Football preview: Young Jackson team working to fill void left by last season's star seniors

High school football has evolved over the years into a commitment that begins following the last game of one season and continues through opening night of the next when preparation collides with execution. This introduction and team breakdown are part of the Southeast Missourian high school football preview, which examines how teams spent the year preparing for Friday night's season openers.

Jackson's Jeremy Elliott takes a break between plays during practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at Jackson High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Remember the offseason?

High school football teams across the country take the field for three to four months every year, but as the product has grown in popularity over time, preparation has redefined the rest of the year.

From the last game of the season to the start of opening night, high school football players hardly ever stop working.

It's a process that begins in the weight room and ends on the field, and Central coach Nathan Norman is one of many people who understands the demands of the yearlong grind.

"It's so demanding now for a high school student," said Norman, who guided the Tigers to their first-ever Class 4 state championship appearance last season. "You're asking a lot for them to be involved with a sport like that because it's year-round, and that's tough."

A 1996 graduate of Jackson High School, Norman helped lead the Indians to a pair of state title game appearances before competing at the college level with Arkansas. Bob Sink and Van Hitt both coached Norman in high school and now serve as assistant coaches on his current staff.

"We'll all tell you that it's definitely changed," Norman said. "We were encouraged to weight lift, condition and train, and we did. I feel like that aspect of it probably hasn't changed as much as the number of practices, obviously. I remember when I was in high school, you got two weeks to practice, and that was it."

Jackson coach Brent Eckley began his coaching career in 1995 at Hickman Mills High School, where he coached quarterbacks for two years before serving three years as offensive coordinator at Warrensburg High School. Eckley landed his first head coaching job in 2000 at Montgomery County High School before moving on to Union High School in 2005, and he amassed a 101-32 record during his time at the two schools.

Eckley has seen the demands of high school football evolve over the years and believes there have been a number of factors that have contributed to it.

Jackson's Cooper Callis, Guthrie Hune and Jake Friedrich suit up for practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at Jackson High School. (Glenn Landberg)

"I think sometimes as a coach, you want to try to control as much as you can," he said. "You want to have an influence on as many things as possible. I think that's what happens is in us trying to make sure our team is as well prepared as they can be, we'll spend as much time in the offseason as we can getting them ready for their season so things move smoother."

There's also a demand that's required from coaches, one that Perryville coach Mike Wojtczuk understands.

"It's a grind, but you've got to love the game," Wojtczuk said. "It's like my dad told me a long time ago, 'If you find a job you love, then you never have to work another day for the rest of your life.' Being a football coach is like that."

As for the players, focus and commitment go hand in hand.

Teams tend to carry the mindset that games are won in the offseason, and execution is only a part of the arduous process of high school football.

"It's very important that they buy in and want to be a part of it," Norman said. "It's easy to give up on something that you don't invest much time in. That aspect of it helps. If we've got a kid who makes it with the football program, they're dedicated because they have to be. There are just too many days they're required to be here.

"It's got to mean something to them."

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Jackson Indians Preview

Jackson players suit up for practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at Jackson High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Jackson football coach Brent Eckley, who is entering his fourth year at the helm of the Indians' program, had an easy time describing this year's team: young.

The Indians graduated 15 seniors from a team that went 10-2 and reached the Class 5 state quarterfinal round for the second year in a row, and the majority of those players had significant roles on the team.

"One of the issues that we had with the team being young, and as a coach this is a challenge, trying to identify your personnel and get him in the right spot to help the team," Eckley said. "We've scrambled some kids around from spot to spot, trying to find out if they can do what they need to do within our system to help us be successful. So there might've been some guys in some spots in June that we needed to put them in a different spot in July or August to help us have the best opportunity to win."

Eckley, who had to find replacements for all-state quarterback Dante Vandeven and all-state defensive lineman Preston Hobeck among others, has been impressed with the players who have stepped in to fill roles and the effort they've put in over the last several months.

"I've been pretty pleased," Eckley said. "It's been a pretty decent balance. You can never have enough depth at any point, but I'm certainly pleased with our kids and the way they're competing against each other well in practice, but they're also pulling for each other."

Spring

Jackson's Nick Freeman lifts weights during a workout before practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at Jackson High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Jackson players begin their spring mornings bright and early at 6 a.m., participating in weight lifting and movement drills for three or four days every other week.

The workouts, which lasts about 1 hour, 15 minutes, are typically followed by open gyms that began following the conclusion of winter sports, according to Eckley.

"We do everything we can to encourage our guys to play in other sports, get coached by another coach, compete against other people in other sports. I think that's critical to all of our programs," Eckley said. "We've got some guys that are single-sport kids, and we've got a bunch of them that are two-sport guys and some that are three-sport guys."

Eckley understands his team is younger this year but said a strong work ethic goes a long way in becoming more accustomed to the demands of the weight room.

"We've all worked together pretty well, and that's the really nice thing about coming in before school. There's no conflicts. There's no basketball games, baseball games, track meets. There's nothing going on at 6 in the morning, so it gives us an opportunity for more of our kids to be involved," said Eckley, who's also involved with a weekly quarterback academy for youths between second and 12th grade. "Depending on the day, we'll have 50 to 75 kids that are getting in there at 6 in the morning, so it's really good.

"Basically, when you talk about team-building, one of the best things that builds that camaraderie is shared pain, so we try to create opportunities for our kids to become both mentally and physically tougher. ... We try to create that as much as we can, while at the same time, we try to create as much success for each one of the kids as possible so that they can continue to feel confident in where they're at and where they're going."

