Pieces begin to fall in place for Tigers

Bentonville coach Jody Grant knew he had some experienced defensive starters with inside linebackers Cole Joyce and Keegan Stinespring, as well as defensive lineman Chris Crawford and defensive back Levi Bennett.

Now he’s starting to see others place mesh in with those returning starters over the past three weeks of preseason drills, which concluded Friday night with the annual Tiger Pride scrimmage.

“We’re starting to get our depth figured out,” Grant said. “At the linebacker position, we have our two inside guys returning, but we have new faces at outside linebacker. Jack Ebersole and Kenny Iuso are both seniors and both are phenomenal football players. I’m excited about what our linebacker corps looks like with those two guys added.

“We have some development of our new players on the defensive line. Chris Crawford is an outstanding player, but we have Eugene Webster, Tyson Wembley, Jeremiah Dawson and Max Shreve. All of them have done some good things, and Keith Nelson has stepped up this week. We like our depth there.”

Bentonville has also built some depth on offense, particularly at receiver. Grant liked what he saw from Cooper Smith in practice in the past week, while senior Zach Lee is coming back off an injury.

There still remain some battles for playing time as the Tigers head to Thursday’s scrimmage at Tulsa Union, particularly with special teams. There is a healthy competition going on for the deep snapper slot, while Elliot Nimrod and Logan Turner seek to win the placekicking duties.

Nimrod, a senior, handled kickoffs last year and will continue to do so. Turner, a junior, will take care of the punting duties.