PLYMOUTH – It is probably inevitable that the elephant in the room be addressed right away concerning Plymouth’s Rockies.
“Somebody told me were the No. 2 team in the state, and they asked me how I feel about that,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron. “I guess I’d rather be considered a good program coming in. It gets your attention. We’ve got a lot of skilled guys back; a lot of skilled guys on defense back; a lot of experience.
“I don’t know how good we’ll be. I really don’t. If we stay healthy, we’ve got a chance. I know everybody says that, but I like our kids. I wouldn’t trade them. They are fun to be around.”
That said, it is the returning lettermen that lead to the optimism of the pollsters and the Rockies.
“We’ve got (defensive end) Brandt Peters back who’s a very dynamic player,” said Barron. “Offensively back up front, we have (Trenton) Garza and (Devin) Straka. We have to replace three guys up front (on offense); we have to replace a nose and an end (on defense), but you have (Caleb) Koss back along with (Jeremy) Splix and (Matt) Friar. We might move Splix inside and play another kid outside. We’ve got (Cam) Eveland back who was second in the state in interceptions and two really good juniors: (Dave) Bacon and (Colton) Schuler in the secondary.
“On the offense, we have (A.J) Styers, (Nate) Nixon, Cam (Eveland) and Jack (Barron). Nixon and Styers have made huge strides on defense this summer and they are both guys whose motors never stop running. Short of them telling me they need a break, they will both be going at one of the outside linebacker spots.”
Depth may be the biggest concern of Barron and his staff.
“My concern is we have five guys going both ways,” he said. “We’d like to get that number down and we do have kids battling for positions.
“We like the kids we’ve seen. Jorge Quintana has taken ownership of the center spot. He’s a guy who has really wanted to be the center and he’s shown that all winter and spring. We have a sophomore in Nate LaFree that could play anywhere. We could play him up front or at linebacker, but he’s a guy right now who’s in the mix at right guard. One of the tackle spots is probably going to be owned by Koss, and as much as I don’t want to take away from his inside linebacker position, we just need him on the field all the time. He’s a tremendous athlete. Jarred Hurford is also in the mix up there.”
Barron also explained on defense, “we have a senior who’s taken over that nose spot left by Chaz Scruggs, and that’s Jake Stayton. He’s one of our stronger kids. We are playing a really athletic kid at that other end in Tristan McMillen opposite Peters. He could be our fullback too.”
With the change in the way practice can be conducted, Barron has had a chance to see a lot over the summer from his players, but in a much more controlled way than ever before.
“Everything has been regulated now. When we had two-a-days for two weeks, it was really a season in itself. We had a notification so that we had plenty of time to revamp what we’re doing,” said Barron. “I think you really have to be organized with your guys. What’s the daily objective every day? – and not get away from the fundamentals.”
He added, “My only concern is that we haven’t been able to take anybody to the ground and we won’t be able to bring anybody to the ground for a little bit more time. That is something that will stand out if we aren’t actually tackling people to the ground since we haven’t been able to work on that.
“We do hit. We are allowed 12 days in helmets and shoulder pads, nothing below the waist. It makes practice cleaner, we do hit, but there are levels of contact. We were ‘live’ up top – we didn’t bring to the ground – but we’ve had some pretty spirited practices.”
