Hillsboro Indians: Will the Tribe be able to overcome their current youth movement?
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
There are no two ways about it for the 2011 Hillsboro Indians' football team … they are young and inexperienced, and this season will be one of learning and dedication as they enter the first week of varsity play.
Hillsboro, who finished 2-8 overall last season (1-5 in the South Central Ohio League) is rebuilding after losing a total of 29 players from a season ago, including 17 seniors to graduation and 12 players from eligibility issues or moving out of the district. Hillsboro is entering the season with 37 players.
"That's tough, losing that many players … the realization doesn't really hit until you are out here and putting a team together and there are these young kids out here," Hillsboro head coach Brian Spicer said. "We'll have our up and down days, but our first week of two-a-days was very rewarding. The kids realized our situation and kicked it into gear."
This season for HHS will have a couple familiar faces returning for their fourth varsity season, but there will be many players on the team gaining their first taste of the Friday night spotlight, including all of the revamped offensive line.
"We have positions that are being fought for. It's getting hotter, and whether you have 37 kids or 50, you still have to make a team," Spicer said. "Honestly, this group of kids is neat because we don't have a lot of players, but we have good players. We have some positions where we are looking to put two or three kids in there."
Speaking of the offense, the Indians are replacing almost every position, including the entire offensive line, quarterback, running backs and most players at receiver.
The offense scored 176 points last season, while the defense allowed 396 points.
The way the offseason has panned out, the head coach said he can't say it wasn't surprising.
"When I took this job two years ago, as a staff, we projected this. We knew this would be a down year in numbers, and I know talking to other coaches it's that way all around," Spicer said. "It's a sign of the times. In some cases you get hit with the numbers being down, but our middle school numbers are up, which is a good plus.
"Right now our senior and junior numbers are just down. Hopefully we start getting more kids out and work on some things in terms of getting our numbers up."
One returning player of wide receiver and this season's part-time quarterback is Chase Gilliland. Gilliland, one of eight seniors for the Indians, has started at defense back since his freshman year and was one of the players who produced last season offensively.
"Chase has some experience at quarterback, and he'll share time there as well as being a receiver," Spicer said. "He had a shoulder injury, so he didn't play quarterback last year. He's fine now, so he'll play some at quarterback."
Also returning for a fourth varsity season is senior Christian Wildey, who will play linebacker and on the offensive side will see a majority of the duties at running back.
Craig Jackson and Kyler White also have some time at the varsity level as the juniors will also take part in the running game for the Tribe.
"All of our experience is at running back and quarterback, so that's a good thing," Spicer said. "We are solid at that position, and I feel good at that position. There aren't guys we are hoping on, these are guys who have proven themselves."
After that … well, the Indians have no experience at the varsity level on either side of the ball.
Returning after two years away from football will be starting quarterback Christian Cundiff, who Spicer describes as a "athlete."
"We have Christian, who hasn't played in a couple years but is a real good athlete. He plays basketball and has played quarterback in the past. He's learning a few things, and things are different from the last time he's played," Spicer said. "He's doing a real good job with it.
"With both of them (Cundiff and Gilliland), I'm not afraid of using either one of them because they both have been working hard to get ready."
Then there is the offensive line where, again, no lineman has varsity experience.
"It's a nightmare … I'm not lying. In my 20 years of coaching, I've never seen this scenario where not one single kid has ever played. You just don't see that," Spicer said. "It's our weakest area, and the kids know that, but we have guys battling, and they are working. I can't ask for anything more, and there is only one senior in that group. So the double kicker is not only inexperience, but young inexperience, and for an offensive line, that's not a good combination. I wouldn't be surprised if we start a freshman up front this year.
"We are going to have to figure out how to get tough and better real quick, and we just tell them to keep working. Probably the hardest thing is when they are working against each other, they don't have that experience to work against, so that even makes practice tough."
continued from Page 5
Also on the offense, there will be some experience with Gilliland at the wideout spot, but other than that, it is the same situation at that position with young players battling for spots on Friday nights.
"Chase is our experience there. He gives us a leader out there. Again, I won't be surprised to have sophomores and freshmen playing there as well, just because we have no other choice," Spicer said. "Most of the junior class kids are lineman or running back.
"One thing is it's easier to come into a lineup at receiver than it is as a lineman. So if you have some athletic ability, can run fast and catch the football, it's better to start there because unlike the linemen, they aren't getting hit every play. We have a good group to work with."
