Chargin’ Indians will test Tors’ secondary

With just one starter returning, the Sulphur Tors’ secondary will have to find a way to mature quickly this season.

They will get their first test today when Sulphur hosts the Washington-Marion Chargin’ Indians in a scrimmage at Matt Walker Memorial Stadium at 5 p.m.

“It is something that I talked to them about yesterday,” cornerbacks coach Randy Baggett said. “Secondary wise there are some question marks.

“They are going to challenge us so I think that we need to be ready to turn and be able to run with those guys. At the same time I want us to be aggressive and give run support when we need to.”

The Indians return quarterback Dwight Barker and have a new head coach in former Westlake quarterback Freddie Harrison.

“Hopefully we can put enough pressure on the quarterback so we have to cover for a shorter amount of time,” safeties coach Will Giardina said. “With the type of defense we run with the cover-four coverage, the safeties have to be real active.

If the safeties do well I feel like the defense does well. That is just what the coverage calls for. Your safeties are your outside run support. They will have to be smart enough to make adjustments so it takes a special guy.”

The lone returning player in the secondary for the Tors this year is senior Will Hansen (5’9”, 170lbs, 33 tackles, 2.5 TFL). He started the 2009 season as the third safety in the lineup but starting with the second game of the season against Evangel, he worked his way into the starting position at strong safety.

“I feel good about Will coming back with a lot of experience,” Giardina said. “He has been through the adjustments for Evangel and that is going to be a big thing.

“He studies the game. He picks up film on Sundays and his job is to come back and give me a scouting report and he takes a lot of pride in it. He works with the younger kids and that is something I appreciate.  He is not the guy you see flying all over the field. He is under control and he does what he is supposed to do.“

Sean Connor will be at the other safety position and along with Hansen have separated themselves from the rest of the group.

Connor missed his sophomore and junior with injuries but has quickly got himself back into the starting lineup.

“He came back in the spring,” Giardina said. “He has a big body.

“He had kind of a little refresher deal in the spring and now he is full speed. He knows all the adjustments and all the calls. He and Will are both like coaches. They communicate and work with those young kids and get us lined up right.”

When the Tors need a third safety on the field, they will look to junior Trevor Theriot, senior James Brame and junior Mickey Hill.

Although no starters return at cornerback for the Tors, they do have two players who saw varsity action last year in seniors Brently Sorgee (6’0”, 185lbs) and Ty Clavier (5’9”, 150lbs).

“In terms of experience, Clavier and Sorgee played some last year,” Baggett said. “The camp was real good.

“We able to get several guys reps with the ones. We are hoping that we will be ready when Friday nights get here. I think the main thing is to get some experience and get some plays under our belt where we will start to become accustomed to it.”

Although he is transitioning from running back to cornerback, junior Cody Mudd is pushing Clavier and Sorgee for playing time.

“We are looking to find two pretty good corners out of that,” Baggett said. “Cody has done well but he has no experience at that position.

“They all bring some speed to the table. Now whether or not we can match up with varsity opponents is yet to be seen. I think that our biggest task at hand is being able to run coverages in such as way that we would be able to exploit other teams' weaknesses. Between me Coach Fusilier and Coach Giardina we are trying to put ourselves in the best secondary coverage as possible to be able to exploit other teams.”