By Chris Parker
Fair Grove football finished 11-1 last year falling in the district championship game for a seventh consecutive year. The Eagles will have a new look this year after graduating 23 seniors and all but four total starters from last year’s team that averaged 46.8 points per game while yielding just 17.3.
“It is not very often you have 23 seniors. It was good for our younger kids to see how important it is to stick together as a class,” Fair Grove head coach Bill Voorhis said. “When you get to that point and you have 18-year-olds playing against 15 and 16-year-olds, it makes a huge difference.”
There are wide open competitions for many spots on the field for Fair Grove.
“It is just about competition right now,” Voorhis said. “That is all we are preaching right now is that we have to compete. The kids have to embrace competition and not get down when they lose to a teammate.”
Offensively, just one starter in Blake Lewis returns. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound senior is a mismatch problem on the outside.
Fair Grove has had a successful run of quarterbacks over the past several years. This year, Fair Grove has a couple of candidates to fill the role.
“This year for the first time in a long time we are having a real open quarterback competition,” Voorhis said.
A pair of sophomores in Bryden Baxter and Spencer Seiger along with senior Hayden Carver are vying for the starting quarterback job. Baxter was the junior varsity quarterback last year. Seiger is a transfer from Ava.
Senior Cooper Roy and sophomore Gabe Muncy are in the mix for carries at running back.
Sophomore Brock Bruner will bring size to the tight end role.
“He (Bruner) is a big, physical body,” Voorhis said. “We are expecting him to be able to go down and block and also split out on the outside and high-point balls.”
Maddux Smith and Carson Krider are fighting for time at receiver.
Senior Kurt Buckman and sophomore Kellen Lair are both looking for time at receiver and running back.
The offensive line is a work in progress after graduating the entire unit.
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“That is probably our biggest question mark right now is our guys up front; finding five or six guys we feel confident with that know what to do and where to go,” Voorhis said. “Our offense isn’t built around having guys who can move people. We want athletic guys who can get up field and get in people’s way.”
Identifying a center is the first step for solidifying that unit.
“The biggest part for us to find is a good center because there are a lot of calls that have to be made,” Voorhis said.
Jaren Robinson has the inside track to the starting center job.
“Jaren Robinson has separated himself a little bit. He is a high football IQ guy and a big body,” Voorhis said.
Seniors Rick Pierce and Gaige Coots along with juniors Jackson Martin, Gabe McMains and Oakland Morrison and sophomore
The players who execute the offense will be new, but the scheme will not change, which will be a strength for Fair Grove.
“We are 100% RPO every run play we have. Our receivers very rarely block. It is like a triple option team that makes things difficult for defenses. I think that makes it difficult for outside linebackers when we play teams,” Voorhis said. “The threat of that is going to continue to be something that we have to exploit. Our team speed is really good. One thing we are going to be good at is attacking the edge.”
The defense returns a bit more experience with three starters back.
Cooper Roy returns at linebacker where he earned first-team all-conference honors.
“He has to continue to lean into (being a leader). Just being one of the better football players on our team, he has to be a leader because the kids look up to him,” Voorhis said.
Hayden Carver gives Fair Grove a second returning starter at linebacker.
“He (Carver) is a very good blitzer. He is an athletic kid who can get through a gap and make a play on a blitz,” Voorhis said.
Junior Blaine Kirkpatrick is back on the field after losing last season due to a compound fracture. Fellow junior Mason Koller will also look for time at linebacker.
“Blaine and Mason are probably the hardest hitters on our team as far as physicality goes. They don’t shy away from contact,” Voorhis said. “They aren’t biggest kids, but they play way bigger than they are.”
The secondary will be anchored by junior strong safety Kolton Stevens.
“He looks undersized while he is out there, but he is one of the best open-field tacklers we have ever had. He doesn’t miss tackles in the open field,” Voorhis said. “I know teams will look at him and think they can expose him in the passing game, but he will make a play. He is an aggressive kid with a high football IQ. He is probably our most vocal defensive leader right now.”
Seiger is another safety to watch.
Cornerback will feature some combination of Carter Roy, Canyon Crowley, Carson Conrad and Koby Reeves.
Up front, senior Oliver Haley started on the defensive line at the end of last year.
“He (Haley) is six-foot-five or six-foot-six with a big frame and long arms,” Voorhis said. “He should be a factor in any kind of pass rush and he does a good job of keeping gap integrity when it comes to the run.”
Jose Estrada has put on muscle in the off-season ahead of his senior year on the defensive line.
“This off-season he improved all of his core lifts by at least 45 pounds or more,” Voorhis said. “He is probably the strongest kid in our school now.”
Brock Bruner will be at defensive end.
Fair Grove graduated a ton of talented players from last year’s team, but don’t expect the Eagles to take a step back this year. The Fair Grove football program hasn’t had a losing season since 2013.
“If they got something from the older guys it is that there is a standard here,” Voorhis said. “We have been in that district championship game seven years in a row. Each year the new senior group has been given a championship-caliber football team. It has been passed down that the standard you are competing for is championships. It is ingrained in them now, I hope anyway, that the standard is that we need to be competing for championships no matter if we graduated 23 or three. The standard is what it is.”
