Fall 2019 Preview: El Dorado Springs Football

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By Chris Parker

Things will look different for El Dorado Springs football this year. Kelley Beckner is taking over as the head coach of the Bulldog football program, and he is bringing seismic changes to the offense by switching from a run-first style to a spread philosophy.

Beckner is a veteran assistant coach in the area with stops at Nixa, Catholic, Kickapoo and Monett before spending the past four seasons at Mt. Vernon coaching under Tom Cox.

Now he gets a chance to head up his own program.

“Growing up being in football, it never really left me and there is nothing really like Friday night lights. I have a passion for building relationships with kids, and I just felt like that was my calling so I got into coaching,” Beckner said. “I knew eventually I would want to head a program up. I was pretty fortunate to have good coaches to teach me the ins and outs and help develop me as a coach. I was anxious to make that leap. Anybody who is in coaching knows that a lot of it is timing and I wanted to make sure when I did make the jump that it was the right fit for myself and my family. Everything just lined up with El Do. It has been one of the smoothest transitions that I have had within my career.”

Offensively, Beckner will look flip last year’s offense that had 488 rushing attempts versus 178 passing attempts.

“We made the comment in camp (in July) that quarterbacks have thrown more balls and receivers have run more routes since June than they have in pretty much their entire careers,” Beckner said. “We really have the athletes to spread defenses vertically and horizontally. Our biggest struggle as a staff is how we are going to spread the football out to all the athletes.”

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Senior Brayden Housh and junior Clayton Collins are in competition for the starting quarterback position. Whichever is not taking the snaps will be somewhere on the field.

The wide receiving corps will be led by senior Derek Hays, juniors Gaven Morgan and Preston Robison and sophomores Will McKinney and Preston Smith. Hays was a first-team all-conference selection at wide receiver last season. Morgan could also see some looks in the backfield after earning all-conference honors as a receiver as a sophomore.

Senior Haiden Overton and junior Taylor Wingert will be the primary threats out of the backfield with the junior duo of Chad Ramsey and Isaak Shadden seeing carries in short-yardage situations.

Overton will be a versatile weapon for the Bulldogs.

“Haiden is a unique athlete because I feel like we can utilize him in the slot or in the backfield. Defenses are going to have to account for him. He is not the biggest guy but he is fast,” Beckner said.

The offensive line will be inexperienced with just one returning starter in senior Jordan Gallette, who earned all-conference honorable mention honors in 2018. Juniors Levi Thomas and Stephen Painter along with freshman Montana Hacker will also be factors on the offensive line.

The defense will be led by returning first-team all-conference linebacker Trey Graves. Graves led the Bulldogs with 94 tackles last season.

“When you leave one program that has an outstanding linebacker like Will Boswell, and you get to come into a program and have a guy like Trey Graves; it is pretty special,” Beckner said. “Trey Graves is one of the best overall linebackers that I have seen. I have been able to see some good athletes play linebacker, but he is just a true hard-nosed, downhill type of kid. He is a good leader. He is good at bringing those younger kids along but also holding those seniors accountable.”

Morgan, who earned all-conference honors at linebacker last year, returns to the unit as well after a 67-tackle, four-interception season. Wingert, Smith and sophomore Payton Green will round out the linebacking corps.

Housh will key the secondary at cornerback. He was a first-team all-conference selection at the position last year. McKinney, Robison, Overton and Collins will all factor into the secondary.

The defensive line will have a similar look to the offensive line with Gallette, Thomas and Painter playing both ways on the line. Shadden and Blake Johnson will also play on El Dorado’s defensive line.

Becker wants his team to develop a reputation for playing hard and not giving up on any plays.

“(I want our reputation to be) that they are hard-nosed, going to tackle, will limit the big play and are going to come at you,” Beckner said. “I want my guys to have no fear of failing. We have been stressing (if you) make a mistake, make it at 100-percent. Go all out all the time. Play as fast as you can. Play football and have fun.”

Playing fast at all times is a key tenant Beckner is teaching his new team.

“When you get into those big games you might just have that one opportunity. That is why it is so important when you are repping plays or repping routes that you have to go all out. You have to do it right every time because you might just get one time in the football game to do it,” Beckner said. “They are starting to realize that. We have really stressed it doesn’t matter (who) gets the football. All that matters at the end of the day is that El Do wins the football game.”

El Dorado Springs had a successful season last year finishing 8-3 overall including running through the Ozark Mountain Conference with an undefeated record to claim the inaugural regular season championship.

Beckner would like to replicate and improve on that success, but the win total at the end of the year won’t tell the full story of success for the Bulldogs.

“The success of this season, especially for the seniors, isn’t going to going to come (just) from this season. We have been trying to establish a program, and not just establish a team. Where they are five years from now is how I know our program has been a success. I want to build good human beings to be successful outside of high school,” Beckner said. “As far as the season goes, I don’t want anybody to quit. I want every single game for them to give everything they have every single play. We have been stressing that the two things you can control are attitude and effort. As long as they are giving everything they have the score is going to take care of itself. If they do those little things and keep progressing and getting better each day, winning usually takes care of itself.”

Overall, the transition to head coach has been smooth for Beckner as he aims to build El Dorado Springs into a consistent contender for district championships.

“The community has been awesome to me. Coach (Derek) Scroggins did a great job of building the team. They progressed each year he was here,” Beckner said. “With this switch, the community has really bought into what I am bringing to the table just through support, through donations, wanting to see practice and wanting to talk to the kids about football. Baseball is a big sport in El Do, but you can feel people are wanting football to be successful. I have been fortunate and blessed. I want to thank the community and administration for everything they have let me do.”

El Dorado Springs opens the season on Aug. 30 at Pembroke Hill.

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