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With about a week before Ohio Dominican rolls into town to start the season, it's time to preview this year's team. Shepherd was very young last year which means they return a good amount of their starters this year. They have 7 on offense and nine on defense. On offense, Shepherd lost two starters on the line. Jamie Colon and Levi Lloyd are both gone. However, Shepherd does have some options to fill those gaps. Dontae Angus, a WVU transfer is an option but has arrived at camp at 360 lbs. Cole Weaver saw some play last year. The offensive line will be solid pass protectors, but i don't think they are explosive enough to be dominant run blockers. Time will tell. At running back, Shepherd returns Deonte Glover and he's bigger than ever. If he realizes his skill set as a one cut power back, he could be a huge help to this team. He must be used in a north/ south fashion. Dyson returns, and freshman Ronnie Brown showed some skills during the scrimmage. Shepherd will need to establish some type of run game to keep opposing teams from pinning their ears back and rushing the qb. Shepherd returns promising sophmore Tyson Bagent as well as WVU transfer Jacquez Adams. Adams was a high school qb but was in the secondary for the Mountaineers. Bagent won the starting job based on his previous knowledge of the offense, and his execution last year. He will need to continue to progress on his reads this year as his wide receivers are pretty much a new unit. The wide receiving unit lost both Feiss and Allen, their top two receivers. However, this year's team features blazing speed at the wide receiver position and a couple large wr's as well. Greg Leonard returns and he had some nice chemistry with Bagent last year. Sebastion Lucas who led Merrimack in receiving yards and td's last year transferred to Shepherd. UCONN transfer Michael Freeman also brings speed to the team. 6'5 WVWC transfer Sterling Dewdney brings size into the mix. Shepherd also returns both TE's in Cornish and Wetzel.
I think the offense will pick up where it left off last year. The key to the offense will be establishing a run game this year. They struggled last year, and Fairmont really exploited that.
Special teams will have their kicker return but FG's were an adventure last year. Sounds like the freshman kicker Jakob Hayney could push August Scriven on FG's. Special teams biggest loss is Ruan Venter who was a real weapon for us the past few years. He could flip field position on any kick. Chris Jones returns to field kicks and punts. He has the talent to score on any play as well.
I think the offense will pick up where it left off last year. The key to the offense will be establishing a run game this year. They struggled last year, and Fairmont really exploited that.
Special teams will have their kicker return but FG's were an adventure last year. Sounds like the freshman kicker Jakob Hayney could push August Scriven on FG's. Special teams biggest loss is Ruan Venter who was a real weapon for us the past few years. He could flip field position on any kick. Chris Jones returns to field kicks and punts. He has the talent to score on any play as well.