By Chris Parker
Thayer football returns an experienced roster from last season’s team that finished 8-3 overall falling to eventual Class 2 state runner-up Fair Grove in the district playoffs.
Offensively, Thayer looks to run the ball and a pair of 1,000-yard backs in Thomas Poole and Zeb Dubois return.
Poole carried the ball 183 times for 1,210 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. Dubois had 155 carries for 1,077 yards and 10 touchdowns.
“Thomas is a durable back who improved especially late in the season last year. He does a great job of making one cut and getting vertical extremely fast,” Thayer head coach Briar Hancock said. “Zeb does a great job of cleaning up blocks and in the run game gives us another explosive player who is not only physical but can also make a man miss in open space.”
The running back rotation goes deeper than those two with Heath Combs (senior), Dominick Boyce (junior) Cordell Washington (senior) and Rowan Johnson (sophomore) also in the rotation.
“All of our backs bring something different to the table as far as their run styles go,” Hancock said. “Our back rotation is great in multiple aspects. The biggest aspect in my opinion is the competition side of things. Right now, we have four or five backs who are competing for a starting nod or just rotational time in our system.”
Dawson Harris returns at quarterback after throwing for 253 yards and rushing for another 295.
Riley White earned all-conference honors as a receiver last season with eight catches for 130 yards.
“Last year was Riley’s first year playing for us and did a great job on both sides of the ball. Riley is a big-physical player who runs great routes and seems to always get yards after contact,” Hancock said. “This summer, we moved Riley to tight end and he has fit well both in the run game as a blocker and in the passing game.”
Colton Mills, Tucker Wade and Washington will all see time at wide receiver.
SCA Lineman of the Year Cooper Clark graduated, but the Bobcats still have plenty of talent in the trenches.
Kaleb Tipton and Conner Crowder each earned all-conference honors on the offensive line.
“I think there is something to be said for their overall knowledge of the game,” Hancock said. “Both Crowder and Tipton are extremely smart players who understand leverage on blocks based on different defensive fronts. Adding to their knowledge, they are big physical players who do a great job of getting hands on defenders and creating run lanes.”
Crowder brings a motor that doesn’t stop while Tipton is a physical force in the run game.
“Conner’s effort level is second to none. He does a great job getting to second level defenders and staying stuck on blocks,” Hancock said. “Kaleb is a physical player in the run game. Last year, we saw more consistency out of Kaleb with long drives and became the guy we wanted to run the ball behind.”
Jasper Cypret (guard) and Blain Grimes (center) return as full-time starters. Canyon Harper returns at guard as well. He was a starter last season until a Week 1 injury.
This group of linemen combined with a deep back rotation will look to control the ball.
“I believe that we kind of found our identity as a group towards the end of the year last year, which was sustaining long drives, having a great rotation at the running back position, and getting the football into the hands of multiple people,” Hancock said.
Defensively, many of the same players will have an impact starting with Dubois. He was a first-team all-conference selection on the defensive line tallying 47 tackles and six sacks. Dubois will play on the interior defensive line.
“Zeb has an extremely high motor and plays with a lot of passion. Zeb is a player who will do whatever it takes to win a game, so we see that intensity every day from him at practice and in games. He’s not just a great football player but does a great job leading the team,” Hancock said.
Crowder, Harper, Eric Beville, Christian Pitts and Tipton also return on the defensive line.
The linebacking corps are deep with Xavier Gonzales, Maddux Underwood and Boyce all returning on the interior. Gonzales led that group with 87 tackles last season. Underwood had 42 tackles and Boyce had 60.
Returning starters at outside linebacker include Combs, Riley White and Poole with Cypret and Wade returning as rotational players. Combs had 41 tackles on his way to all-conference honors.
Gonzales, Boyce and Combs all earned all-conference honors last season.
“It is a huge deal for our defense not having to replace a single linebacker from a year ago,” Hancock said. “We saw all three have productive seasons last year, and saw our other linebackers produce at a high level as well.”
Look for Trenton Johnston, Johnson, Kaston Ming, Owen Brown and Gannon Burris to find time at linebacker as well.
The secondary will feature Mills, Poole and Corbin Taylor who all have starting experience. Washington and Brendon Spencer will also see time in the secondary.
Overall, this defense will look to be balanced and aggressive.
“We want to force teams to become one dimensional by being extremely aggressive and getting downhill quick,” Hancock said. “On the flip side of that aggressiveness, we want to be balanced as a unit and be confident in our assignments.”
Thayer has built up a level of depth that has enhanced the intensity of practices.
“We are at a point where we have depth at multiple spots on both sides of the ball,” Hancock said. “With depth, we have seen continuous competition for spots and our intensity because of that has been great.”
Thayer will travel to Mountain Grove for a jamboree on Aug. 22 with the host Panthers, Willow Springs and Houston. The Bobcats open the regular season on Aug. 29 at Highland (Ark.).
“The thing we always talk about as a team is getting into a position to compete for the “big” games (what you would consider as a conference championship/district championship, etc),” Hancock said. “We focus on the week at hand and prepare at an extremely high level to go out and win that week, not worrying about implications of the weeks to come.”
