Mustangs put focus on fundamentals
With dearth of experience, Kingwood back to basics in early practices
Kingwood heads into the summer with nine returning lettermen, many of whom saw only a handful of starts last year.
So this spring, which concluded Tuesday, was about filling holes and teaching basics.
“It’s always about learning the basics,” coach Barry Campbell said. “That’s what we’re doing, teaching the basics, and … when we talk about basics, we’re talking about probably 85 to 90 percent of what we do next year – and any year – on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.”
Only a handful of players return, but one of them is the junior quarterback.
Dawson Trudell emerged as an effective leader last season, but he was up and down statistically and slowed by injuries at times, so the key this spring is to continue improving and moving forward.
“He’s trying to be a better quarterback all around, a better leader, better runner, throwing and running – he’s going to do whatever we need him to do,” Campbell said.
Several players are working at running back, where the Mustangs needed all three of their graduating running backs – Sewo Olonilua, Griffin Lay and Damon Young – last year because of injuries.
“It won’t be any one guy leading the charge,” Campbell said.
“Now, one player may rise to the top and end up taking the lead, but we’ll go into it with a rotation.”
The leading candidates to carry the load are junior Eric Hammersmith, who is moving from receiver, and freshman Casey Roth. Sophomore John McMahon and junior Steven Nguyen are in the mix.
Hammersmith is heading into his third varsity season.
“He’s played tailback before,” Campbell said.
“We put him at the flanker position because we had some pretty good running backs the last couple of years, so putting him in a receiver position was just about finding him a place to get on the field.”
Roth, off the freshman team, forced his way into the discussion with a good spring.
“He’s got good speed and quickness,” Campbell said.
They’ll run behind a brand-new offensive line, with sophomore tackle Christopher Elam, who was brought up for the last two games last season, as the only returning letterman with any experience.
The top newcomers are juniors center Tommy Shupak and guard Justin Mize, both up from junior varsity.
“They’re all learning new stuff, and (Shupak) picks up things well,” Campbell said.
“He’s smart, he’s a big, thick guy, strong guy, (who) had a good offseason. He got a lot stronger, and then he’s been doing a good job pushing people around in practice.”
Kingwood will continue to lean heavily on two-way players, especially to patrol the defense.
Junior Cole Preston and sophomore Nolan Powell both started on defense last season, at cornerback and safety, respectively, and both will add wide receiver to their responsibilities this fall.
Powell’s working outside and Preston at flanker.
The team also has a three-man rotation at fullback, with all three players starting on the defensive side. Matt Dean and Aaron Finch will start at linebacker and Robert Amar at defensive tackle.
Dean is a returning letterman, Finch is coming up from JV and Amar, with limited time last year, is the lone returner on the D-line.