MAUD, Texas - With a solid group of football players returning for Maud, head coach Josh Turner believes the new varsity players gaining experience will be crucial for his team to be successful on the gridiron.
"We feel like we've got a good core group to build around," Turner said heading into his second season as Cardinals head football coach and AD. "We played a lot of sophomores last year. We lost some good seniors, some kids I would've liked to have seen in Year 2 of the program.
"We've got a pretty big group of juniors with a lot of playing time under their belts, coming back, and we've got a good nucleus of incoming sophomores who we feel really good about."
The Cardinals graduated seven from last year's 3-7 team. They have 15 returning lettermen, including six offensive starters and seven back on defense.
OFFENSE
Tucker Sanders (5-10, 170) is back for his junior season at running back after gaining over 1,100 yards in just nine games last fall.
Senior Dawson Daffern (5-6, 200) has two years of varsity experience on the offensive line, and Evan Acosta (5-10, 270) started for Maud on the line last season, as well.
Senior Tristian White (5-11, 150) and junior Haylon Dear (6-1, 150) are returning starters at receiver for the Cardinals, and sophomore Briley Barron (6-5, 270) is back at tight end.
"We're going to rely on our skill kids," Turner said. "We feel good about Sanders coming back with the production he had as a sophomore. Cason Lamb is back after missing last year, and we feel really good with him running the throttle at quarterback. We've got a deep receiving corps."
Cason Lamb (5-11, 165) takes over at quarterback after missing his sophomore year due to injury. Lamb played his freshman year for Maud.
Tristin Lee (5-9, 170) is a sophomore expected to fill the fullback position, and sophomore Lane Sultz (6-4, 200) will help up front.
"We're fairly young on the offensive line, and those guys are going to have to grow up in a hurry," Turner said. "But we feel good with what we're starting off with. Daffern is versatile, and we used him in a couple of games last year at fullback.
"We feel real good about where he's at, starting his senior year. We also have another senior who did not play last year in Jordan Walters, and we're expecting big things out of him, as well."
DEFENSE
Maud looks to improve on the defensive side of the ball.
"Our mental toughness needs to be more consistent," Turner said about an area the Cardinals need to improve upon. "At times, we are as tough as we can be. We just need to be tough every snap, and we need to improve on our tackling ability.
"Kids at Maud aren't scared to get physical; contact does not bother them. Sometimes, our tackling technique gives us some fits, and we need to do a little bit better job in that area."
Returning to the defensive line will be Barron, and Lee could help up front and at linebacker.
Sanders, Daffern and junior Nate Brower (5-9, 145) are back at linebacker for the Cardinals, and White, Dear and sophomore Grayson Smith (5-10, 160) return in the secondary. Lamb could also help in the defensive backfield.
"Our kids love being around each other, and so they've been fired up since we reported for fall camp," the coach said. "We had a better summer program this year than we did in my first year. It was better just because the kids wanted to be around each other.
"There's obviously some different protocols and regulations that everyone is having to abide by, and we're rolling with those and are going to do the best we can. No one likes wearing the masks, but it's for their teammates' and their own safety. Our kids are pretty resilient."
TURNING THE CORNER
Maud moves into a new district and could compete for a playoff berth from District 9-2A, Div. II.
"We'll have a chance to be better this year," Turner said. "We were 3-7 and, in all reality, we could've been 5-5. There were two games we really would've liked to have back. We feel good about where we are starting from; our numbers are a tad lower than last year, but we're deeper as far as having more kids we can put on the field. We're excited and hope we get to play the season out."