Riko Smalls left big shoes to fill at quarterback for Plano East. Three players are trying to fill them.

Two will be seniors: Brandon Wesley and Jake Montgomery, who both played on the junior varsity last season. Also in the mix is current sophomore Ryan Foster, who quarterbacked one of Plano East's feeder schools, Clark, last fall. Both the junior varsity and Clark went 8-2 last year.

"We tried to put them in positions where they could all develop and get snaps," coach Johnny Ringo said.

The bulk of the running will be handled by Toben Opurum and D'Lyle Washington, who combined for 1,002 yards last season. Ringo said, Opurum who's also a great blocker and receiver, has been offered by several colleges.

With the hire of former Southlake Carroll and North Texas defensive coordinator Ron Mendoza, Cedar Hill is abandoning its 3-3 stack alignment for a 4-3 look. Coach Joey McGuire said it's been a good fit.

"We were already looking at doing some of it, just because of our personnel," McGuire said. "We're strong in our front seven. This will enable us to get more good players on the field."

McGuire said the tailback position could be as strong as it has ever been with Keenan Walker and Ben Malena. Both saw action on the varsity last season.

It's a close contest at quarterback between LaDerien Cockrane and Driphus Jackson. Cockrane, a former receiver who will be a senior, hasn't played quarterback since he was a freshman. Jackson led the junior varsity to a one-loss season as a freshman in 2007.

McGuire is also high on three transfers: Spencer Phillips, a safety from Scurry-Rosser; Darrius Thomas, a cornerback from Lincoln; and Laquan Harper, an inside receiver who caught 44 passes at Irving last season.

Garland has clipped its Wing and gone to the air this spring.

The traditional Wing-T offense is out at Garland, which has joined the masses in switching to the pass-oriented spread offense.

"Last year, we weren't really a Wing-T team anymore, and we weren't really a spread team," coach Jeff Jordan said. "We needed to make a decision. With just the way the game is changing, we made the decision to go full time and spread it out."

The Wing-T has been good to Garland, and past attempts to dump it have failed. In 1998, Garland started out as a one-back offense but eventually got back into the Wing-T. The next year, Garland won a state title.

In 2001, Jordan's first year as head coach, Garland switched to the spread and started 0-6. Garland has been a ground-oriented, Wing-T team ever since.

Jordan said he toyed with the idea of giving the spread another chance a couple of years ago. Then Garland came within a goal-line stand against Cedar Hill of playing for a state title.

"If you're a foot away from going to the state championship game," Jordan reasoned, "is it smart to completely revamp your offense?"

But last season's dip to 3-7 convinced Jordan it was time to change. David Collins was hired from Mabank to be Garland's new offensive coordinator. Collins was at Allen when it made the transition to the spread.

Jared Barnett started five games at quarterback last season as a sophomore. Adrian Phillips, who's more of a running threat, is also working at quarterback.

Many schools waited until after TAKS testing ended last week to begin spring football. Irving MacArthur got in three days of practices before taking a break for TAKS.

"At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it," coach Brian Basil said. "I think it allowed us to sit back and evaluate things after a good three days."

The evaluations so far have been good for Michael Brooks, the new starter at quarterback. Brooks, the varsity backup last season, will compete in the triple jump at the state track meet this weekend.

"He's shown some explosiveness and speed," Basil said. "His older brother, Duane, was our quarterback in 2003 and 2004, and Mike was our ballboy during those years. He's been on our sideline for a long time."

Linebacker Tariq Allen, who has committed to Texas, gets a lot of attention on defense. But Basil said tackle Albert Sparks (6-2, 305) is starting to turn heads. He's been offered by Buffalo.

Spotlighting a player who could make an impact his first year on varsity

Tokar was about to be called up to the varsity last season when he suffered a knee injury. He injured his other knee in the off-season but, wearing braces on both joints, is performing well in spring practice.

Berkner's last two centers, Michael Underbrink and Doug Beach, both started for two years before signing with Missouri-Rolla.

"Just about everything that we do revolves around the center," said coach Jim Ledford, whose team runs the Triple-Option attack. "We've been pretty blessed the last four years. We haven't had to worry about that position."