Summer

Jackson players workout before practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at Jackson High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Oakville, Lafayette, Fort Zumwalt South, Francis Howell North, Pattonville and defending Class 6 state champion Christian Brothers College are among the schools Jackson competed against over the summer, while also taking on local teams like Dexter and Chaffee in 7-on-7s.

"It's been a pretty busy summer," said Eckley, whose team hit the field at the beginning of June. "I've been pretty pleased with our kids' progress throughout the summer. Hopefully we're working towards having some success in the fall."

Outside of football camps, Eckley said the team remains focused on strength and conditioning and believes his players gained a lot of strength throughout June and July.

"I've been pleased with our kids' work. Conditioning is very critical early in the season, so we've been focusing on a lot of running," Eckley said. "We've done some camp stuff both at our place, and we've also taken the time to go to St. Louis for a couple different camps.

The Indians practice three days a week throughout the summer and take a week off at the end of June and July. During summer practices, players are split into two groups -- young and old -- and switch between exercises and weight lifting.

"The way we do our weight room is we do primarily lower-body exercises one day, primarily upper-body exercises the next day, and then on our third day of the week, we do strongman training. So we're outside doing different movements, power-type movements," Eckley said. "... We start at a pretty moderate level of conditioning, and by the time we get to the end of the summer, we have a pretty high-end level of conditioning."

Offense

Jackson's Brydan Reid breaks free on a run during a drill in practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at Jackson High School. (Glenn Landberg)

The search has been on for the person to replace the leader of Jackson's high-powered offense that averaged 38 points per game last season.

Three players are in the mix for the starting quarterback job that was held by Vandeven for the last three years.

Vandeven, who is now playing football at Southeast Missouri State, accounted for most of the Indians' offense last season, compiling 2,390 yards passing and 24 touchdowns and 954 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns.

Sophomore Cooper Callis and senior Landry Moore are the front-runners for the spot, but senior Tristan Thele, who has been practicing at quarterback, running back and receiver, is also in the mix.

"I think with Cooper he is a very savvy football player. He seems to understand situations," Eckley said. "I believe that he watched more film last year than any of our players, and he's watched more film this year than any of our other players and he's done the same thing in the offseason. He has a really good handle on what's going on and he's very accurate and deceptive running the ball."

Callis completed 3 of 4 passes for 32 yards on varsity last year. Moore completed 4 of 7 passes for 33 yards and one touchdown.

Jackson's Landry Moore waits to receive the snap during a drill in practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at Jackson High School. (Glenn Landberg)

"Landry has a real strong arm," Eckley said. "I think his arm is close to the same as Dante had, so he does well there, and he's a pretty physical runner inside so I've been pleased with that. He's gotten better with his accuracy. He does a good job throwing the ball and he's getting better at making decisions."

Eckley is excited about the potential of his running back corps, which includes junior Bryndan Reid, sophomore Ethan Laster, senior Gabriel Dudley and Thele.

He noted senior receivers Jeremy Elliot, Lashone Dean and Jacob Starzinger will be top targets for whomever he names the starting quarterback.

Junior offensive linemen Bryce Dickerson, Nick Freeman and Colin Nicks are expected to start, but Eckley is still trying to figure out some of his interior line positions.

"Our offensive line right now is a work in progress," Eckley said. "We're still trying to plug it together and try to get it to work together. That's where we're young and a little bit inexperienced and we're really trying to bring those guys along, but they're good kids and they're working their tails off so I would say that in the end we're going to be pretty solid there, we've just got to get to that point."

Defense

The Indians' defense will have a slightly new look this year as they'll base out of a four-man front, and while Jackson's top two tacklers graduated several players with varsity experience return on the defensive side of the ball.

"That wasn't necessarily personnel driven," Eckley said of the defensive change. "We were just looking to maybe dictate a little bit more to the offense what they could do and what they couldn't do. We felt like when we got to the tail end of the season last year we were kind of fighting an uphill battle. We were a little bit light on the defensive line, playing against Vianney and Oakville and Ladue, so that's one of the things we spent some time on this year."

Defensive lineman Preston Hobeck, a second-team all-stater, and linebacker Josh Stone both graduated. Stone led the Indians with 90 solo tackles as a senior while Hobeck was second with 65 and had a team-high 11 sacks.

Dudley, who returns at linebacker, was third on the team with 57 tackles and three sacks.

Tyler Brinkopf returns to the defensive line after recording 34 tackles as a junior.

Eckley noted lineman Gavin Evans, linebacker Weston Sherrill and defensive backs Payne Guilliams and Quentin Kent have performed well heading into the season.

A major focus for the Indians on both sides of the ball will be winning the turnover battle each game, which proved to be the difference in each of their games last season.

"At the same time on the defensive side of the ball, if you're not pursuing the ball well enough, you're not going to be able to get those turnovers when the ball's on the ground. And sometimes that comes with age, too," Eckley said. "As guys are a little bit older, they're a little bit more physical and will be able to wrap up a tackle and be able to make an attempt at the ball. We've really talked to our kids about ball awareness and that will be a key point to our success."

Special Teams

Vandeven's replacement will also take over punting duties for the Indians. Vandeven averaged 46.3 yards per punt his senior season.

"That's big shoes to fill because he was able to flip the field for us several times," Eckley said.

Kent, Dean and Bryndan Reid are all options for both punt and kickoff returns. Kent had two kickoff returns last year for 28 yards while Dean had one return for 15 yards.

Elliot will take over kicking duties from Ty Crowden, who had one 25-yard field goal and made 51 PATs as a senior. Elliot made 3 of 4 PATs during Jackson's win over Miller Career Academy after Crowden left with an injury in the first quarter.