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By Chris Parker
Miller enters Year Two of the Jerrad Hansen era with a more seasoned team ready to take the field.
“Last year I had about two kids that had any varsity experience. This year I feel like we are returning basically everybody,” Hansen said.
Miller finished last season with a 1-8 record after back-to-back nine-win seasons. An experienced group is looking to help the Cardinals climb the Southwest Conference standings.
Junior Brady Johnson will return at quarterback after stepping into the role last year as a sophomore.
“He (Johnson) was forced into being the starting quarterback last year as a sophomore, so he’s got some good experience. He is looking a lot better this year as a junior,” Hansen said. “Last year he was a little green with it. He did the best he could, but he had some growing pains. This year he is taking charge of the huddle better. He’s being more vocal. He’s being a great leader and setting a tone. The speed he is making his fakes and reads are a lot higher this year than it was last year at this time.”
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His reads and decision-making will be key to making Miller’s offense go
“What we’re going to try to do is use some misdirection and some deception. We are going to run a version of the Wing-T, so we are going to try to do some fakes and a lot of pulls and movements to try and get the defense off-balance. We will sprinkle in some play-action passing as well as some quick hitting stuff. We will try to attack wherever the defense’s weakness is at,” Hansen said.
The backfield will feature juniors Beau Hall and Saige Colley at wingback with fellow juniors Spencer Bowles and Brendan McNamara batting for time at fullback.
Up front, Owen Pritchett returns for his junior season after earning honorable mention all-conference honors on the line. He will play right guard. Joey Williams (senior left tackle), Colin Smith (senior left guard) and Malakhi Dalong (sophomore center) will join Pritchett on the line. Kaden Lewis and Walker Phipps will each look for time at right tackle.
Defensively, Colley will be the vocal leader from his outside linebacker position where he earned honorable mention all-conference honors last season.
“He (Colley) has been doing a great job of being a leader, being vocal, working hard and just talking kids up and getting excited about football. He is really setting the tone,” Hansen said.
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Bowles and Johnson will also play outside linebacker.
Pritchett will handle a lot of the decision-making from his inside linebacker position.
“(Pritchett) is the quiet leader that calls the plays. He is a good, solid kid who does all the right things. You can depend on him to do everything you like,” Hansen said.
Senior Joey Strait will also play inside linebacker.
Seniors Brenden Thom and Kaleb Groesbeck along with Thom will comprise the secondary. Thom and Groesbeck will each look for time at safety with whoever is not playing safety joining Groesbeck at cornerback.
“What we preach is that there are 11 of them and only one of you, so you better hit somebody. We need to have 11 hats to the football every single time. We have to stop the run and force them into passing situations,” Hansen said.
Miller opens the season on Aug. 27 at home against Cabool.
“This year we are trying to focus on the little details and every day in practice get a little better,” Hansen said. “We are trying to compete in all things. We are trying to compete every down, and our goal is to try and win every down if we can.”
