ARGYLE — Ask anyone in the Argyle football program and they’ll fully admit they lost some key pieces from a team that went three rounds deep in the playoffs last year.
DRC/Gary Payne
Argyle head football coach Todd Rodgers, center, gives one of his offensive teams the play during practice on Tuesday.
With five returning starters on each side of the ball and some key losses at the skill positions, they’ll also say they’re fully confident they’re ready to move on with new talent and build on their success from last season.
Most notably, the Eagles will be without their dynamic former quarterback, JJ Harp, who will likely be replaced by sophomore Chad Hedlund, but it’s still not a sure thing, as he has some competition. Head coach Todd Rodgers said that’s a good thing.
Hedlund is competing for the starting job with junior Patrick Vickery.
“Do I think he [Hedlund] has a leg up on the competition right now? Probably so,” Rodgers said, “but Patrick has had three very good practices and looked good.”
Rodgers added that having two players who think they can win the job only helps both excel.
“I think [Vickery’s] very sold on trying to win the quarterback job, and I think Hedlund’s very sold on trying to win the job,” Rodgers said. “They’re both doing a fabulous job. It’s a very good position for us to be. I couldn’t be more pleased with our quarterback play the first couple of days.”
Hedlund seems to be taking the competition in stride and said he doesn’t feel like he has to go into the season trying to replace Harp, who very well might be irreplaceable.
“I’m just coming into this team to contribute whatever I can,” he said. “Obviously, quarterback is a big role, but I really feel no pressure in [replacing Harp]. Yeah, JJ was a great player, but I don’t feel like I have to be as good as him, at least not right now, because I have a couple of years to play. Lots of people try to compare us, but I’m just here to do what I can.”
Added Rodgers: “They’re not JJ. Are they as good as JJ was when he was a sophomore? I think they’re as good or better. You’ve got to compare apples to apples there.”
One way Rodgers plans on making the transition from junior varsity to varsity more comfortable for his quarterbacks and young wide receivers is to revamp the offense a bit — at least early on.
Toward the end of last season and into the playoffs, the Eagles transformed into a more balanced offense, with some good running efforts by Kyle Frizzell and strong offensive line play.
Frizzell returns as a senior running back and the Eagles return three starters from last year’s offensive line along with Brandyn Hinnrichs, who saw regular playing time on the line last year.
“We’ve spent some time in the offseason retooling the offense so we don’t have to have a JJ running the offense,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got some very good players and think we’re strong in the offensive line and the running back situation.”
Though the Eagles are young at wide receiver — with Tyler Sweatt, Lance Sutton, Justin Bruton, Blake Dunham, Murphy Ellis, Storm Griffin and Aaron Landrum all set to see time in the rotation — one spot is solidified.
Brady Brown, a 6-5, 205-pound receiver, led the Eagles last year with 95 catches for 1,074 yards and 12 scores. He is a big-time recruit who has narrowed his college choices down to Vanderbilt, Kansas and Neb-raska, and hopes to make a decision in the coming weeks.
“Brady is our bell cow offensively, and we’ve got guys that can fill in around him and be big-play guys,” Rodgers said.
Brown said his timing with Hedlund was helped tremendously by summer 7-on-7 competition, and that the newfound emphasis on the running game also will help the passing game.
“That’s what we’re working on,” Brown said. “We’re working on running the ball a little more and opening up the coverages to where they’ll be thinking run and we can throw it more easily. It helps me a lot.”
Rodgers said he’s also expecting good things from his defense, which took a lot of hits, most notably at linebacker as the Eagles lost Ben Parks, Trevor Cantrell and Pat Dawkins to graduation. The only linebacker back with notable experience is Eddie Eckert.
“We have all new linebackers from last year, so that’s a question mark,” said senior cornerback Matt Moore. “We have some returning guys who didn’t start, but it should be fine. Eddie Eckert’s playing there and he’s really good and has been working hard, so it won’t actually be much of a concern.”
Rodgers said his defense didn’t get a lot of respect toward the end of the season last year after being exposed in a couple of areas in the regular season. But the Eagles shut that idea down with a stout playoffs defensively, including a shutout of Clyde in the bi-district round. He said this year’s squad can build on the confidence gained late last season.
“In the playoffs, I don’t really think anyone gave us much credit defensively, so we kind of surprised some people,” Rodgers said. “It’s basically the same defense that we had. We spend a lot of time really training the kids about having a lot of effort and we think that’s going to translate into success early in the season this year.”
ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com .
