By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The buzz over the diamond Bears’ state championship this past the weekend was still in the air on Monday afternoon, but it was back to work for the Sylvan Hills football team. The Bears began their two weeks of spring practice on Monday under second-year coach Jim Withrow.
It is not talent or even numbers that concerned Withrow after the first day— it is leadership.
“Right now, we’ve just got a long ways to go,” Withrow said. “We’re older in some ways, and a lot younger in other ways. Right now, we’ve got to find some leadership. These seniors need to be a lot more vocal in a positive way.”
Withrow said he thinks there are plenty of qualified upperclassmen who can take the leadership reigns, but added that he needs someone to step up quickly to offer encouragement to incoming freshmen, and to pick up the pace after a somewhat lackadaisical practice on Monday.
“We’ve got a lot of teaching to do,” Withrow said. “The main thing is, we have to practice at a tempo that we’re moving. We practiced at about as slow a tempo as I’ve seen since I’ve been here. We’ve got a lot of young guys, and a lot of craziness here at the end of the school year, but we need to practice at a lot faster tempo.”
There are a number of high-profile vacancies left by the departing seniors, none more so than at the quarterback position. Junior Jordan Spears and senior Casey Cerrato appear to be the two major candidates to replace Ole Miss-bound Hunter Miller.
“Both of those guys have a lot of positives, and they have some minuses,” Withrow said. “Obviously, the biggest minus is that neither one of them has played a lot (at QB), but the thing about it is, Casey was in the secondary quite a bit last year, Jordan got to get on the field every once in a while — those guys know how to win.”
Withrow says a lot of positions will be up in the air until the fall.
“We don’t have a starter yet at any position,” Withrow said. “We’re looking really hard at effort and technique. The first few days, we will be strictly drills, trying to see who is going to move, who is going to get where they need to be, and then Wednesday and Thursday, we’ll put the pads on and knock around.”
The number of players on the field on Monday was close to 70, including what Withrow refers to as the ‘core 30’. Caleb Burnett, Devin Shaw and Kris Karolchyck are included in that group of core players. Tight end Shaw will be out until the fall recovering from a shoulder operation, but the three seniors will return as probable starters on the offensive line.
Defensively, Withrow listed Nick Brewer and Patrick Onuigbo as his most experienced players. They are two seniors that he would like to see slip into leadership roles.
He also says it’s not X’s and O’s that concern him, but execution.
“Our running game and passing game is already in,” Withrow said. “We put that in during the offseason. What I want to do is, for us to get a lot better fundamentally, better technique, better tackling. We want to practice the way you’re supposed to practice, and ingrain in them the way we do things.”
A talented group of receivers will return, including Barry Bir, Ahmad Scott and Shaw. Juliean Broner and Lawrence Hodges return in the offensive backfield, but Withrow said to look for Broner in a variety of positions on both sides of the football this fall.
