Matt DeWalt
September 05, 2006 07:29 pm
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The Weatherford Kangaroos style of defense is quickly becoming one of the most popular in the state. Weatherford head coach Mike Sneed said he likes his defensive setup because of the versatility it gives the Roos on any given play.
“We are running a 3-4 defense,” Sneed said. “I guess it has been kind of popular because the Cowboys are starting to run a little bit of that. It gives us an opportunity to rush three guys or rush as many as eight guys if we wanted to.
“We have found it to be very flexible in dealing with all of the spread offenses everybody runs. You have got to have some flexibility in your defense to be able to move people out to be able to cover people.”
The Weatherford defense was battered around in 2005 as the Roos allowed an average of 31.2 points per game. Weatherford totaled 12 fumble recoveries in 11 games, but pulled in just four interceptions.
Sneed said he expects to see a lot more turnovers on defense for the Roos in 2006, especially in the secondary, which was expected to be a strong point in 2005.
“We were disappointed with our turnovers in the secondary,” Sneed said. “We had almost everybody coming back from who was a sophomore for their junior year, last year, and we just thought that [the secondary] would be the strong part of our defense and in fact, it was probably one of the poorer parts.
“I am hoping that a year of age and experience will help some of these guys pick us off some more passes. The more turnovers we can get, the better chance we have of winning the game.”
The main reason for Sneed’s high expectations is the number of returning players he has on that side of the ball.
“We should have our best defense,” Sneed said. “I think we have either eight or nine starters coming back. We have Grant and Garrett Campfield coming back, Grant’s a safety and Garrett’s a linebacker.
“We are two or three deep at some of those defensive positions. If I had a concern on the defensive side, it would be the defensive line just like the O-line. We had a pretty good defensive line last year. Some of them graduated, a couple of them are back, but we just feel like it’s a real premium for any program to find some big guys whether they are offensive or defensive. That has been our concern and that has been what we have worked on a lot here as we are getting ready for the season.”
Even though Sneed has questions about his defensive line, he has some solid players returning that should eliminate some of his concerns.
“We really have three guys coming back,” Sneed said. “Conner Francis, Jason Clark and Kapron Moore. All three are returners who played quite a bit or a significant amount of time last year. We feel pretty good about those three.”
Other returners that Sneed is expecting to make an impact for Weatherford are Fred Thomas and Austin White along with a number of other players in the Roos secondary.
“Fred and Austin White, those two guys are really good. They are good at jamming receivers. Austin has got a little speed. He covers ground and Fred is just physical with you. He’ll line up on you and pound you. Fred is pretty fast, too.
“Our secondary is really filled up. We’ve got Fred, Austin and Race Mills playing corner and then we’ve got Tyler Ramirez, Grant Campfield and Briley Worthington who can all play safety. We have the nucleus for possibly the best secondary we have had here in a long time.”
The excitement of the new season is evident during any practice at WHS and the Roos are looking to be one of the best defenses in the district.
“The kids have really bought in on the defense,” Sneed said. “We really haven’t had what I call a strong defense and this could be one of those dominating kind of defenses. A couple of guys have got to come through for us, but everybody else has got that same question. If so and so comes through, we’ll be good and if they don’t, we won’t.
“Hopefully, we’ll be pretty good this year.”
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