Greenwood High School’s annual Blue-White spring football game is this Thursday, May 17th, starting at 7 p.m. on the artificial turf at Smith-Robinson Stadium. Weather conditions should be good, although warm with a game time temperature in the 80s. The public is invited, and the price of admission is $5 per person, including students.
Prior to Thursday’s scrimmage, Head Coach Rick Jones, starting his 15th season as Greenwood, sat down for an interview with the Dog Pound to discuss the outlook for GHS football in 2018.
As the defending 6A champions and a perennial gridiron power in the state, the Bulldogs will have a target on their backs every week of the regular season. But realistically, Jones figures his team will be picked third or fourth in the 6A West in the pre-season polls behind both Benton and El Dorado.
The squad boasts 104 players at this point in the spring, up slightly from last year said the coach. “We’ve been hanging around 100 to 110 [players] this time of year. I think last year we probably started week one with 98 guys.
“Our numbers are up a little bit which is always good. There’s a lot of places where numbers are down drastically, but we’re happy to have kids that want to play football here.”
There will be some attrition over the summer, as there always is, but Jones and his staff have excelled at keeping their players in the fold, and winning is a big key to their success.
The Bulldogs have been to the state title game for three consecutive years and a remarkable 10 times in the past 14 years in both 5A and 6A, winning seven state championships along the way, the last two in Class 6A. Greenwood is a state title contender every year in the eyes of most pundits.
That should be the case again this fall, though the ‘Dogs likely won’t be everyone’s top choice, largely because of the deficit at quarterback after the graduation of Connor Noland, who is headed for the University of Arkansas this summer to play both football and baseball for the Razorbacks.
Noland and several other football players are busy this weekend trying to win a state baseball crown at Fayetteville’s Baum Stadium. They will play Benton on Saturday at 3 p.m.
But their commitment to baseball has also kept them away from preparations for the spring football game, which presents a challenge for the coaching staff, but also opens opportunities for other players to show what they can do.
AAA rules allow for 10 days of spring practice in full pads, and Greenwood has reserved a couple of those days for after the spring game to allow the baseball players to take part in limited football drills. The team will also participate in several team camps this summer.
The first such event will be on May 30th when the Bulldogs welcome Fort Smith Northside, Broken Arrow, OK, and Pulaski Academy to Smith-Robinson Stadium. They will also travel to Springdale and Northside for team camps in June, while hosting a second team camp themselves on July 11th.
As for the quarterback situation, it remains fluid and won’t likely be settled until after pre-season practice begins in August. Jones says the top three candidates are Jace Presley, Peyton Holt, and Landry Jurecka. All three players are currently with the baseball team.
Jones called the QB vacancy, “the elephant in the room. We’ve been so spoiled here,” he continued. “I coached nine years at the biggest school in Oklahoma. We had 1,050 seniors and we had zero Division I quarterbacks. I was at the third biggest school in Oklahoma and I had one. I had zero at Tulsa Union.
“It’s a very rare thing to have Division I quarterbacks, and we’re a town of 10,000 and we’ve had five or six. We’ve been very fortunate. There for two years we had two of them, playing them both.
“The heir-apparent is Jace Presley, but he has a long way to go in terms of being consistent,” said Jones. “In eighth and ninth grade we played Peyton Holt at quarterback and we’ve been working him there some, but not as much as when baseball is over. He can throw the ball surprisingly well and he has a better concept of what we’re trying to do offensively.
“Landry is a good size kid and has talent, and could be a good quarterback if he could just put together some weeks of consistency not being injured and learning the system.”
Jurecka has only been in the program for a year since moving from Alma, and will only be a sophomore in the fall, so he has a steep learning curve ahead of him, though he does have a strong arm.
Presley has the inside track, according to Jones, simply because he has played quarterback since junior high and was the starting QB for the junior varsity team last season. At about 6’3” he also has a size advantage over the other two candidates.
Peyton Holt is the best athlete on the GHS campus, starring in football, baseball, and basketball. On the gridiron he was the team’s leading receiver and kick returner last season and a playmaker.
“I’ve yet to stumble upon an offense where the quarterback can throw the ball to himself,” said Jones with a chuckle. “Short of that, we’re still trying to figure that one out.”
Moving Holt to quarterback means losing him as a receiver and kick returner, but it could also mean putting the ball in the hands of the team’s best player 60 to 75 times a game. “You lose a lot of versatility, but your putting the ball in his hands every single snap,” said Jones.
“The pressure is really on Jace,” said the coach. “How far is he ready to go? Our quarterback job is a hard job. Your making a decision on almost every single play. There’s a ton of stuff that takes pinpoint precision timing and execution, and it’s every play. We snap it about 75 times. Our quarterback is under a tremendous amount of pressure.”
If Holt moves to quarterback, the GHS receiving corps will get even thinner after the departure of a couple of proven seniors. “I’m not comfortable at receiver at all,” said Jones. “We’ve got some spots we’ve got to figure out.
“We have Josh Barlow coming back. We’ve got some guys that we feel pretty good about, but they are just young and inexperienced, and it’s going to take some time to figure out what they can do on Friday nights,” said the coach.
