Head Football Coach Scott Hughes is focusing on the mental and physical development of his roster this offseason to prepare a young team for a challenging regional schedule.
Hughes said the development process is critical because the majority of the roster consists of underclassmen who need to improve their football IQ and situational awareness. Hughes said the coaching staff began this teaching process in December to help players understand how each position on the field connects to the next.
“Oh man, we can’t get enough development days,” Hughes said. “It’s, you know, when when you look at our roster, the bulk of our roster is underclassmen. And, you know, for those guys, people don’t understand just the football IQ part, the the understanding of situational football, the understanding of just how to play each position and and how each position connects to the next.”
Hughes said the team spent more time on the mental aspects of the game than the physical side during the early stages of the offseason. Hughes said approximately 65 to 70 percent of the current roster is made up of freshmen and sophomores.
“Because, you know, when you’re banking on so many young guys such as we did last year, it was sometimes our kryptonite,” Hughes said. “And so we really dove in with our guys this year and and spent way more time, probably on the mental than we did the physical.”
The coach said the team must navigate a difficult region that includes programs such as Marion County, York, Grundy County, and Bledsoe County. Hughes said the varsity experience gained by 14-year-old freshmen last season is a primary factor in the team’s growth heading into the new year.
“You can’t substitute playing experience and you can’t substitute game experience,” Hughes said. “Because, you know, for us being a smaller roster, we can’t always simulate a game situation. We we can talk about situations, we can we can rep it, but we can’t simulate going against a 18-year-old or we can’t simulate going against a guy that’s been a three-year starter.”
Hughes said the program is currently evaluating a quarterback competition between sophomore Hank Shepard and junior Tanner Brown. Hughes said both players are high-level athletes who will contribute at other positions like tailback or receiver if they are not taking snaps under center.
“The beauty of both of them is they’re both really really good athletes and they’re both high-level athletes that if one of them is not at quarterback, then the other one is going to be at tailback or going to be at receiver or somewhere where the football is going to find them,” Hughes said. “So it’s it’s a really good problem to have for us to have two guys that can make plays at multiple positions as well.”
Hughes said the senior class, led by Braden Walker, Mateo Miguel, and Robert Baer, is responsible for setting the team culture. Hughes said the program emphasizes community involvement, noting that players recently participated in a youth camp and a community egg hunt.
“I could talk for days about the character of our young men,” Hughes said. “And and that’s the, blessing that I have, is our culture, is is really good and we’re blessed with that. And it it’s something for us, that we really take a lot of pride in is having, you know, good young men in our program.”
Hughes said the team is also expecting contributions from returning players like Zach Leonard and Donald Musoll, as well as the return of Isaiah Bowman from injury.
