Coach’s Corner

WAITSBURG

-- The

2012 schedule is ar­guably the hardest schedule we have had in recent years.

Our senior football players total 15 guys, maybe more, and we will need all of those seniors if we expect to make another run deep into the playoffs. We have 15 seniors for sure and depending on Jubilee Youth Ranch's participation, we could have up to 17 or 18 seniors.

This has to be one of the largest senior classes we have ever had at Waitsburg. Oddly enough, with the number of players that we have lost over the last two years, only four of those 15 kids are returning starters. So, believe it or not, we are a young senior class.

The reserves played a lot in 2011 and that should help. We won games early and in the middle of the third quarter they began to see time on the field. And, our junior varsity team was sound going, 5-1, and a number of them played on that team as well.

Leading our senior class are four returning seniors who played and started all year long in 2011. Dalton Estes, Billy Brown, Ben Shafer and Cad­man Donovan will lead this year's team back to the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Our no. 1 guy coming back is Dalton Estes. Dalton was an all-league and all-state wide receiver who accumulated almost 1,000 yards receiving in 2011. He is a huge weapon and can catch the ball as good as anyone in the state. He will be looked to do more than just catch the football this year. We need to get him the football and so he will play in the slot a little bit more this year and that will enable us to put him in motion. This will give us more flexibility to get him the football. We also plan to put Dalton in the backfield with Billy and run him some. Dalton will come into camp as our back-up quarterback as he is an outstanding runner and a good leader. He will also return punts and kickoffs. He has speed and is mentally tough.

Dalton will replace Zach Bartlow at safety on defense and will look to be a huge force at FS.

Billy Brown is another two- way starter who had good num­bers in 2011.

Billy ended up with just more than 1,300 yards rushing out of our spread option. We expect that same kind of pro­ductivity again in 2012.

We will ask Billy to return kickoffs as well. He did that sparingly last year and we need him to do that full-time this year. He has to be more in­volved on special teams. Defen­sively, Billy is again penciled in to start at inside linebacker.

Ben Shafer and Brendon Donovan both started one way in 2011. Ben started at offensive guard and Brendon start­ed at outside linebacker.

Both had outstanding playoff games and Brendon's champion­ship game in Tacoma was an outstanding performance. That was his best game of the year. Both will look to play both ways this fall. After spring football, Ben earned a starting spot on defense and will come in as our number one defensive tackle. Brendon will be one of the top seven guys in the of­fensive line. As of today, he is a back up on the offensive line as he was limited to just a few spring practices.

Although he did not start one year ago, Sterling Eastman (QB/DB) will look to make a huge and immediate impact on our team. Sterling, now fully enrolled at Prescott High School for classes but still lives at Jubilee, played behind Zach last year at quarterback and got a lot of reps at both the junior varsity and varsity level. He came into spring camp as our replace­ment for Zach. He attended our spring camp and lat­er attended a five-day quar­terback camp in Seattle. We expect him to come in and pick up where we left off. He has a rifle of an arm and can throw deep and has nice touch on shorter routes. He is talented and we want to keep him in his natural position. He can also play WR as he has good hands and he can and may get reps at WR. Sterling will see time on defense as well and will play some corner and could easly start for us at corner.

Four other back-up seniors that are expected to start and play is Roy Ebong, James Thompkins, Alex Dill and Tucker Alleman.

Roy comes out of Jubilee and will play WR and outside line­backer or corner. He is a com­mitted guy and is one of our top guys in the weight room. He has made himself better by his hard work and we expect a lot out of Roy. James, also a Jubilee guy, is a sprinter and has sprinter's speed as he demonstrated that in track with four top-eight fin­ishes. He started in the spring at corner, but will be challenged by some younger guys, includ­ing sophomore Luke Alexenko. Luke will provide depth on both offense and defense. It will be very good competition. James will also back up Billy at run­ning back. Alex Dill (WR/DB), a part time starter at defenisve back in 2011, was injured in spring football and was limited to what he could do. He could start both ways very easily and we expect him to compete for both starting spots.And then there is Tucker Alleman. Tucker, a Waitsburg product, is a guy who will start on the offensive line and is looking to start at either DT or DE. He knows the playbook inside and out and has put his time in the program. He is also committed in the weight room and was impressive in the spring.

Other seniors we expect out and to contribute include Matt Hoilman (OLB), Steven Grimes (WR/CB), Jared Brown (OL/LB), Keith "Biggie" Lake (OL/DL), Kevin Glover (WR/ OLB), Jesse Rawson (OL/DL) and Riley Stevens (WR/OLB). Biggie will play at defensive tackle and in short yardage situations. Riley played a sig­nificant role last year on both offense and defense, but will have to sit out of 50 percent of the season as a result of rules violations. He played outside linebacker and wide receiver.

In review of our veterans, we have the good numbers and the confidence of what we just accomplished a year ago. That combination of confidence and senior leadership should allow us to continue in our winning ways. In addition, our junior and sophomore classes make me think we have another shot at a bunch of wins and a shot at our league title again. We think we can defend our state title, too, and are looking forward to the challenge. These seniors expect to win and that is all they are accustomed to doing with the 35 wins they have been a part of so far. We hope for more in 2012!