New Richmond – Last season started on a high note for Wyoming East as the Warriors defeated rival Westside and took back the Golden Shovel.
Each week afterwards was just another stop in a downward spiral that saw the Warriors finish with a 1-9 record.
It was a good learning experience for second-year coach Jimmy Adkins who had his first year completely derailed by Covid. He learned what to tolerate, how to handle certain locker room situations and most importantly how to rebuild a program.
Now throughout the early weeks of August camp he’s seeing his efforts pay off.
“From last year to this year there’s been a huge leap,” East head coach Jimmy Adkins said. “Obviously this last week, week-and-a-half has been great to have everybody out here together. For us it started in February though. Feb. 1, it was one of those things in the weight room were you’re like ‘Look, if you’re not playing another sport, you need to be there. It’s not mandatory but you need to be there.’ We had 22-25 kids daily four times a week and there really aren’t many schools doing that. But these guys know. The guys that were with us last year – we don’t want that. I don’t want that and the coaching staff don’t want it. It’s behind us and it’s time for a new year.”
With the exception of a veteran offensive line, the Warriors expect to be green all over. Half of their starters last season were underclassmen and most of the roster this season sits amongst those ranks.
“We started five or six freshmen,” Adkins said. “We’ve got a young team and of my 45 kids, about 36 are underclassmen but they’ve been working hard and we’re excited. I’ve stressed leadership, I’ve stressed discipline and accountability and these guys are sticking to their guns and holding each other accountable. We didn’t really have that last year.”
One thing Adkins has figured out early is to coach to his personnel. Over the last two seasons he’s shifted his philosophy from game-to-game with East alternating between shotgun and single wing sets to get the ball in his playmakers’ hands. This year he’s hoping he won’t have to vary as much.
“Offensively for us last year it felt like we had to come in each week and switch stuff up,” Adkins said. “That was just because of injuries. We had some serious injuries with some of our guys and it hindered us, causing us to move away from what we wanted to do. This year, everybody’s healthy and we have a lot of depth everywhere. Skill positions, o-line, d-line – we’ve got a lot of depth. This will be the first year we can do what I want offensively because we have the kids to do that. Not saying you won’t see power sets but we’re definitely a spread team and you may see a little bit of tempo here and there.”
Though young, the Warriors have several players with valuable experience. Jackson Danielson, a junior, has started games at quarterback dating back to his freshman year and has grown physically over that time as well as mentally.
“Jackson has stared for us since Week 2 of his freshman year,” Adkins said. “He’s matured and is where the needs to be and you’ll be able to see that on Fridays. These other young guys – and not just the young guys but the seniors we do have, we’ve got five of them and they’ve all good big roles. Kaiden Weaver has done his time and it’s time for him to step up and lead. J. J. Cooper is another big physical kid that will play wideout for us and you can’t forget Blake Cook and Charlie Stewart. Those guys have been starters since ninth grade so they’ll definitely step up and have a big role in what we do offensively and defensively.”
The challenge in forming a cohesive offense will be getting Danielson and the skill players, most of whom are younger, on the same page. But the depth alone has Adkins gleaming as the competition has brought out the best in his team.
“Some younger guys for us will be Dustin Belcher who you’ll see a lot of in the slot,” Adkins said. “There’s definitely going to be times he’ll be in the backfield taking carries for us. We have a really good competition going on in the backfield with a senior, a junior a couple of sophomores and a freshman. The way we see it is each of those guys have something a little better than the other given the situation. You’re going to see a good rotation in the backfield and in the slots. Steven Clemins and Cole Laxton have looked really good but that’s just offensively. Defensively we’re looking to have six or seven guys playing one way which is something I’ve never had so we have a lot of depth.”
While the lack of success could break the spirits of Adkins’ squad, he’s confident it could work in the opposite direction.
“They’ve went through it,” Adkins said. “They put their head down and and went through it and they understand the feeling of a losing season. They understand that you’ve got to be here, have an offseason program and be here. I tell them all the time that when your cleats hit the field it’s time to work. I feel like they have all kinds of motivation to turn things around, I really do.”
Wyoming East will open its season on Aug. 26 when it travels to Westside.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
1 | 08/26/22 | 7:00PM | A – | WESTSIDE Â | – | Â | ||
2 | 09/02/22 | 7:00PM | A – | WAHAMA SENIOR/MIDDLE SCHOOLÂ | – | Â | ||
3 | 09/09/22 | 7:00PM | H – | NICHOLAS COUNTYÂ | – | Â | ||
4 | 09/16/22 | OPENÂ | – | Â | ||||
5 | 09/23/22 | 7:30PM | H – | MAN HIGH SCHOOLÂ | – | Â | ||
6 | 09/30/22 | 7:30PM | H – | RIVER VIEWÂ | – | Â | ||
7 | 10/07/22 | 7:30PM | H – | RICHWOODÂ | – | Â | ||
8 | 10/14/22 | 7:30PM | A – | POINT PLEASANT SENIOR/MIDDLE SCHOOLÂ | – | Â | ||
9 | 10/21/22 | 7:30PM | A – | PIKEVIEWÂ | – | Â | ||
10 | 10/28/22 | 7:30PM | H – | INDEPENDENCE SENIORÂ | – | Â | ||
11 | 11/04/22 | 7:30PM | A – | LIBERTY (RALEIGH)Â | – | Â |