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Wolfpack waits to unleash fury
BY Kevin Hageland khageland@acnpapers.com
Plano West head football coach Mike Hughes had to temper some of his players during two-a-day practices.
Hughes was swift to end drills in an attempt to ensure practices were tough, but the Wolfpack didn’t take out its own.
That philosophy went out the window in Friday’s scrimmage against Highland Park.
And for good reason as Friday night’s scrimmage against the Scots was one of West’s final stops before opening up the regular season Thursday night at Cravens Field against Arlington Martin.
Friday night was West’s first opportunity to go after another team this fall and the Wolves have been salivating at the chance.
“This group just loves to compete,” Hughes said. “Whether it’s 7-on-7 or whatever else, they just love to compete. That’s why you see these guys still going hard in practice everyday despite the fact its 105 degrees outside.”
Leading the fight for the Wolves this season will be junior Carson Smith, who takes over at quarterback for the graduating Michael Pruneau. Since Smith was a starting wide receiver for West last season, some have tabbed him as new to the signal caller position, but the truth is Smith came up through the Wolves system as a quarterback.
“Carson was the quarterback for our freshman team over at Shepton (High School),” Hughes said. “He is very athletic and made a lot of big plays for us at receiver last year. Carson has a lot of varsity experience, just not a lot of varsity quarterback experience.
“But I expect him to get better and better and better.”
Smith will be thrust into the fire quickly as he is playing behind a largely inexperience offensive line.
The Wolves are set at left tackle with senior and Oklahoma State commit Travis Cross while center is secure in the hands of senior Patrick Raney, younger brother of former starting offensive lineman Alex Raney.
The rest of the line is likely to feature rotations.
Junior Chase Thomas and sophomore Stephan Randall will be at left guard while junior Brysen Roberson and sophomore Parker Murry patrol right guard. Right tackle will be handled by seniors Chris Lee and Luke Self. Hughes said a review of the scrimmage footage could decide more positions, but that he anticipated using multiple linemen outside of center and left tackle.
Whatever linemen are used should stay plenty busy as the Wolves figure to run the ball plenty with the combination of Smith alongside senior tailbacks Jarrett Horan and Kameron Haddock.
“Jarrett and Kameron can both go,” said Dax Damrich, West senior wide receiver. “And I think our offense will be a lot more balanced this season.”
That should be music to the West receivers’ ears as injuries to Horan and the graduated Sean Ballard crushed the Wolves’ ability to get a running game going late in the 2009 season.
Damrich and fellow senior Ryan Doyle will bring experience to the wide receiver position, but look for junior Carlos Wiggins to bring something else to the unit.
“Oh man, Carlos is fast,” Doyle said. “He will definitely bring the deep aspect to our offense this season.”
Speed could be the name of the West game on defense as well as the Wolves have made several positional changes to better use the personnel at their disposal.
“We are going to put players where we need them to make the team the best it can be,” Hughes said.
The biggest changes are in and out of the linebacking corps as senior Nathan Broussard is moving from inside linebacker to defensive end while senior Justin Bass and junior Bryce Cottrell are both moving from safety to outside linebacker. Bass and Cottrell are athletic enough to make an impact closer to the line of scrimmage while Broussard’s move reflects where he is likely to play in college.
“Broussard is a big-time player,” Hughes said.
And he will have to be as Broussard, who already has multiple Division I offers, and junior Taylor Hughes will attempt to replace the departed Jackson Jeffcoat.
“Those are some big shoes to fill,” Broussard said. “And one of my jobs is going to be getting the whole defense motivated.”
In between the ends will be seniors Cortiece Alexander and Ryan Flinchbaugh at defensive tackle. Joining Bass and Cottrell at linebacker, though on the inside, are senior Hunter Bruce and junior Blair Edwards.
There should still be some competition in the defensive backfield, expect for the spot of junior safety Grant Cooper.
“That kid is just a football player,” Hughes said. “Grant played really well as a sophomore and he worked hard to improve even more over the summer. That’s a kid that doesn’t make mistakes and is always in the right spot.”
Playing opposite Cooper should be senior Kameron Robinson, who moved to Plano from Arizona. Competition is abound at the cornerback spots as well, but sophomore Davis Roeschke and senior Jared Bujko have the inside track to the starting spots.
Senior Leon Taylor is one of the players battling to start at corner, but he already appears to have a starting spot lined up, only this one is at kicker. The punting is in the hands of senior Jordain Lilavois, who also plays another position as he is a receiver.
“Usually we have players that are straight kickers,” Hughes said. “But that is not the case this year and our guys haven’t been getting as many reps as usual.”
That could be a concern as District 8-5A is expected to feature many a tight contest.
“There are going to be a lot of close games,” Hughes said, “that could come down to a PAT or field goal.”
Prognosticators are expecting West to be on the wrong end of some of those games as the team is not predicted by many to make the playoffs. But the Wolves don’t appear concerned about that.
“The best season we probably ever had was when we won the district title in 2004,” Hughes said. “And that year everyone either picked us to finish last or next-to-last.”
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