in 2006 and 2007 cut Casey’s seasons short.

Hughes is a capable runner who can catch the ball.

Rizzi said the recruiting class and transfers account for the large number of new faces on the team. About a dozen players from the 2007 team left, either voluntarily or as a result of violating team policy.

Among the absent will be Antonio Johnson, a starting cornerback, defensive linemen Robert Meredith and Marc Toni, long snapper Steffan Lazerow and kicker Pedro Belinchon.

The coaching staff has recruited more than a dozen walk-ons who will boost the roster to about 100 players with the start of the first semester.

With so many new players and a new system. Rizzi’s expectations for this camp and this season are realistic.

“I have to keep telling myself that 45 percent of the team is new. I have to keep telling myself that everything we do is new, that the new players don’t even know where the locker room is,” he said with a laugh.

“If at the end of every day we’re getting better and the program is moving forward and not laterally, I’ll be happy. I don’t want to be a peaks and valley team. I don’t want this to be a roller coaster where we play like a contender one week and a high-school JV team the next week. We have made a huge emphasis on that. I want to see consistent, constant improvement . . . and once we build it, I want to stay there. It took Greg Schiano four years at Rutgers, but now he has the program where he wants it.”

Year One for Rizzi and URI starts today.

mszostak@projo.com