Full offseason of prep gives Fullen time to mold team
HIGHTSTOWN >> Ryan Fullen wasn’t forced to just hit the ground running last year. He did so with slippery shoes on a sheet of ice.
Due to a sudden opening late in the summer, Fullen was hired as Hightstown High’s football coach just scant days before preseason camp started.
“My AD would disagree,” Fullen said with a laugh, “but I consider this my first year. Last year I got hired the beginning of August and when we started out camp on August 6th I was handing out helmets to kids I never met before. It was wild, I didn’t know where anything was. I didn’t even know where the locker room was.”
Which is a detriment for any football program at any level, as it has become a year-round job making sure everything is in place. Much of what happens in the fall is based on the previous offseason.
“I think we’re ahead of where we were,” Fullen said. “This year I was able to get in the building in November, we were able to get our offseason conditioning program going, I feel like I was able to put a whole year’s worth of time into the program. Now it’s a lot more relaxed. Having June and July to prepare is step in the right direction.”
The Rams are coming off a 3-6 season in which they graduated quarterback Liam Monahan, twoway stud Michael Quigg and All-Division receiver Justin Dailey, so there are some big holes to fill.
“We’ve got a good mix, a bunch of seniors at some key spots mixing with a lot of sophomores,” Fullen said. “We have a good mixture of old and young. Camp has been good. The kids are working extremely hard.”
Heading into the season, the offensive line has two experienced seniors in right tackle Kyle Reiss and left tackle Lucas Trancozo, who has responded well to being switched from tackle. The interior is inexperienced, with Charlie Ayabaca at center, and sophomore Chris Stavrou and junior converted fullbacks Isaiah Renaud and TJ Minzie vying for guard.
Senior Tayo Isadare will be at tight end, while juniors Frank Schaefer and AJ Delgado are fullback/ tight ends. The two back is junior Jason Kollman, while senior Jadyn Childs and junior Kyle Madden are outside receivers and senior Jarrett Justice is a wingback/receiver.
The battle for quarterback is between senior Alex Stavrou, a regional wrestling qualifier, and sophomore Danny Wersching, a basketball point guard. There is a chance both may see action depending on game circumstances.
“They’re similar, both good athletes,” Fullen said. “We’ll use Alex more with the quarterback run stuff on the single wing; he’s able to go downhill and he’s a tough kid. Dan’s got that point guard mentality, he’s able to step up in the pocket when we do throw the ball and we’ll do some things that way. We’ll use their skill sets depending on who we’re playing and the match-ups. They’ve both been really good, and during the competition throughout the summer, they’ve been really good teammates.”
The coach feels his offense is deeper than last year, which could offset losing his marquee players.
“We need guys to step up and make big plays like those (graduated) kids did last year,” Fullen said.
Sophomore Matt Salter and senior Aidan Porter are vying for the place kicking job, while those two and Jaden Childs are battling for the punter position.
Tao and Reiss are defensive ends, and newcomers junior Marq Buisson and senior Peyton Kleppe are inside. Minzie, Renaud and junior Andrew Doherty could rotate in along with senior Peyton Kleppe, who is bench pressing over 300 pounds.
“Tao is going to anchor the line,” Fullen said. “He’s a nightmare off the edge, really a good get-off. Our interior guys are strong kids and we’ll rotate a lot of guys in.”
The linebackers are seniors Anthony Stevens, Dan Alexandre and Stavrou, Kollman and sophomore Brendan Hansen. All-Division cornerback Jarrett Justice and Childs, both seniors, are at cornerback, while Kyle Madden and Marc DeCristofaro could find time in the secondary.
“We’re deeper up front than last year,” Fullen said. “We have some depth on the interior with seniors coming back at key spots. Our corners have both played, that helps us in terms of being able to match up with good receivers. I’m looking for defense to buoy us early. Our defense has to hold us together until the offense gets their feet under them.”
Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores