First game vs Colbert Heights: win 42 - 0
TIMES DAILY ARTICLE LINK: INDIANS POUND WILDCATS
COLBERT COUNTY ROSTER: LINK
Depth is the name of the game for Colbert County. Though the traditional power saw a spike in the number of players
on its football roster last year, experience remained thin at many
positions.
That meant seasoned starters had to fight through fatigue and remain on the field longer than coach Dale Jeffreys would have liked. It showed, when the Indians, after winning their first five games, lost four of their final five to close the regular season, sneaking into the playoffs as Class 3A, Region 8’s No. 4 seed. They went on to advance to a quarterfinals loss to eventual state champion Madison Academy. With 15 starters plus a host of supporting players back from that run, Jeffreys looks for improvement in his second year back at his alma mater.
“We’re a lot deeper than we were last year,” Jeffreys said. “We’ve got some more kids out. We’re close to 50 kids. We’re pretty much two-deep everywhere and a lot of those guys are going to roll in and out. We aren’t going to have many playing every snap all the time, although there will be a couple guys who may still do that. We’re feeling a lot better about our numbers and depth. “We’re a lot further ahead this year than we were last year. Just simply that we’re a year older. We’ve got 15 starters coming back, so everything is a little bit fresher than it was last year. That was one thing that we struggled with, that everything was so new. It was the third different offense in four years, so that made it difficult.”
Seven starters return offensively, including senior running back Ryan Carpenter, who had a breakout year with 1,261 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns on 149 carries as a junior. That was done with a brace on his knee as he continued to recover from an ACL tear that caused him to miss his sophomore season. Added Jeffreys: “I think Ryan is going to have a really good year. Last year, he was coming back off an ACL injury his sophomore year, when he didn’t play. He wore a brace all last year. This year, he’s got it off. I can tell he’s a lot quicker and faster.”
The Indians will field a new starter at quarterback, technically speaking. Tyler Jeffreys, the coach’s son, takes over at that position after last year’s starter, Sam Howard, transferred to Deshler.
The younger Jeffreys, who saw some action last year, has plenty of experience, though, and is expected to provide a smooth transition at quarterback.
Like at most positions, coach Jeffreys likes the depth at receiver, where he says four or five players who could get the ball on any given play. That includes playmaking 6-foot-3 junior Tobias Qualls. The defense returns eight starters from last season, losing two tackles and a back. However, injuries at those positions throughout last season allowed younger players to step in and develop depth.
Coaches also have tried to simplify some of the defensive system they brought with them last year.
Particularly, coach Jeffreys is looking for an improvement in turnover margin, in which the Indians were minus-25 in their five losses in 2012.
“We feel good about that and we feel good about our linebackers,” Dale Jeffreys said. “We’ve got two decent linebackers. We can get some quality rest time with those guys, even if it’s just one series, to help us play hard for four quarters.” A back-loaded schedule last year didn’t play to the Indians favor, though this year’s will be the same, with games against Lauderdale County, Deshler and Madison Academy all coming in the second half of the season.
SOURCE ARTICLE: TIMES DAILY
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