'14 Football Preview: Washington Blue Lions
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
What will the story of the 2014 Washington Blue Lions consist of? As for the start of the season, the Blue Lions will look for the qualities all football coaches want from their team: bigger, stronger and faster.
The question that remains for this South Central Ohio League charter team is will all that work in the weight room and conditioning equal more wins in '14?
Washington is coming off a season where they finished 5-5 overall (they’ve had .500 seasons the past three years), with a 3-3 mark in the SCOL, fourth place in the league.
The Blue Lions have aspirations to finish higher in the standings this season, and to do so, they will rely on their offensive line and running game to be the foundation of their program.
There are six offensive linemen returning to the Blue Lions, giving them a line with the potential to be one of the better units in recent memory.
The returning offensive linemen are Gaerhett Ferguson, Seth Haines and Austin Wilson, who are all seniors. There are also three juniors in the o-line mix in Zach Murphy, Chad Moore and Cole Massie. At tight end is Mason McCane.
[[In-content Ad]]"We have a sound team offensively," Washington head coach Corey Dye said. "We have a really good group up front. They are a strong unit, and coach Kevin Hyme has done a great job of bringing the line together to play as a team."
In total, the Blue Lions have nine seniors on their roster, including a player who can make the most impact on the roster in Tye Smith, who is also a senior. The senior running back is 1,200 yards away from setting the all-time school record in yards rushing for a career. The record is currently held by Ben Parks.
"We have the experience at running back with Tye," Dye said. "He's had a good career. He's a two-sport athlete (also a state qualifier in wrestling)."
Other players on the offensive side of the ball the Blue Lions are looking to are split ends Kyle Wilson, Kory Proby and Ian Edwards. Starting at tailback is Kyle Garrett. Also on the offense will be flanker Caden Cluxton and tailback Aaron Greer.
"Kyle (Garrett), we are expecting a good year from him," Dye said. "He's a tough, physical player and a hard runner."
New at QB this season is C.J. Taylor, a junior, who is replacing the graduated Josh Williams, who started for the Blue Lions the past two seasons.
"C.J. has made a lot of gains this offseason," Dye said. "He's played in 7-on-7s, and even though he's still learning, he is improving each week."
But with the offense, it still all comes back to the offensive line of the Blue Lions.
"The line will be extremely improved, because if the o-line isn't working, then nothing will work," Dye said. "The linemen know we are relying on them."
As for their defense, the Blue Lions allowed over 400 points last season (the Blue Lions scored 219 points), so this year, they've brought back a familiar face in former head coach John Enochs to be the defensive coordinator.
"We'll have lots of defensive tackles that will rotate throughout games," Dye said. "We have a young secondary, but we do return quite a few guys at linebacker."
Those linebackers are Garrett, Haines, Ferguson and McCane, who was injured last season.
"Obviously, one of the weakest areas was too many points allowed," Dye said. "We have to make improvements on that side, and I believe we will."
Having a total of 55 players (including freshmen), this will be the first time in a few years the Blue Lions will be able to field teams at all three high school levels.
Going back to the Blue Lions and their being stronger and faster, the Blue Lions revamped their offseason workout program with them hiring Mark Bihl as their strength coach.
Bihl played collegiate football for the University of Michigan and was a big part of the Blue Lions' last undefeated regular season during his high school days in '01. Now, though, Dye said Bihl's weight room program has been a huge asset in the improvement of his players.
"What Mark has done for our players has been amazing," Dye said. "We raised over $26,000 to help with the weight room, and it has helped the players.
"I've never seen gains like this. Mark has taken what he learned at Michigan … tough workouts and brought them to us. In the long run, all of this work will help the team."
Dye summed up the summer and said he is looking forward to the upcoming season.
"Last year, we had some growing pains," he said. "We had a new o-line, and we were young. We should be a lot more competitive, and I think we'll be pretty good."
The question that remains for this South Central Ohio League charter team is will all that work in the weight room and conditioning equal more wins in '14?
Washington is coming off a season where they finished 5-5 overall (they’ve had .500 seasons the past three years), with a 3-3 mark in the SCOL, fourth place in the league.
The Blue Lions have aspirations to finish higher in the standings this season, and to do so, they will rely on their offensive line and running game to be the foundation of their program.
There are six offensive linemen returning to the Blue Lions, giving them a line with the potential to be one of the better units in recent memory.
The returning offensive linemen are Gaerhett Ferguson, Seth Haines and Austin Wilson, who are all seniors. There are also three juniors in the o-line mix in Zach Murphy, Chad Moore and Cole Massie. At tight end is Mason McCane.
[[In-content Ad]]"We have a sound team offensively," Washington head coach Corey Dye said. "We have a really good group up front. They are a strong unit, and coach Kevin Hyme has done a great job of bringing the line together to play as a team."
In total, the Blue Lions have nine seniors on their roster, including a player who can make the most impact on the roster in Tye Smith, who is also a senior. The senior running back is 1,200 yards away from setting the all-time school record in yards rushing for a career. The record is currently held by Ben Parks.
"We have the experience at running back with Tye," Dye said. "He's had a good career. He's a two-sport athlete (also a state qualifier in wrestling)."
Other players on the offensive side of the ball the Blue Lions are looking to are split ends Kyle Wilson, Kory Proby and Ian Edwards. Starting at tailback is Kyle Garrett. Also on the offense will be flanker Caden Cluxton and tailback Aaron Greer.
"Kyle (Garrett), we are expecting a good year from him," Dye said. "He's a tough, physical player and a hard runner."
New at QB this season is C.J. Taylor, a junior, who is replacing the graduated Josh Williams, who started for the Blue Lions the past two seasons.
"C.J. has made a lot of gains this offseason," Dye said. "He's played in 7-on-7s, and even though he's still learning, he is improving each week."
But with the offense, it still all comes back to the offensive line of the Blue Lions.
"The line will be extremely improved, because if the o-line isn't working, then nothing will work," Dye said. "The linemen know we are relying on them."
As for their defense, the Blue Lions allowed over 400 points last season (the Blue Lions scored 219 points), so this year, they've brought back a familiar face in former head coach John Enochs to be the defensive coordinator.
"We'll have lots of defensive tackles that will rotate throughout games," Dye said. "We have a young secondary, but we do return quite a few guys at linebacker."
Those linebackers are Garrett, Haines, Ferguson and McCane, who was injured last season.
"Obviously, one of the weakest areas was too many points allowed," Dye said. "We have to make improvements on that side, and I believe we will."
Having a total of 55 players (including freshmen), this will be the first time in a few years the Blue Lions will be able to field teams at all three high school levels.
Going back to the Blue Lions and their being stronger and faster, the Blue Lions revamped their offseason workout program with them hiring Mark Bihl as their strength coach.
Bihl played collegiate football for the University of Michigan and was a big part of the Blue Lions' last undefeated regular season during his high school days in '01. Now, though, Dye said Bihl's weight room program has been a huge asset in the improvement of his players.
"What Mark has done for our players has been amazing," Dye said. "We raised over $26,000 to help with the weight room, and it has helped the players.
"I've never seen gains like this. Mark has taken what he learned at Michigan … tough workouts and brought them to us. In the long run, all of this work will help the team."
Dye summed up the summer and said he is looking forward to the upcoming season.
"Last year, we had some growing pains," he said. "We had a new o-line, and we were young. We should be a lot more competitive, and I think we'll be pretty good."