[RunItUpTheGut]

Whitley will return some key players, but as a lot of people know, finding and producing good linemen is just as hard if not harder to do then replacing the skill positions. This is especially true for an offense that ran for nearly 3400 yards (88% of total offense) and only passed for a mere 500 yards (12% of total offense).
Whitley loses 10 seniors, 7 of which were offensive linemen and defensive linemen, a couple of them played both ways. We also lose two WR (one was also a safety on defense) and IMO the most valuable SR we had, a kicker. While 10 is actually a pretty low number, for it to wipe out our entire offensive line pretty much hurts us in the trenches.

With that said, Whitley will return 16 Seniors this year, or should anyways.
Mix that with 11 Juniors, and hopefully we'll be able to cut back on so many kids playing both ways.


On offense, our entire backfield will look pretty much the same with Sophomore Austin Ysido at QB (90 Carries for 650 yards and 13/27 with 199 yards passing).

At fullback, Senior Boston Bryant (225 carries for 1512 yards) will start in Whitleys fullback heavy system. Anyone who played Whitley this year knows this kids a load and i dont expect that to change.

At Halfback i expect a couple of guys to return and maybe even a freshmen to see some time as we rotate a lot of RB's into our system to keep up with the amount of jet sweeps and toss sweeps we run.
Senior Josh Nichols (75 carries 556 yards) will be expected to step up his game from a pretty good season last year.
Junior Chase Rose, who many thought would have been the starting QB this year before Ysidro took over, will also see some time running the ball, but i think he will be relied on a lot more on the defensive side of the ball.
Tyler Sears is another option at RB for Whitley. Kid has good speed but like Rose, we probably see some time on defense as well.
Zach Mills, a freshmen, led his team to a state runner up crown this year and is one of the most electrifying 8th graders ive seen play the game. The kid is a game change and im sure Black will use him the right way to get ready for future years.
I expect Junior Cody Lewis to be playing wide out for most of the year. I could go over reciever stats and all that but in this offense, your reciever might as well be a skinny offensive linemen as he will be used to block more than anything.

Defense and the kicking game is what scares me about this team. We do return Bryant, but id love to see him only playing on the offensive side of the ball and like anyone, would love to see as many one way players as possible.

Junior Austin Hooper will be needed to step up big time on defense and along with Bryant will prbably lead the team in tackles again this year. The Freshmen i referred to is also a good linebacker and may see some starting time on the defensive side of the ball.


I know we struggle this year, but with a schedule like we had, it was to be expected with such a young team. What a lot of people dont know about this past year is that our starting RB quit after the Johnson Central scrimmage and didnt play and we also lost our best defensive linemen who moved before the season began and it hurt us bad with depth since we were this young.
I think as long as the kids stick with it and get better we will compete for a district and region crown this year.

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