Up front, the Bulldogs have some experience coming back with three returning senior starters. “We have Noah Fox, Cole Ceniceros, and Colton Simpson,” said Jones. “We have a good foundation there and we are going to expect a lot out of those guys. They’re not the biggest guys, but they know how to play.
“They better be good. They’ve got to take some of the pressure off us. Whoever the quarterback is, he will be a first-timer, so we need to make sure we take care of them. But those three guys, we going to put a lot of responsibility on their shoulders.
Jones said several other players have potential on the offensive line, including upperclassmen Landon Sloan, Traven Nichols, and Kevin Douglas. “We’re not going to be as big as we were last year,” added the coach. “But they’re athletic kids. They’re not monsters, but they’re not tiny either.”
In the offensive backfield the Bulldogs are also replacing senior Kenny Wood, who rushed for over 1,700 yards last season. But Jones feels confident in his prospects at running back.
“We have two guys that we feel good about. Hunter Wilkinson is one, and Marc Jones is a senior, and we expect a lot out of Marc. Aydin Chatfield has been working there also. We’re going to need to have a real solid running game. Caden Franks is also a guy who has a chance to play on Friday nights,” said Jones. “I feel relatively good [at running back].”
On the defensive side of things, the Bulldogs also have five returning starters, but still have some holes to fill. Last year’s defense was arguably the strength of the team, allowing only about 10 points per game. “They were really, really good,” said Jones.
“It starts with Josh Maze (DL),” said the coach. “He’s had some interesting injuries. He was out most of last year, but I think he’s going to be good. I think Morgan Hanna (DE) is a big, long guy.
[Austin] Archer was a bigger wide receiver, and finally we decided to try him at defensive end, and I think he’s going to do well. He’s not very big, but he’s another athletic, long guy who can chase the ball. I think Cole Erwin is going to be another one of the inside guys. I think the front guys will be okay.
“The linebackers are a bit worrisome,” admitted Jones. “It starts with Travis Cox, a high-energy, high-motor guy. Sam Sandifer is a guy who needs to step up. He has big shoes to fill inside.
“Logan Workman has a chance playing safety. Dawson James (DB) is another one who got to play quite a bit last year. I think he really matured and is ready to have a great year,” said the coach.
“Aaron Ohl comes back at safety. Aaron has put on about 12 to 15 pounds, and he has a burst, so we’re going to play him some on offense. Colton Tuck (DB) has a chance to play on defense as well.
“Trey Woods will be back at a corner spot and he’s going to be a very important guy playing one-on-one. Eli Martin has a chance to play at inside linebacker. Halen Carter (DL) has put on weight and has gotten better and could be a really good player for us, and Trey Beckman is a physical kid and has a chance [at linebacker],” said Jones.
“Garrett Newman is a linebacker, a sort of undersized guy with a good motor. He’s a hard worker with a great attitude and doesn’t mind chasing the football. Jayden Martin bounces between linebacker and D-linemen and he’s going to have a chance to play a lot,” said the coach.
“We’ve got a lot of guys battling for spots, and that’s sort of what makes it fun. Nathan Nethers (DL) is another big long kid. Tayshaun Leader is about 6’1”, 190 pounds and he looks like he ought to be playing. I’m looking forward to watching him.”
Of course, one of Greenwood’s major returning weapons is senior kicker Grant Ennis, who routinely puts kickoffs in the end zone and has been very accurate on field goal attempts.
“Jackson Stewart is getting better every day too. He’ll be our JV guy,” said Jones. “We’ve got [Luis] Morales too, so we’ve got three guys at kicker.
“Grant’s had a really good career. We don’t like kicking field goals, but when we kick one, we really need to make it, and he’s been really consistent for us.”
Jones also acknowledged the change in the 2018 schedule, replacing Alma with Sand Springs, OK, and replacing Texarkana with Little Rock Hall in league play. Greenwood will also continue to play both Fort Smith schools, Northside and Southside, in non-conference play.
As for the other teams in the 6A West, Jones said, “Benton’s got everybody back and will be picked first, with probably El Dorado second. Us and Russellville will be picked third or fourth, I would guess. But I know that Benton is loaded, and El Dorado is always going to be good. It will be challenging and interesting to see how it all plays out. We’re excited about it.”
There’s also been some movement in the coaching staff with the departure of co-defensive coordinator Kenneth Chick, who left to become defensive coordinator at Van Buren. Defensive line coach Josh Nation has also left the staff to take an administrative job with the district.
“It was a horrible day around here,” said Jones of the day Coach Chick resigned. “He’s such a fantastic person and such a great coach. We’re going to miss [him] like crazy. He and Coach Young are the only two [coaches] that have been here through [Coach Peacock, Coach Welch, and myself].
“But when you have success and you’re a good coach, there are plenty of opportunities. Our guys turn jobs down all the time. We’re fortunate to have the guys that we do,” said Jones.
“We hired Stephen Thessing, who was the defensive coordinator at [Fort Smith] Southside. I’ve known him for a long time and went to Bible study with him for years. He has a good overall view of the defense. He’s a hard worker and a really good man. He’s going to be the safety coach.
“Brandon Elmore, who we hired out of [Fort Smith] Northside, will be coaching the defensive line. He has connections with Coach Gill.”
Jones said that Jason Gill will now assume the full title of defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs after sharing those duties with Coach Chick for the past few seasons.