“We have a core group of young men. They have been working extremely hard every single day,” said Erik Will, head coach of the Shelby football team.
Will is entering his first year as head coach for Shelby. “I’m very excited about being in Shelby. There is a lot of positive momentum circling the town right now with the new school and we are ready to embrace it,” said Will.
“The team is starting to play faster. All of the puzzle pieces are starting to come together,” said Will. “We are excited about our quarterback, Lukas Ousley. He is doing a nice job and is really leading the offense,” said Will. Ousley is entering his senior year with the Whippets. Will also praised returning seniors, Tristan Kehres and Erik Montgomery. “These two are captains of the team and are doing a fantastic job with leading the team in the right direction.”
Sophomore Devin Tuttle and junior Lucas Bihl look to bring versatility to the Whippet squad. “Devin can play different positions and can adapt well and the same goes for Lucas. These two are great utility players for us,” said Will. “We have some solid freshmen that are coming up this year, too,” said Will.
Will gave praise to defensive outside linebacker Spencer Blevins. “He is a great football player and has been playing excellent. We are excited to watch him on the field,” said Will.
Will has noticed some key factors that he believes will lead to the team’s overall success for the season. “We are playing a lot quicker. You can see that the puzzle pieces are beginning to come together. The kids are starting to grasp the concepts and the leadership that is being shown both on and off the field is growing tremendously,” said Will.
“We have an energetic, young coaching staff that has really stepped up,” said Will. Brett Thompson is the defensive coordinator. Will said, “Brett and I have been working well together. We are excited about this season.” Matt Albert is the offensive coordinator and Scott Harvey is in charge of the defensive line.
“Defense is excited to get on the field and hit. We want them to get the ball as quickly as they can but we want them to play organized,” said Will. “We want to make sure that the kids understand the season is long. We are looking to develop character and integrity in these young men. We want them to display a sense of class to their community. They have been working extremely hard and they give us their best work ethic,” said Will.
However, Will knows the team is bound to face challenges along the way. “We need more numbers; we just don’t have a lot of depth. We are working on developing that depth. We don’t want to define success by the number of wins and losses, but we want them to define success based on doing their best displaying what Shelby football is about and that is to play hard and execute,” said Will.
As for tough challengers, Will noted, “Our top three teams that will be challenging to us will be Madison, Bellevue, and Tiffin.”
Shelby football will be running out of the spread offense. Will said, “We will still be running power football. We want to create mis-matches. It’s a fun brand of football.” On the defensive side of the ball, the Whippets will run primarily a 3-3-5 stack defense, but Will added, “We will change different series depending on who we are playing.”
As for the 2013 season, he said, “We want to be consistent throughout the season and show that we can play the game fast and organized.”
