By Chris Parker
Diamond enters the fourth season of the Mac Whitehead era ready to turn things around. The Wildcats have not had a winning record since 2016, but this year’s version of the Wildcats is ready to make a run at breaking that streak.
“This is my fourth year. Ever since I have been here we have always tried to instill toughness in our culture. We are going to be a very physical, tough football team. Over the years we have gotten a little better and a little more physical. I truly anticipate us this year being just hard-working, blue-collar football team,” Whitehead said.
Senior Landon Clement is poised to be a two-way star for the Wildcats. He earned first-team all-conference honors at linebacker last year while being named honorable mention all-conference at running back. He rushed for 244 yards and two touchdowns on offense.
“Landon brings just about everything for us,” Whitehead said. “He’s (had) perfect attendance over the summer. He shows up to everything he’s an ideal senior leader for us. I’m excited for him. This group of seniors this year, as freshmen they were thrown into the fire. Several of them had to play as freshmen. He’s really focused in this summer on what we are trying to do. We anticipate him having a good year on offense and defense for us.”
CLICK HERE FOR A FULL SEASON SCHEDULE
Hunter Shallenburger is another one of those seniors who was thrown into the fire as a freshman. Shallenburger played the final four games of the 2020 season at quarterback and will return to that spot this year fulltime. He also will play defensive back and return kicks. The senior was a second-team all-conference defensive back and honorable mention all-conference wide receiver last year.
“When we line up on Friday nights, on both sides of the ball, Hunter is going to be one of the most athletic kids on the field,” Whitehead said. “We’re going to depend on his athleticism. We’re going to try to get the ball in his hands as many ways as possible.”
Sophomore Kaleb Belcher played as a freshman last year and will help out in the backfield on offense.
“Last year as a freshman was his (Belcher’s) first year to play football. He just grew leaps and bounds. He is a very strong kid in the weight room for his size. We anticipate him to help ease the load off Landon and Hunter,” Whitehead said.
Chase Housh (wide receiver) and Landon Adams (athlete) will also contribute at the skill positions on offense.
The offensive and defensive lines will be key to success for Diamond this year.
“Up front is really where I feel like our strength is going to be this year,” Whitehead said. “As good as Hunter and Landon are going to be, their success depends largely on what those guys up front do for them.”
Senior Tyler May will lead both units after earning second-team all-conference honors on offensive line and honorable mention all-conference honors on the defensive line last year.
DOWNLOAD THE O-ZONE APP NOW!
APPLE – CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
ANDROID – CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
“He (May) is a tough kid that plays hard. We are going to depend on him to anchor our offensive and defensive lines,” Whitehead said.
Ty Douglas, Clay Callis and Alex Brown will all see time on both the offensive and defensive lines.
The defense will also feature X-zontae Foster, who was an honorable mention all-conference defensive lineman as a sophomore.
Blake Grube (senior defensive lineman), Isaac Barrett (senior safety) and Cody Neal (sophomore defensive back) will all be key defensive players.
This group of players will have a strong set of coaches to help guide them along.
“We’ve put together a really good coaching staff. We hired Matt McKee, who was the head coach at Liberal, as our defensive coordinator. Matt has already brought a lot of experience. He is a good football coach and a good guy who does things the right way. Bill Gray is still on staff. Nathan Mosier has taken over some of our offensive coordinator duties,” Whitehead said. “We were also able to hire Eric Henningsen. He is coming to us from Hallsville. He is another quality young coach. You always want to try and hire good people. I feel like our AD (athletic director) Chris Mettlach has really helped me out making sure we have good, quality coaches for our kids.”
CLICK HERE FOR ALL OF THE FALL SPORTS PREVIEWS
Diamond will host Marionville, Miller and Lighthouse Christian for a jamboree on Aug. 20.
“We’ve talked about developing the culture at Diamond and getting things straightened out as far as a football program and becoming respectable. That is something we have done over the last couple of years. I think our kids have bought into how we want to play the game and what our outcomes will be,” Whitehead said. “I think success for us this year is being competitive every week and making sure that when the fourth quarter rolls around that we’ve given ourselves a chance to come out on top.”
Diamond opens the season on Aug. 27 at Ash Grove.