The defense of the Indians has Coach Spicer worrying more than the offensive makeup, as he told his coaching staff “we need to find 11 guys who want to get to the ball and make tackles.”
"You can hide some things on offense, but on defense you can't hide anybody. Teams will find your weak spots or whatever … on defense we are going to have to spread out our experience."
The experience will be spread thin for the Indians with Gilliland playing safety, White playing at outside linebacker and Wildey being a middle or outside linebacker.
"We're switching Chase to safety this year because he'll have more field to cover. The last few years, he's been at corner for us," Spicer said. "We'll bounce around Christian in both spots, and Kyler we want to use on the outside with his speed … basically, we are taking our experienced guys and putting one guy here, one guy here and the other one in the middle."
Just like on offense, the inexperience shows up on the defensive line as well.
"We are going to have four guys down and four guys who haven't played much defense at all on Friday night. They are just going to have to dig down and work hard."
The same can be said at the other linebacker and defensive back spots.
"Linebacker was a huge problem for us last year because of depth or lack of depth, and it's not really any different this year, and that scares me," Spicer said. "I always say 'your defense is your linebackers.' That is the truth, and right now we have some solid kids, but we don't have a number of them. Our overall lack of depth really concerns me.
"At defensive back, we can stick some younger kids out there and put them in a cover three and get away with it, or I can say 'man up' and run with them, which we did during 7-on-7's, and I was happy with that."
Spicer said he has to change the way he builds the defense this season.
"We can't go with 'hey, these are your linemen, these are your linebackers and these are your defensive backs.' I think we have to go 'these are our 11 best,' then find a position for them. I don't like doing it that way, but if that's what you have to do, then that's what you have to do," he said.
Looking towards the start of the season, the Indians could learn and gain that experience before the start of the SCOL slate.
"I think there are some programs that are a step ahead of us, but I think we are in the middle of all of that," he said. "What we have to do is survive the first few games in terms of learning and keeping our heads up.
"Our kids are going to need three or four games to figure out what is going on, and after that point, I hope our heads are still up. If they can do that, I think we have the makings of a solid team that can play smart football and get the job done."
Hillsboro opens the season by hosting the Western Brown Broncos at Richards Memorial Field.[[In-content Ad]]
Hillsboro, who finished 2-8 overall last season (1-5 in the South Central Ohio League) is rebuilding after losing a total of 29 players from a season ago, including 17 seniors to graduation and 12 players from eligibility issues or moving out of the district. Hillsboro is entering the season with 37 players.
"That's tough, losing that many players … the realization doesn't really hit until you are out here and putting a team together and there are these young kids out here," Hillsboro head coach Brian Spicer said. "We'll have our up and down days, but our first week of two-a-days was very rewarding. The kids realized our situation and kicked it into gear."
This season for HHS will have a couple familiar faces returning for their fourth varsity season, but there will be many players on the team gaining their first taste of the Friday night spotlight, including all of the revamped offensive line.
"We have positions that are being fought for. It's getting hotter, and whether you have 37 kids or 50, you still have to make a team," Spicer said. "Honestly, this group of kids is neat because we don't have a lot of players, but we have good players. We have some positions where we are looking to put two or three kids in there."
Speaking of the offense, the Indians are replacing almost every position, including the entire offensive line, quarterback, running backs and most players at receiver.
The offense scored 176 points last season, while the defense allowed 396 points.
The way the offseason has panned out, the head coach said he can't say it wasn't surprising.
"When I took this job two years ago, as a staff, we projected this. We knew this would be a down year in numbers, and I know talking to other coaches it's that way all around," Spicer said. "It's a sign of the times. In some cases you get hit with the numbers being down, but our middle school numbers are up, which is a good plus.
"Right now our senior and junior numbers are just down. Hopefully we start getting more kids out and work on some things in terms of getting our numbers up."
One returning player of wide receiver and this season's part-time quarterback is Chase Gilliland. Gilliland, one of eight seniors for the Indians, has started at defense back since his freshman year and was one of the players who produced last season offensively.
"Chase has some experience at quarterback, and he'll share time there as well as being a receiver," Spicer said. "He had a shoulder injury, so he didn't play quarterback last year. He's fine now, so he'll play some at quarterback."
