Football preview: New faces abound as Little Giants get set to host Tiffin Columbian

FREMONT – It’s a rite of autumn like leaves changing colors.

As high school football season nears, coaches will often say the squad entering the upcoming year is a different group from the one before.

It’s a cliché born to serve multiple functions. It can be used to insulate a team from high expectations from the school and community. On the flip side, a program that has struggled in recent years proclaims itself a new team to free itself from the negatives of its past.

But sometimes the cliché isn’t just a cliché. Sometimes the cliché is true.

And as the Fremont Ross football team prepares to open its season Friday night at Don Paul Stadium, the “we’re a new team” cliché may be the most accurate way to assess the Little Giants prior to kickoff.

Nearly every mainstay from the last couple seasons has moved on, as only one starter returns to the offense, while the defense, aside from its veteran-laden front line, is also littered with fresh faces and first-year starters.

“It’s a different team because we’re young. We’re extremely young,” said coach Chad Long, heading into his fourth year at the helm of the Little Giants. “We graduated a crap-ton of kids last year. We got a lot of fresh newbies and you can see it in our scrimmages.”

While many fans in the stands will likely need a program to learn the new names and numbers of the Little Giants, Long noted at least one positive that comes with so many newcomers. The 2019 Little Giants are more interested in making an impact for the team than they are in leaving personal legacies.

“The difference between this year and last year, truthfully, is the young kids who believe in one another and there is no ego,” Long said. “They ain’t worried about stats. They just want to win games. A lot of kids were chasing records last year and they were all worked up about that stuff. I care less, unless we get a W. That’s all I care about. That’s what we ran into last year and the year before.”

The new kids on offense

In 2018, then-junior Andrew Born caught two passes for 60 yards and a touchdown. He returns as the Little Giant’s only returning offensive starter.

Born will, however, be moving from wide-out taking the top off the defense, to running back. There, along with senior Daniel Rusher, he will be tasked with leading the Little Giants’ attack.

“Any play he can score a touchdown, he is so explosive,” Long said of Born. “We plan on giving Daniel Rusher the ball as much as we do Born. Rusher brings the same kind of quickness. I can’t say he’s quicker, but he’s pretty good, being a second back, running the ball. We have a good 1-2 combo.”

Clyde transfer Carson Clark, Josh Adkins and Xavier Urbina will also see carries.

They’ll be running behind an offensive line that returns zero starters, though Long believes the Little Giant blockers are talented and deep enough to not require defensive end and four-year starter Dontrez Brown from having to play both ways.

The line will be anchored by massive sophomore Ethan Green (6-foot-6, 245 pounds) at left tackle with sophomore London Johnson (6-2, 315) at guard and senior Avery Franks (5-8, 230) at center. Six-foot, 250-pound junior Dominick Byington is slated to start at right guard with senior Jason Burling (6-2, 260) at right tackle. Ethan Druckenmiller and Logan Ruffing, along with Brown, if necessary, will also be available to back-up and provide breathers.

“I am confident in our depth and guys we can plug in there to rest them,” Long said. “Because our strength is our defensive and we cannot have those two (Brown and Burling) tired when it comes to defense. We have plenty of kids who we can plug into help us.”

The freshest faces on the offense, however, belong to freshmen quarterback Kaden Holmes and wide receiver Anthony Vann.

Long believes the freshmen have the skill and athleticism to succeed both in the future and the present for the Little Giants. He acknowledges, however, there will be some initial nerves and a steep learning curve.

“We have two young kids there that are going to be starting their first game under the lights where they’re used to watching the games from the stands. We have to be ready to go and not put them in any big, important situations early in the game. As the game goes on, they’ll get more comfortable with their surroundings and not even worry about it.”

The job of protecting the freshman from having to carry too great a burden will partly fall to new offensive coordinator Eric Slosser, who coached with Long at Tiffin Columbian.

“We’re going to run the ball. Eric Slosser is our new offensive coordinator and he is a run-first person,” Long said. “We’re going to run the ball and bring Kaden along as the game goes on and pass the ball as well. His philosophy is run the ball to set up the pass. I think in the last two years we were pass the ball to set up the run and to pass the ball.”

Defense remains Ross’ calling card

As Ross accumulated a 5-5 overall record last season with an offense that alternated between hot and cold, the defense provided the Little Giants with consistency and gave the time the offense needed to find its rhythm.

The defensive side of the ball will once again be where the Little Giants hang their hat, especially so in the trenches.

