Much has been made (and rightfully so) about Kee Whetzel’s performance on Friday night versus Citrus in the Cougars 56-6 victory. What about some of the other highly thought-of prospects that are on their roster, however? Nearly all of the Cougars that we have seen a bunch of this offseason were highly effective in their performances in their Spring game.
Chris Barrett, (although quiet in terms of actual numbers) was an absolute brick-wall in his blocking from the tight end position and when asked to run routes instead of protecting his QB ran them with precision and was open when it was time to make the throw. It has been a very solid offseason and now Spring for this young man and the sky’s the limit at the moment. Perhaps the biggest mismatch of the entire night occurred in the trenches versus Citrus. The Cougars were substantially bigger and subsequently much stronger than the ‘Canes and that thanks in large part to guys like Andrew Brown at the DT/DE spot and the 300-pound nose guard Alex Pollack Jr. who was quite possibly the most active player on the entire defensive unit from start to finish.
Gordon Sandorf, who has been really putting in his work this offseason and at camp showed why he can handle the pressure of the high praises and the protecting of Trent Chmelik from the RT or RG position, paving the way several times for Trent to scramble off that side for huge chunks of yardage once the coverage dictated it. Sandorf was effective in pass protection getting great leverage and winning battles and most importantly keeping Chmelik off the turf except for his voluntary runs. Guys like Felix Dixon in the secondary and running back Markeas Jerrido (albeit just a 5-foot-5,145-pound frame) were monsters as well.
The biggest takeaway beyond all of these accomplishments could come down to one thing that cannot be rushed, and that is there’s work left to be done and some time is still needed to gel. Countryside’s ability to make chunk plays whenever they felt like it offset some of the needless holding and personal foul calls that backed them up in the first place. If there’s one thing that solves the untimely penalties and the scattered cases of drops from receivers, then it comes down to a matter of mental repetition as much as it does with physical execution. We’ve made mention of it a ton, and it bears mentioning again. In a district such as C-Side’s this season, when you get into goal-to-go situations and then find yourself backed-up twice in-a-row to a holding call, there isn’t a guarantee that the yardage will be made up on the next play (as it was on a 16-yard pass to Barrett) or that points will be scored at all against the likes of the defenses in 7A-10.
Who knows? Maybe the biggest piece to the puzzle for success to this team may be the combination of Whetzel and Tom Truong. That would be the holder and the place-kicker. Good thing C-Side knows how to make that combo work as well, too.