War Eagles getting better
They’ll also split carries with junior Lamar Handy, who mostly started at wide receiver and cornerback last season.
“Jimmy is more of a scatback, quick guy who’s probably about 5-5, 165, and he can run between the tackles and stuff like that, but we can also motion him out and line him up at receiver, so he’s one of those backs who you can easily put at slot receiver and not miss a beat,” Rush said.
“Contrell is probably about 225, 5-11, and he’s more your downhill runner.”
The quarterback position is far more established, with Braden Letney gearing up for his third season starting.
Rush said he was looking for consistency from the soon-to-be senior this spring.
“He’s been a varsity player since he was a freshman, and going into this senior year things have definitely slowed down for him,” Rush said. “And we haven’t changed the offense whatsoever, so he understands the concept of the entire offense, and hopefully he can be a lot more consistent this coming fall.”
Defensively, Rush wants to improve against the run next season.
The War Eagles are losing two defensive ends, but they have two promising players coming up from junior varsity, with junior Lane Tuck (6-1, 245) and sophomore Jay Franklin (6-1, 195) competing for time.
They’ll also have Darius Celestine, who missed spring after shoulder surgery, back this fall.
Junior Jakob Kuhlenschmidt and freshman Brennan Young competed for the starting Mike linebacker job this spring.
Rush said they were neck-and-neck going into the summer.
“They’re downhill linebackers who love to hit and do a great job of reading their under keys and reading through the backs,” Rush said.
“Right now, they both have to work on being consistent, and so hopefully, after the summer and throughout the fall camp, when we get back, we’ll name one of those guys the starting Mike backer for us.”
In the secondary, the Eagles moved JV corner Hayden Gula to safety, where he impressed the coaching staff this month.
Trent Gordon, a freshman the Eagles moved up to varsity late last season, and incoming senior Barry White competed for a starting job at corner, with both players looking good this spring, Rush said.
They’ll also be young in the secondary, and across the board, especially at Oline.
“I’m excited about it,” Rush said. “The kids had a good spring, as far as showing the effort and competing, so we’ll see how things go.”
Next up for Oak Ridge is summer 7-on-7 football.
The begin local league play June 4 and go every Thursday through June at The Woodlands High School. The first of two 7-on-7 state qualifying tournaments for Oak Ridge is June 5 at The Woodlands.
“It’ll be for fun, but it’ll also help our kids get better, especially our skill kids, getting better throughout the summer,” Rush said.