Austin Flynn won’t beat around the bush on this topic.
The Deer Park High School head football coach is just extremely excited, very motivated and super hungry to be working with high school football players once again in the springtime.
That’s how a head football coach is going to respond after there were no spring drills in 2020 due to the growing covid-19 pandemic, leaving he, his coaching staff and the players in limbo, even wondering if there was going to be a 2020 season.
Oh, but what a difference a year makes.
“It’s good to be back out there, not having last spring and everything that went on with covid. It almost feels like we’ve returned a little bit to normalcy. I do value spring ball a lot but even with some restrictions still in place, it’s good to be back out there,” Flynn said.
It’s the program’s sophomore players who are happiest. They were denied a spring workout session last year, putting them behind in an assortment of categories.
At least last spring, Flynn didn’t need spring drills to find new offensive linemen. The entire group was coming back. Now this spring, he and offensive line coach Bryan Williams are using every possible hour of workouts to rebuild from scratch an O-line.
There were 12 players on the 2020 roster listed as offensive linemen. Of that number, just 25 percent are slated to return. Brand-new names will be in abundance for sure when the team hosts Summer Creek at Clyde Abshier Stadium on Aug. 19 for the maroon and gold’s only scrimmage.
For those who are counting, the Bulldogs will be invading Deer Park in 109 days.
“There was a lot of question marks obviously going into the offseason. Spring’s important no question about it but this process started once we got offseason workouts under way. But obviously we’ve got to find replacements in a hurry. I like the way the progress is going so far since January happened. I think we’ve got some very competitive positions there with multiple guys fighting for a spot. Competition always brings out the best, I think, and at the end of the day, it’s been really, really good,” Flynn said.
Preparing for his fourth campaign and eyeing a third consecutive postseason berth, Flynn realizes his new O-line won’t be able to just jump in against La Porte for the season opener and look like seasoned veterans. It’s just not going to happen.
“We’ve had some young guys step up. It’s a challenge. We may not be able to fill those shoes completely right away but we have some depth in other places like at receiver that hopefully we can kind of lean on so the O-line can get their feet wet so to speak,” said Flynn, who is thankful to have upwards of six wideouts back in camp.
OK, finding brand-new guards and tackles plus that all-important center position who can play at the Class 6A level is one thing, but Flynn’s new O-line will be asked to give time in the pocket for a brand-new quarterback as well.
With outgoing quarterback Matthew Potts set to become one of 33 seniors in the program who are graduating next month, Teague Sedtal has the inside track to the position. Fortunately, some blowout victories and four non-district contests last season enabled Sedtal to stockpile some valuable minutes in the pocket.
“Teague got to play quite a bit last year. So we somewhat know what he can do. At the same time, he hasn’t won a spot so there’s competition in there. But he’s really, I think, taken over the reins at this point and doing a very nice job,” Flynn said.
Speaking of knowing what someone can do, Alex Argueta and his bullish ways return at running back. And they’ve got some depth at that position.
Defensively, there’s just as much concern thanks to critical departures coming up. Folks like Cookie Garcia, who registered a sack against nationally-ranked North Shore last December, is departing as is Hayden Pruitt, a co-captain on the 2020 team. Zach Frazee, the other co-captain and a D-back, will be another graduation casualty.
“We’re an odd front team so you lose some big-time experience and big-time production in Cookie Garcia and Hayden Pruitt. We had a slew of back-ups who played a lot of snaps. We rotate our D-line quite a bit, so we’re really looking for six guys,” Flynn said.
“Caleb Dilly was a true freshman last year that played a handful and he’s back. We’re excited about that. We’re losing both of our safeties and a corner(back). Fortunately, there’s healthy competition all the way across the board,” Flynn said.
ravery@hcnonline.com
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Rebuilding O-line among Deer’s urgent spring workout needs - Houston Chronicle
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