'14 Football Preview: Chillicothe Cavaliers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Don't call the 2014 season a rebuilding year for the Chillicothe Cavaliers. Even after losing 20-plus seniors from a playoff team last season, they won't listen if you say it is a rebuilding year.
This is what head coach Ron Hinton calls a "transition year," as the Cavaliers are "reloading" for the '14 season, with 65 players in grades nine-12, including a senior class of 15 players.
As head coach Ron Hinton said (in his 41st year coaching, fifth at CHS), they will find out this year "if we have a program that is developing, or did we have a good class go through."
"We've been very pleased with the work ethic, the leadership and the commitment from our seniors over the winter," he said. "The expectation level has changed with the winning we did last year and the fact they understand more about what it takes to win."
After qualifying for the postseason in '13, the Cavs, who were 9-2 last season, still have a good number of players on the offensive side of the ball, but it will be the defensive line where a lot of the changes will be made.
In total, the Cavaliers lost eight three-year starters, including both offensive tackles, an offensive guard and the quarterback, and that is just on the offensive side of the football.
As for the Cavalier offense, they are coming off a season where they rushed for 2,741 yards and passed for 942 yards, with that amounting to 340 points.
This year, the offense will be led by senior quarterback Caleb Price (who is also a starting defensive back), with it being his first year entering the season as the starter, though he started one game last year and played in two. He replaces Ryan Mathis, who was the starter for the past three seasons.
"Caleb has done a really nice job for us this offseason," Hinton said. "He is an unusual athlete because you don't find too many football, wrestling and baseball players. Caleb doesn't fold, has a strong arm and has good vision."
Price had one start last season and in his playing time in '13 had a 40-plus yard touchdown run and 40-plus yard touchdown pass. Price also had one game where he passed for over 100 yards.
Hinton said the strength of this year's Cavaliers will be their "skill," saying the offense has to fit the personnel.
Two of the three running backs who played a bulk of the time for Chillicothe will be returning in junior Nate Rosenbauer and senior Daiquan Hall, both of whom put in a lot of work over the winter, Hinton said.
Rosenbauer, who is a very versatile player, had 684 yards rushing on 113 carries in '13, along with 11 rushing TDs and two receiving TDs. Hall totaled two touchdown runs and 247 yards on 48 carries last season.
"Both have put in a lot of work over the winter and have improved physically and mentally," Hinton said. "Both made big plays. Nate was more of our go-to guy last year down the stretch of games. He scored the game-winning touchdowns against Johnstown, Big Walnut and against Miami Trace. He also made huge plays against Clinton-Massie."
[[In-content Ad]]The third back for the Cavs will be senior Carl Harris, as Hinton described him as a "diamond in the rough."
Harris finished '13 with nine carries for 154 yards (17.1 yards per carry) and four touchdowns.
Making what will be his second season start as a wide receiver will be senior D.J. Vinson. He collected 13 receptions for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Also at wide receiver are Kyle May, Quintin Davidson, Steve Bayless and Tristan Penn.
"He's made big improvements from last year," Hinton said of Vinson.
Both tight ends are also back this year in seniors Devin Zehner and Cristian Collins. On the offensive line, back for his third year as a starter is center Luke Johnson (who tallied 15 pancakes in '13) and Austin Mathis (guard/tackle).
One change to the offense is what they run, because during camp, the largest offensive linemen weighed in at 210 pounds. The offense will be more about speed and athleticism (playing fast), quickness and working on the edge, though Hinton said he won't abandon the power run game, either.
The Cavaliers want to be a platoon team again as they have good numbers, but it just depends on how the players continue to develop as the season nears. Hinton also said most of the substitute players on defense last season were seniors.
Defensively, Hinton said "the man" on that side is Zehner, saying: "There is no question everything revolves around Devin."
Zehner (who will be a third-year starting linebacker) totaled 129 tackles (72 solo) with six tackles for loss in '13. The current senior also had 2.5 sacks and one punt block.
For the rest of the defensive front seven, there are big holes to fill, with only middle guard Austin Hamilton returning to the defensive line, which is a part of a multi-set 50 defense.
"I'm a firm believer that you win games up front," Hinton said. "But we have a little different philosophy than others in that I play defense with our offense … that's why we run the football and control the pace of the game.
"We want to keep the other team to three to six plays a quarter and not give them a lot of opportunities to score. We still played great defense, but our system is built that one protects the other. Last year, the defense stepped up and made some big plays."
With those two back in the front seven, the strength of the defense will be the secondary with three out of four starters returning in Harris (three interceptions), Price (three interceptions) and Bayless (47 total tackles, forced fumble).
Hinton spoke about having to replace so many players from last season.
"It is good and bad because we were thankful to have a class for the length of time that we had them, because those guys came through the thin and thick," Hinton said of last year's seniors. "They took a royal beating their sophomore year, held their own as juniors and as seniors they were dominant players.
"Hopefully what they left is a legacy and set a pattern for the young guys to follow. My goal is to have 16-20 per class, because you still win with your seniors. You win with that experience and their leadership.