Long expects Ross’ front line to be the backbone of the team, led by 6-2, 250-pound senior defensive end Dontrez Brown along with Burling, Carson Brandon (6-1, 200 pounds) and Nick Mayle (6-3, 220).

The success of those four seniors up front will set the tone for the rest of the defense which, like the offense, is long on youth and short on experience.

“If you’re an opposing team you see these big guys like this, they can cause all sorts of ruckus,” Long said. “That’s what’s so great, having all these guys with all this experience and success they’ve had the last couple of years. That’s our strength and it has been these last couple of years.”

Whereas in years past that defensive front was backed up by linebackers Caleb Wood and Garrett Schneider, that is no longer the case. Gone are two first-team all-TRAC performers, replaced by senior Josh Adkins, junior Carson Clark and Daniel Rusher, who will be a linebacker/defensive back hybrid dropping into coverage.

“To us, the biggest devastation (from last season) will be at linebackers,” Long said. “Losing those two, those two were animals. They’d been playing since they were sophomores and they have a lot of accolades between the two of them.

“(In the scrummage) against Mansfield, we got caught between our gaps, reading the wrong keys and they broke two long runs against us. That’s not common to us, we’re usually very, very sound and that’s the experience (lost) in Wood and Schneider. These guys need to step in and be responsible for the gaps they need to be in.”

The secondary will also be young. While Born will play some cornerback, Long wants him available to run the ball on offense, so sophomore Darrian Ayers and junior Kalijah Alejandro will man the corners of the secondary. Juniors Spencer Price and Dion Bradley will play the safety positions where Bradley played some as a starter a year ago and Long is encouraged by his progress.

“(Bradley has) way more confidence and understands the defense way better this year,” Long said.

“The great thing about our defensive line is they’re going to cause havoc and the great thing about our secondary is they’re ball hawks, they’ll go after the ball because they’re not scared,” Long said.

Being aggressive in coverage is one thing, but blown coverages resulting in big plays against has been an issue for Little Giants defense over several seasons. Long is aware of that and has been personally involved more with the coaching of the defensive backs. He believes Ross can limit the big plays.

“We can’t have missed coverages and that’s been our issue in the secondary, missed coverages and broken coverages, which has cost us big plays,” he said. “I think they’re getting the concept of where they need to be and the concepts in the secondary.

“Now we can’t help it when a kid if bigger and faster, and that will happen in our conference, and there’s just nothing you can do. But just being able to be in the right position and do the right thing is all we can ask them to do.”

Getting ready for the Tornadoes

The Little Giants host Tiffin Columbian Friday night in the first meeting between the former long-time rivals since 2010, when Columbian handed Ross its only regular season loss of the year, 40-21.

Not only were both Long and offensive coordinator Eric Slosser members of the Tornadoes coaching staff prior to Long’s arrival in Fremont in 2013, but current Columbian head coach Judd Lutz was a player coached by Long.

“It tells you how old I am,” Long joked.

The Tornadoes are coming off a season in which they went 8-2, finished second in Division III, Region 10 before losing in the first round of the playoffs to Lexington.

While the Little Giants have little experience in their offensive skill positions, the Tornadoes return the bulk of their playmakers from a year ago.

To Long, however, this game will be won or lost where the Little Giants are strongest: In the trenches.

“Columbian is dangerous,” Long said. “They may not be the most athletic, but they’re mentally tough and when you get a bunch of kids who believe, they’re always dangerous.

“Our kids have to be ready for their best punches early, and hopefully we can wear them down with our size because we’re definitely bigger than they are. Hopefully, we can establish the front line on both the offensive and defensive lines and hopefully we can wear down their guys.”

As for what to expect from the Little Giants from the season, as a whole? Don’t ask Long. Ross has avoided any talk of goals or what the standards will be for gaging success.

Part of the reason is the team is so young, it’s still a mystery what to expect from it. Another part is the fact the Little Giants fell disappointingly short of its goals the past two seasons. So instead of thinking of wheir the Little Giants will be in 10 weeks, they’re narrowing their focus to simply Week 1.

“They’re young. We don’t know how they’re going to react,” Long said. “We, as coaches, are going to do the best we can to put these kids in positions to be successful.

“In the past we’ve always talked about goals,” he added. “I can tell you, honestly, we’re not talking about goals this year. We’ve talked about Game 1 and that’s it. It’s just been win Game 1. That’s it.”