Rarely has the offense found itself ahead of the defense in terms of development this early in the season.
But that appears to be the situation facing the Scott Community High School coaching staff after their first scrimmage on Saturday morning.
“For the most part, the offense took it to the defense,” says head coach Glenn O’Neil.
Which means one of two things.
That an inexperienced offensive line is making quicker progress than anticipated, or that a defensive unit with only two returning starters is still a work in progress.
Maybe it’s a little of both. Though O’Neil’s more immediate concern is the defense.
“Given the number of new players on the offensive line I wouldn’t have expected them to have the success they did. There are obviously things we have to correct on defense,” says O’Neil. “That’s across the board. It’s not just the line, but our linebackers and the secondary.
“The continuity isn’t there. It’s a matter of building trust and understanding your responsibilities.”
Not that O’Neil was completely surprised by what he saw on Saturday. After all, he has nine new starters on the defensive side of the ball. But given the lack of experience on the offensive line, O’Neil wasn’t expecting to see even the second team offense enjoying some success.
Backup quarterback Brett O’Neil connected with fellow sophomore Joey Meyer for a 16 yard touchdown catch late in the scrimmage.
“Part of what we wanted to see was our conditioning and whether the defense was ready to play hard,” says the head coach. “There were too many times the defense was slow getting to the line and deciding their alignment. Brett did a nice job of getting the second offense to the line and going with a quick snap.”
Overall, the second team units did well which raises some questions for the coaching staff. Either the second team players are closer in ability to the first string than anticipated, or the first string isn’t as strong as hoped. O’Neil is leaning towards the former.
“I feel we have some depth. The difference between first and second team at some positions isn’t that great,” he says. “That should make for good competition for starting spots.”
No Surprise on Offense
The Beavers knew they had a lot of weapons on offense and, while they didn’t throw the ball a great deal the speed and power in their running game was evident.
Junior runningback Dalton Smith and sophomore Dalton Buehler had some nice runs - the latter for a touchdown after bouncing off a couple of defenders.
Starting senior fullback Jason Williams, along with sophomore back-up Drew Kite looked good on trap plays.
Senior tailback AJ Kough was able to turn the corner and tightrope the sideline after leaping over a tackler for another touchdown while sophomore Tyler Hess also had some nice carries as the coaching staff spread the ball around.
Junior fullback Colborn Couchman didn’t suit up due to a minor hip flexor, but he returned to the practice field on Monday.
In other words, the Beavers have plenty of offensive weapons and O’Neil is giving them all a chance to show what they can do.
While the offense had plenty of success moving the ball that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. O’Neil was disappointed that, at times, some runningbacks weren’t on the same page with the rest of the offense.
“We put in a couple of things the offense hadn’t done before and it created some confusion, but the boys have to learn how to make adjustments,” O’Neil says. “We can’t afford to have nine boys doing what they’re supposed to and two others doing something else. Against the quality teams we’re going to see on our schedule we can’t afford to throw away a down.”
With little more than a week remaining before their season opener, conditioning is still a priority for the Beavers. That, however, seems to be a common theme among many coaches across the area, notes O’Neil.