Jasper went 3-7 in coach David Pitts’ first season at the helm of the Eagles last year, but the team showed marked improvement from Week 1 to Week 10.
The Eagles handed Lockwood one of its two regular season losses in the final game of the regular season. In the district quarterfinals, the sixth-seeded Eagles gave No. 3 seed Adrian all it wanted in a 21-13 game that Jasper came up on the short end of.
“A lot of it (the season-long growth) was just getting acquainted with me. Coach Adkins was here before and did a great job and the kids loved him,” Pitt said. “They started knowing me and the trust started to happen. They started to believe more and more in what we were doing. About midseason we started seeing it and toward the end of the season the started playing (well).”
Jasper will have to replace some key pieces from last year’s team as all but 50 of the Eagles’ 2,000 rushing yards were lost to graduation along with their starting quarterback.
Junior Mason Hatfield will be the feature back. He had four carries for 50 yards and a touchdown last year. His strength is his speed and is a threat to break a big run every time he touches the ball.
Fellow junior Levi Hale will be another back that the Eagles lean on and provide a change of pace as a bigger and more physical runner.
Mac Rice will take the snaps in his senior season as well as be a key piece of the secondary on defense at safety.
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The offensive line will be a key to success for the Eagles’ run-heavy offense.
“As well as they play is as well as we will do. I know it is a cliché thing to say, but I think our O-Line is our strength,” Pitts said.
Things will start with senior Logan Winchester who is coming off of second-team all-conference selections on both the offensive and defensive lines.
“He is a kid who got in the weight room and got quite a bit stronger. He is a very physcial and aggressive player, so we expect him just to carry on,” Pitts said. “He is a kid that leads by example. He doesn’t really say a lot, but he just plays so hard he brings guys up with him. In practice when you are going against him, you better step it up.”
Defensively, Winchester pulled down 80 tackles and a team-high 10 sacks last year from his spot on the defensive line.
Sam Maneval, Tate Maneval, Aden Sisseck and Chris Barker will all join Winchester on both the offensive and defensive lines.
Caleb Brown will be a focal point on defense after earning second-team all-conference honors at linebacker. The 6’4, 220-pound junior led the team with 118 total tackles last season.
“He has gotten quite a bit stronger. So far in practice he has shown he is willing to be a lot more physical. He was physical last year, but he is even more so now,” Pitt said. “He is one of those kids that has a motor that doesn’t stop.”
Brown was also the team’s leading receiver at tight end last year with 10 catches for 225 yards and a touchdown. He is a factor on special teams as a punter.
He will be joined by Hale and Jayce Talbot at linebacker. Hale had 49 tackles last season.
The secondary will consist of Rice, Hatfield and Chet Corle with the latter two manning corner back positions. Rice had three interceptions last year, which tied for the team-high.
This year, Jasper will look to get out to faster starts in games than in 2016.
“We want to be competitive like we did last year. There were only two games I felt that we were out of it,” Pitts said. “Even in the games we lost we were such a slow starting team. We would be down 14 or 21 and from that point on it would be a ballgame. As long as we improve week to week I think we will be alright.”
Jasper opens the season on Aug. 18 at home against Sarcoxie.
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