Friday, Aug. 28, 2009

BELLEVILLE WEST: Blue-collar Maroons excited with 16 starters returning

BELLEVILLE -- Call Belleville West coach Ric Johns' cell phone and you'll hear Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising'' until he picks up.

The song is a metaphor for the Maroons' football program, which last season won eight games for the first time since 1985 and earned its first playoff berth since 2002.

"Anybody that knows me, knows that I am a fan of The Boss, and 'The Rising' is a part of that change in mentality,'' said Johns, whose team opens the 2009 season against Highland at 7 p.m. today at Highland High School. "I don't think we could have done what we did last year without a heck of a change in mentality.''

The Maroons ended up 8-2 last season, falling to De La Salle 7-0 in the opening round of the Class 7A playoffs.

"We were a little ahead of schedule last year win-loss-wise, and I've said that way too often,'' Johns said. "People are tired of hearing that. Now we get to see what we can do with a little experience. That's what we are excited about this year.

Johns said the Maroons return eight starters on each side of the ball.

"And, none of them are the same kids,'' Johns said. "We platoon. Experience is our strong suit.''

Despite all the returning players, Johns said the Maroons still are a blue-collar team.

"They have to remember what it took to win. We still don't have anybody that is a D-I prospect or anything like that. We're just a bunch of kids that have to work hard to play good football. It's OK to be confident, but as I told the players the other day, cockiness will absolutely kill this team. We really do count on the sum being greater than the parts.''

Jodeci Mack is back at quarterback for the Maroons. Mack rushed for 830 yards and seven touchdowns last season.

"He's a very dynamic option quarterback,'' Johns said. "That's what we do. We're looking for him to be even better this year. I won't say that he is a dynamic throwing quarterback. We'll just have to throw enough to keep people honest.''

Mack threw for only 288 yards and three touchdowns last season.

"I really don't have a problem with that,'' Johns said of his ground-based attack. "I don't think Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech (third in the nation among Division I colleges in rushing yards last season with 3,388) has much of a problem with that. That's the offense that we run."

The Maroons have Jarvis Patterson at right halfback and Travis Rupert at left halfback. Patterson rushed for 392 yards and six touchdowns last season, while Rupert rushed for 159 yards and four TDs.

Johns is excited about the potential of fullback Robert Murphy.

"When you add all that speed to that hammer (Murphy), it's going to be pretty interesting,'' Johns said of his backfield.

Kyle Ishman, Keleen Davis, Joey Hannigan and Undre Howard all are vying for time at split end.

The Maroons bring back four starters -- center Jeff Heidorn, left guard Tanner Calert, right tackle Beaux Greenfield and left tackle Bryce Kirkpatrick -- on the offensive line.

Senior Mark Morrison will be the starter at right guard.

On defense, the Maroons bring back three-year starter Jake Wagner at safety. Wagner had a team-leading 99 tackles last season.

"He's been the core of our defense for three years,'' Johns said.

Also manning the secondary are Tony Kossina, Thoncel Frazier, Aaron Fleming, Miquel Cotton and Mike Israelitt, a transfer from Belleville East who led the Lancers with 73 tackles last season.

"Our secondary is one of our strongest suits,'' Johns said. "We have a ton of good players.''

Garrett Stack and Spencer Harvey are back at inside linebacker, while Logan Augustine and DeVante Lewis are back at outside linebacker.

Lining up on the defensive line are three-year starter Bryan Hern (6-3, 210), Devan Williams and David Darris. Hern was a second-team All-Area pick last season.

Johns said he thinks the Southwestern Conference will be improved this year, though he doesn't think it was a down year for the league last season.

"I think there was a misnomer about the conference not being good last year,'' Johns said. "I think anytime there is a little bit of a change in hierarchy or whatever, people tend to perceive that things are weaker. When you look at what Belleville West did, they were within a whisker of being in the 8A quarterfinals. You have to look up East St. Louis, they had a pretty good year.''