Every football coach is looking to develop depth, particularly at this time of year. You may have starters pretty much in place but, as the old adage goes, everyone else is only one play away from stepping into a starting spot.
There are always injuries in football that’ll test a team’s depth. And, with the up-tempo styles of play being more prevalent, players have to get a blow now and then to be fresh at the end. Optimally, you want no drop-off when those substitutions are required.
The Bryant Hornets got a harsh reminder of how important depth can be early in the summer when Jakob Neel, a two-year starter and all-State middle linebacker when down with an injury that will have him on the sidelines when the season starts with the Salt Bowl on Saturday, Aug. 25.
“We’re hoping to get him back by October, definitely before the playoffs,” said Bryant head coach Buck James. “That’ll make us a better football team and it could give us some momentum too.”
Neel led the team in tackles last season and was among the leaders as a sophomore. His loss due to injury before the Hornets’ semifinal playoff game at Bentonville last fall was a blow that might’ve helped them stay in that game. Bentonville ended Bryant’s season with a 44-14 loss.
“We’ve moved Ahmad Adams over there,” James said of the vacant middle linebacker spot. “And we’ve got Cameron Scarlett and Hunter Stallman, plus we can move Catrell (Wallace) over there from outside ‘backer and Daylan Land. So, we’ve got some guys we can move in there.
“If Ahmad can figure it out, Ahmad can be special there,” he stated. “He can run. He’s fast, he’s strong. He can cover. He brings a dimension to it, but we lose him on offense. We’re planning on playing him on both but the last two 7-on-7’s and the last team camp and the last part of the summer, we’ve really been trying to get him a crash course on (playing middle linebacker), trying to get him a lot of reps.
“They’re all doing well,” the coach said. “Hunter and Cameron are not great pass-cover guys but they’re great run stoppers. So, there’s things that we can do with those guys as well.
“We’re just worried about the pass part of it,” he continued. “That’s part of playing middle linebacker too. We’ve got to make sure that we do a good job of putting those guys in when they can help us and against those kinds of teams that we see that are going to be run first.”
In regard to the team’s depth, in general, James said, “We’re not in a place where we can just count on one guy at any position. Not in this league. You’ve got to have depth and you’ve got to have options.
“It’s better that (Neel’s injury) happened in the summer than in the middle of the season when we were already tied into it,” he noted. “That’s sort of what happened to us last year when we played Bentonville and he missed there.
“We’ve just got to do a really good job in all our positions of having a plan B. The way football is now, and especially with the schedule we have, you’re not going to be able to skate by anybody. You’re going to have to be ready to play each and every Friday night, so you’ve got to have a plan A and a plan B, and you better look at plan C some. That goes with scheme, that goes with personnel.”
The Hornets have as tough a schedule as they’ve ever tackled this season. Along with the rugged 7A-Central Conference, with defending State champion North Little Rock, Conway, Cabot, Catholic, Central, Fort Smith Northside and Fort Smith Southside, Bryant plays arch-rival Benton in the Salt Bowl, then non-conference games against a pair of playoff teams from the 7A-West, Fayetteville and Bentonville West.
“I feel good about both of our lines,” James said. “I think they can be the strength of our football team. We’ve got a lot returning on offense.
“(On defense), we lost Neel early in the summer,” he continued. “He tore is ACL just running down the field. We lost two defensive coaches. Defense is the question mark.
“But our defensive line is going to be strong. We’ve got two of our three linebackers that played a lot last year back. We’ve got one corner back that played a lot last year then we have three really new returners.
“But I like where our football team is,” the coach insisted. “I couldn’t ask for a better summer. Our kids are stronger, faster and bigger than we’ve ever been since we’ve been here. We know what we’re doing and now we’ve just got to go out and compete, polish up our flaws and make them our strengths.”