"To build a championship team, you don't rebuild … you just reload. We are going to find out if we are at that point.”
This is what head coach Ron Hinton calls a "transition year," as the Cavaliers are "reloading" for the '14 season, with 65 players in grades nine-12, including a senior class of 15 players.
As head coach Ron Hinton said (in his 41st year coaching, fifth at CHS), they will find out this year "if we have a program that is developing, or did we have a good class go through."
"We've been very pleased with the work ethic, the leadership and the commitment from our seniors over the winter," he said. "The expectation level has changed with the winning we did last year and the fact they understand more about what it takes to win."
After qualifying for the postseason in '13, the Cavs, who were 9-2 last season, still have a good number of players on the offensive side of the ball, but it will be the defensive line where a lot of the changes will be made.
In total, the Cavaliers lost eight three-year starters, including both offensive tackles, an offensive guard and the quarterback, and that is just on the offensive side of the football.
As for the Cavalier offense, they are coming off a season where they rushed for 2,741 yards and passed for 942 yards, with that amounting to 340 points.
This year, the offense will be led by senior quarterback Caleb Price (who is also a starting defensive back), with it being his first year entering the season as the starter, though he started one game last year and played in two. He replaces Ryan Mathis, who was the starter for the past three seasons.
"Caleb has done a really nice job for us this offseason," Hinton said. "He is an unusual athlete because you don't find too many football, wrestling and baseball players. Caleb doesn't fold, has a strong arm and has good vision."
Price had one start last season and in his playing time in '13 had a 40-plus yard touchdown run and 40-plus yard touchdown pass. Price also had one game where he passed for over 100 yards.
Hinton said the strength of this year's Cavaliers will be their "skill," saying the offense has to fit the personnel.
Two of the three running backs who played a bulk of the time for Chillicothe will be returning in junior Nate Rosenbauer and senior Daiquan Hall, both of whom put in a lot of work over the winter, Hinton said.
Rosenbauer, who is a very versatile player, had 684 yards rushing on 113 carries in '13, along with 11 rushing TDs and two receiving TDs. Hall totaled two touchdown runs and 247 yards on 48 carries last season.
"Both have put in a lot of work over the winter and have improved physically and mentally," Hinton said. "Both made big plays. Nate was more of our go-to guy last year down the stretch of games. He scored the game-winning touchdowns against Johnstown, Big Walnut and against Miami Trace. He also made huge plays against Clinton-Massie."
[[In-content Ad]]The third back for the Cavs will be senior Carl Harris, as Hinton described him as a "diamond in the rough."
Harris finished '13 with nine carries for 154 yards (17.1 yards per carry) and four touchdowns.
Making what will be his second season start as a wide receiver will be senior D.J. Vinson. He collected 13 receptions for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Also at wide receiver are Kyle May, Quintin Davidson, Steve Bayless and Tristan Penn.
"He's made big improvements from last year," Hinton said of Vinson.
Both tight ends are also back this year in seniors Devin Zehner and Cristian Collins. On the offensive line, back for his third year as a starter is center Luke Johnson (who tallied 15 pancakes in '13) and Austin Mathis (guard/tackle).
One change to the offense is what they run, because during camp, the largest offensive linemen weighed in at 210 pounds. The offense will be more about speed and athleticism (playing fast), quickness and working on the edge, though Hinton said he won't abandon the power run game, either.
The Cavaliers want to be a platoon team again as they have good numbers, but it just depends on how the players continue to develop as the season nears. Hinton also said most of the substitute players on defense last season were seniors.
Defensively, Hinton said "the man" on that side is Zehner, saying: "There is no question everything revolves around Devin."
Zehner (who will be a third-year starting linebacker) totaled 129 tackles (72 solo) with six tackles for loss in '13. The current senior also had 2.5 sacks and one punt block.
For the rest of the defensive front seven, there are big holes to fill, with only middle guard Austin Hamilton returning to the defensive line, which is a part of a multi-set 50 defense.
"I'm a firm believer that you win games up front," Hinton said. "But we have a little different philosophy than others in that I play defense with our offense … that's why we run the football and control the pace of the game.
"We want to keep the other team to three to six plays a quarter and not give them a lot of opportunities to score. We still played great defense, but our system is built that one protects the other. Last year, the defense stepped up and made some big plays."
With those two back in the front seven, the strength of the defense will be the secondary with three out of four starters returning in Harris (three interceptions), Price (three interceptions) and Bayless (47 total tackles, forced fumble).
Hinton spoke about having to replace so many players from last season.
"It is good and bad because we were thankful to have a class for the length of time that we had them, because those guys came through the thin and thick," Hinton said of last year's seniors. "They took a royal beating their sophomore year, held their own as juniors and as seniors they were dominant players.
"Hopefully what they left is a legacy and set a pattern for the young guys to follow. My goal is to have 16-20 per class, because you still win with your seniors. You win with that experience and their leadership.
"To build a championship team, you don't rebuild … you just reload. We are going to find out if we are at that point.”