The update that was promised.
Honestly I think our varsity guys have done a nice job this summer. They've really worked hard. It seems like we are young because of only having 1 senior in Trey Rominger but our juniors had to play a lot last year and that that experience has shown in practice.
Offensively:
OL-Last year to begin the season we started 4 seniors and 1 sophomore on the line but due to injures by the end of the season we had 1 senior and 4 sophomores starting. Juniors Jaxson Reynolds started all 11 games last year, Peyton Baker 7 games, Ian Drake 6 games, Coy Busick 5 games Oscar Lewellyn 2 games and we have Juniors Jeremiah Hutcheson and Jareth Nunez. I would expect our O-line will consist of 5 of these 7. At last night's scrimmage we started Reynolds, Baker, Drake, Busick and rotated Nunez and Hutch at the LT spot. Overall we did a lot of good things last night. Need to finish blocks a little better, be more physical but it was a good way to start.
QB-We graduated all-conference QB Braxton Elliott from last year. Junior Fletcher Cole, who was all-conference last year saw some time at QB last year but was mainly a WR/Slot. He has had the majority of the reps at QB during the summer with Sophomore Cooper Spires getting the second most. These two are different. Cole is a bigger, stronger athlete who runs the ball well while Spires throws the ball a little better. They're both fairly versatile and it wouldn't surprise me to see them used at the same time.
FB-Senior Trey Rominger is 2-time all-conference and a junior all-state kid. He ran for over 1,900 last season and I'd expect him to be our fullback. He didn't carry it a ton in the scrimmage but ran well when he did.
WR-We return our two starting WR's from last year in Juniors William Baker and Garrett Hickman. Neither had many catches last year because we didn't really throw the ball much at all. Both look more physical as they should being a year older and more confident. Junior Ashton Jones has been rotating in as well and has made a big jump physically in the past year. Hopefully we are able to get them the ball some this year.
Slotback-We graduated our two starting slotbacks from last year and Cole was our 3rd so we don't return much experience here. We have literally played 7 different kids in this spot this summer and it could be juniors Hickman and Isiah Apple. Sophomores, Dane Padgett, Treighlin Minton, Coen Brace, Tyler Hannon, Spires. Padgett is the biggest athlete in the group but honestly, I don't know who will start or if it will matter much because I do think it will be by committee, especially early. Padgett, Minton, Brace all had some nice runs last night and Hickman and Apple have looked good running the ball in practice.
Defensively:
DL-It was kinda the same situation as the offensive line where we had to play a lot of sophomores last year due to injury. Lewellyn, and Busick played a lot and Hutcheson, Drake, Baker all rotated in a lot last year. I really think this year it will be the same group of 5 kids playing those 3 spots.
LB-We graduated two all-conference LBs in Camron Meehan and Austin Benales but bring back ILB Rominger and OLB Reynolds who were also all-conference. Last night we started Apple at the other OLB and Nunez at ILB. Brace and Hannon have been rotating in at ILB and I'm not sure we have settled in at who will be the guy there yet. Apple started every game at CB last year but looks comfortable in his new spot. Padgett has had some reps at OLB as well.
DB-We graduated Elliott and all-conference DB Brandon Cook but bring back Cole at CB. Hickman has been playing the other CB and had some experience late last season and looks much more comfortable in coverage and coming up to tackle. It seems like we have had a rotation of Baker, Minton, Spires at safety.
That's all I can think of. We only had the 1 scrimmage this summer because the one we had scheduled before dead week got rained out so we don't have a ton of data to look at.
Really looking forward to getting the season started. I think just about everyone on our schedule will be improved. Boonville lost their QB but bring back quite a bit. Their JV was impressive last year and Coach Ward does a nice job. Valley will be much better as well. Their junior/senior group has been good since they were in youth and they have a nice combination of size and skill guys. PC returns their all-state RB and they always have linemen. WW brings back Chase and some good skill guys too. Eastern Greene bring back James Lewis and Peyton Lewis. Their QB is solid and their line is huge. CC really likes their sophomore group and should be better. Mitchell improved more throughout the season than anyone we saw. Corydon lost 3 guys they really depended on and with a small senior group and new coaching staff, they will have some work to do but I thought they physically had good size when we saw them yesterday. Lot of potential there. I unfortunately don't know much about North Knox's personnel but we have struggled with them the last two seasons. Hopefully we can figure them out. Going to be a fun season!