Also returning for a fourth varsity season is senior Christian Wildey, who will play linebacker and on the offensive side will see a majority of the duties at running back.
Craig Jackson and Kyler White also have some time at the varsity level as the juniors will also take part in the running game for the Tribe.
"All of our experience is at running back and quarterback, so that's a good thing," Spicer said. "We are solid at that position, and I feel good at that position. There aren't guys we are hoping on, these are guys who have proven themselves."
After that … well, the Indians have no experience at the varsity level on either side of the ball.
Returning after two years away from football will be starting quarterback Christian Cundiff, who Spicer describes as a "athlete."
"We have Christian, who hasn't played in a couple years but is a real good athlete. He plays basketball and has played quarterback in the past. He's learning a few things, and things are different from the last time he's played," Spicer said. "He's doing a real good job with it.
"With both of them (Cundiff and Gilliland), I'm not afraid of using either one of them because they both have been working hard to get ready."
Then there is the offensive line where, again, no lineman has varsity experience.
"It's a nightmare … I'm not lying. In my 20 years of coaching, I've never seen this scenario where not one single kid has ever played. You just don't see that," Spicer said. "It's our weakest area, and the kids know that, but we have guys battling, and they are working. I can't ask for anything more, and there is only one senior in that group. So the double kicker is not only inexperience, but young inexperience, and for an offensive line, that's not a good combination. I wouldn't be surprised if we start a freshman up front this year.
"We are going to have to figure out how to get tough and better real quick, and we just tell them to keep working. Probably the hardest thing is when they are working against each other, they don't have that experience to work against, so that even makes practice tough."
continued from Page 5
Also on the offense, there will be some experience with Gilliland at the wideout spot, but other than that, it is the same situation at that position with young players battling for spots on Friday nights.
"Chase is our experience there. He gives us a leader out there. Again, I won't be surprised to have sophomores and freshmen playing there as well, just because we have no other choice," Spicer said. "Most of the junior class kids are lineman or running back.
"One thing is it's easier to come into a lineup at receiver than it is as a lineman. So if you have some athletic ability, can run fast and catch the football, it's better to start there because unlike the linemen, they aren't getting hit every play. We have a good group to work with."
The defense of the Indians has Coach Spicer worrying more than the offensive makeup, as he told his coaching staff “we need to find 11 guys who want to get to the ball and make tackles.”
"You can hide some things on offense, but on defense you can't hide anybody. Teams will find your weak spots or whatever … on defense we are going to have to spread out our experience."
The experience will be spread thin for the Indians with Gilliland playing safety, White playing at outside linebacker and Wildey being a middle or outside linebacker.
"We're switching Chase to safety this year because he'll have more field to cover. The last few years, he's been at corner for us," Spicer said. "We'll bounce around Christian in both spots, and Kyler we want to use on the outside with his speed … basically, we are taking our experienced guys and putting one guy here, one guy here and the other one in the middle."
Just like on offense, the inexperience shows up on the defensive line as well.
"We are going to have four guys down and four guys who haven't played much defense at all on Friday night. They are just going to have to dig down and work hard."
The same can be said at the other linebacker and defensive back spots.
"Linebacker was a huge problem for us last year because of depth or lack of depth, and it's not really any different this year, and that scares me," Spicer said. "I always say 'your defense is your linebackers.' That is the truth, and right now we have some solid kids, but we don't have a number of them. Our overall lack of depth really concerns me.
"At defensive back, we can stick some younger kids out there and put them in a cover three and get away with it, or I can say 'man up' and run with them, which we did during 7-on-7's, and I was happy with that."
Spicer said he has to change the way he builds the defense this season.
"We can't go with 'hey, these are your linemen, these are your linebackers and these are your defensive backs.' I think we have to go 'these are our 11 best,' then find a position for them. I don't like doing it that way, but if that's what you have to do, then that's what you have to do," he said.
Looking towards the start of the season, the Indians could learn and gain that experience before the start of the SCOL slate.
"I think there are some programs that are a step ahead of us, but I think we are in the middle of all of that," he said. "What we have to do is survive the first few games in terms of learning and keeping our heads up.
"Our kids are going to need three or four games to figure out what is going on, and after that point, I hope our heads are still up. If they can do that, I think we have the makings of a solid team that can play smart football and get the job done."
Hillsboro opens the season by hosting the Western Brown Broncos at Richards Memorial Field.[[In-content Ad]]